Animation Nation
Last fall, television actor Richard Ruccolo sat down to make an animated movie about life in Hollywood. Twenty minutes later, a frustrated actor and a clueless talent agent, played by two cuddly-looking stuffed animals, strolled across his computer screen.
Within two days, people were watching Mr. Ruccolo’s cartoon at talent agencies, management firms and TV studios around Los Angeles. A viewing of the short briefly brought work to a halt in the writers’ room at ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” Mr. Ruccolo said he was introduced at a party to Chuck Lorre, the executive producer of the CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men,” as “the guy who made the agent video.” In an email, Mr. Lorre said he thought the video was “pretty inside and very funny.” Mr. Ruccolo looks at such videos as “electronic business cards.”
On the heels of Twitter, blogs and YouTube videos, do-it-yourself animation has emerged as the latest form of self-expression online.
