The e-mail charged, among other allegations, that the two parties had agreed to a deal that would essentially allow the studio to cut salaries and freeze out the cartoonists' own local, eliminating the animators' collective muscle.

These threats didn't exactly hearten the animation industry. Though 'toons appear to be flooding the multiplex, the past few years in Hollywood have brought steady layoffs for animators; others were forced from full-time employment and found themselves competing on a job-by-job basis. Suddenly, animators who'd once enjoyed six-figure incomes were facing an uncertain future.

Now, just as audiences were applauding state-of-the-art effects in movies like "Dinosaur" -- which climbed past $110 million last weekend -- here was Disney plotting to ensure that its future CGI projects wouldn't be an automatic gravy train for the animators who labor on them. The e-mail sent shockwaves through an already-besieged profession.

Practically speaking, though, the e-mail was in effect too late. Earlier this year, Disney and IATSE had already agreed to a new contract that would now cover approximately 100 to 150 animators working at the Secret Lab, Disney's brand new CGI-animation unit (its first on-screen mention comes in the closing credits of "Dinosaur").

On the surface, the notion of Disney agreeing to union protections for previously unrepresented workers would appear to be a good thing. But according to the e-mail, the IATSE had actually gone behind the back of its own Local 839 (the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists) and struck a deal that undercuts existing pay rates for CGI animators in the 839's current contract. If this new agreement stands -- and spreads, as IATSE hopes, to other CGI effects houses such as Sony Imageworks and Digital Domain -- the e-mail apocalyptically warned: It "would basically hollow out the animators union from within and leave it an impotent husk."

The e-mail left many in Hollywood scratching their heads. If the charges in the explosive message (which quickly turned up for all to read on a Web site called Animation Nation that bills itself as "the voice of the animation industry") are correct, the IATSE had to answer a big question: Why would it accept a deal that cut its own cartoonists' local off at the knees?

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