Commerce!

A big reason that animation is being produced in great abundance just now? It's coveted by many distributors.

Netflix has reached an agreement with the Disney/ABC Television group to become the only subscription streaming service to offer the popular children's shows "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" and the animated "Tron: Uprising."

The multiyear licensing deal also brings "Handy Manny," "Special Agent Oso" and "JoJo's Circus" to the movie and television service on a non-exclusive basis. ...

Netflix has been courting families, especially younger viewers, for whom streaming video services come as second nature. It created a "Just for Kids" interface that relies heavily on images, to remove any barriers to finding shows. In February, it partnered with DreamWorks Animation to create an original animated series for the service based on the forthcoming summer family film, "Turbo." ...

Decades ago, employment for t.v. cartoons revolved around seasonal pickups by the Big Three broadcast networks. Most television animation employment was six months on, six months off. You learned to live small and shave your expenses, because you were going to be unemployed at "the end of the broadcast season" for a long stretch of time.

Today, a lot of that has gone away. "Seasons" are what prime-time cartoons go through. Everything else is tied to "orders." As in, "6 episode order," "13 episode order," "24 episode order." The old "Saturday morning cartoon" model is long over. Now it's time-shifting, cable, hand-held devices, and all the rest. And Turbo is being done for Netflix, the well-loved subscription service.

Happily, the speed snail is providing jobs on DWA's t.v. side even as its theatrical side is down-sizing.