TALENT SCOUT

“Talent,” in the dictionary I use, is defined as “aptitude . . . natural endowments of a person . . . creative or artistic aptitude . . . general intelligence.” In Charles Solomon’s Aug. 3 Film Clip, Ron Rocha, head of animation at DreamWorks, seems to use a contrary definition when he says, “There simply isn’t enough talent in the U.S. to supply the studios, even though we’re working very hard to develop talent through training programs.”

Rocha also contends that “most of the European artists . . . bring that fine-arts background with them.” Perhaps cutting art education in schools, or decrying any government funding of the arts, makes a difference. I once heard that the city of Berlin annually spent more on the arts than a year’s budget of the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts.

ROBERT J. MANNERS

Los Angeles