Are there books on animation outsourcing?

November 6, 2007 7:45 AM

Are there any good books or resources on the American animation boom of the late 80s/early 90s that came as a result of outsourcing animation to (I think) Korean studios? Do any Mefites have a personal connection to animation during those years?

In the past, I've heard that there was a massive shift in American animation in the late 1980s from in-house production to Korean outsourcing, that allowed for the massive amount of somewhat shoddy but very good animated shows of the early 90's- the Tick, Earthworm Jim, etc. I'm trying to bring this into something that I'm writing- does anyone know if there are any resources that go into this to some degree of detail? Thanks!

posted by 235w103 to media & arts (3 comments total)

I suspect you'll find a shift of outsourcing from Japan --> Korea --> India (presently). I believe in the 80s, 90s a lot was done in Japan by TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsha). Unfortunately, I don't have a good book to recommend.
posted by sharkfu at 8:09 AM on November 6, 2007

Start with the Wikipedia entry on Korean animation.

During the 1990s, a period of explosive growth for the industry, Korean studios made the lion's share of their profits from "OEM animation," or animation production deals, mostly from the United States. Nelson Shin's AKOM studio struck the prototypical Korean OEM deal in 1989, when it animated the first season of The Simpsons television series.

The Korean Animation Explosion

The New Studios and the `90s Boom
Like all businesses, success breeds competition, and there is nowhere more competitive when it comes to business than Asia. The `90s saw a rash of new studios enter the scene.

Disney Television brought its shows to a new, bright and aggressive studio called Sun Woo. In 1991, Michael Webster, who was then in charge of production for Disney Television Animation, told me that Sun Woo was producing some of the best work he had ever seen and that Disney was so impressed with the quality, they were putting them under an exclusive contract. This didn't work out for long, as Disney wanted exclusivity and Sun Woo wasn't prepared to be tied down in such a growing market.

Rough Draft Korea (RDK) started by doing an odd little show called Ren and Stimpy and soon were being sought after as a highly creative studio capable of producing the off-the-wall type productions that Klasky-Csupo and Nickelodeon were developing as their benchmarks.

Plus One, Koko (formerly Dong Yang), a revitalized Saerom and Daiwon, along with an ever-expanding AKOM, led the charge into the Nineties with Korea capturing up to 30% of the world market in animation production. From 1990 to 1996 the business has grown with last year reaching an all time high. AKOM alone reported a production run of 189 shows for the year.
posted by junesix at 10:54 AM on November 6, 2007

This might be too off the wall, but you might check out Guy Delisle's graphic novel Pyongyang about his experience working as an animator in North Korea.
posted by pb at 1:59 PM on November 6, 2007