Milking The Pro's - Part 1

JF: What's the biggest perk?

TW: I'd have to say the biggest perk is just having my own show in the first place. I'm the "boss" and sometimes the people who work on the show actually LISTEN to me (when they're not laughing at me). I've been given this opportunity by cartoon network to make the show I want to make with virtually no interference. Sure, they give us some notes and there are some basic, common sense strictures to follow, but that's the challenge in it. You NEED rules to push! It's no fun mooning a nudist colony! It's more fun mooning the church picnic!

JF: Why did you choose to do what you're doing?

TW: Back in 1990 when I was out looking for my first job in NYC, Candy Kugel (ASIFA East sooper old-school executive supreme and Buzzco Associates joint chief of staff) told me that you shouldn't get into the animation business unless you HAVE to do it, unless it was the ONLY thing you could do. Hearing that, I tried to run but I tripped and fell. Before I could get back up, she and Vinnie Cafarelli had locked the door and chained me to a desk and made me learn animation at Buzzco. And I love them for it. There WASN'T anything else I wanted to do. Making drawings move and do funny things was always my dream and now I get letters from kids all over the world saying that they love "Codename: Kids Next Door!" They're probably lying, but it makes me feel good anyway.

JF: How do I get to be where you are now?

TW: It's a messy combination of hard work (physical and mental), luck (straight out of the bottle and the kind of luck you make yourself), knowing the right people (both artists you want to work with and people at networks), talent (the artistic kind and the business kind), doing your homework (know your audience and the network you're pitching to) and I like to top it all off with a nice Manhattan, straight up (2 parts bourbon, 1 part sweet vermouth, a dash of bitters, and garnish with a cherry. Two cherries if you've worked extra hard that day). There's really no magic formula to it but it's always been my belief that if you really want something and work hard enough to get it...you WILL get it. I KNOW it sounds cliché, but I REALLY wanted to have my own show, and I spent a massive amount of time trying to make it happen. And here I am with "Codename: Kids Next Door." Now I just have to try not to blow it!