in may 1971, bakshi moved his studio to los angeles to hire additional animators there. some animators, including rod scribner, dick lundy, virgil walter ross, norman mccabe, and john sparey, welcomed bakshi's presence, and felt that "fritz the cat" would bring diversity to the animation industry. other animators disliked bakshi's presence, and placed an advertisement in "the hollywood reporter", stating that bakshi's "filth" was unwelcome in california. according to bakshi, "i didn't know who these guys were because i was from new york, so i threw the ad away." however, bakshi found the negative reaction to the film from his peers to be disheartening.