Social Faux Pas of the Third Kind:

It was late in the DreamWorks Pre-Oscar brunch yesterday and I was up in the front of Campanile where the crowd was cleared out a little. And I was talking to a DreamWorks producer at yesterday`s very great Jeffery brunch.

I have been playing with the idea of getting a producer on the ASIFA-Hollywood State of the Animation Industry Comic Con panel this year. Animation doesn`t get produced without producers. I know that because I have done a little producing on a very small scale and I know what a hard job it is to meet all the needs of a film in the making.

Bill, the producer, was suggesting all of these other DreamWorks producers that he thought might have a better project name recognition then he did when he mentioned the producer from Over the Hedge. I have never made a secret of the fact that I love this animation.

So I was deep into gushing about Hammy time and the cookie gag (the cookie gag is one of the great gag setups of all time). I am talking about the beauty of this setup and how they draw it out and draw it out over 2/3s of the movie when I look up and lock eyes with a man across the room who I can tell is listening to us talk. I could also tell that this person worked on Over the Hedge and maybe even the scene I was gushing about.

Okay it is not quite as embarrassing as bagging on a film in front of the creator, which I have done in the past. But still it did throw me a little. So if you where the guy listening. Those are my real feelings about Over the Hedge, it is one of the great over looked animations. I was not kissing up. And the rest of you, do what I am going to do today, re-watch the film .