Standing six-foot-six in yellow overalls, Henry Hagerty is easy to spot in the crowd. He points to the packed dance floor: "Those are the animators that did Daria, Beavis and Butthead and Celebrity Death Match. Now they're working with us at Rogue. It's the MTV veterans in a much smaller, jungle fighting mode."

Hagerty and partner Nick Litwinko have harnessed long and prosperous careers at MTV into Manhattan's newest animation force: Rogue Creative. This afternoon they cleared the Mac's and animation tables out of their new 1,500-square-foot loft to make room for the mariachi player, margarita bars and manic merriment of tonight's opening bash.

Rogue is already working on their first major production, a :30 for OXY out of Arnold McGrath. It is the latest spot in the campaign that started at MTV Commercials, a division that Litwinko hatched in 1999 after ten years working for MTV Animation on Beavis and Butthead, Aeon Flux, The Maxx, and Cartoon Sushi.

Hagerty, who labels himself and Litwinko "hardcore animation geeks," headed sales and marketing for the MTV commercial division. "We had a great run for four years. But it went the way of the great auk when MTV closed the animation department."

The studio sees the OXY spot, a 12-person, 2D digital ink and paint project, as proof that the transition to independence is working. "It's a great expression of confidence. We gave the agency some savings and we're closer to them because they're working directly with the team," explains Hagerty. "The bottom line is they're following the talent."

Rogue's core full-time staff also includes producers Dan O'Brien and Rachel Carlisle with ex-MTV supervising producer of development Peter Reichert in the Rogue Seattle office, focusing on content for TV, film and video games as well as Web design, branding and multi-media work.

But wait, the web grows wider. The Rogue studio in New York is primarily producing traditional 2D animation but will also purvey CG and motion graphics via Nickelodeon's newborn division christened Nick Digital Commercials. Hagerty explains, "Even though we're out of the [Viacom] structure we're still working with part of [it]. And that's because of Nick's [Litwinko] long relationship with all the networks. He's now the commercial world's gateway to Nickelodeon."

The New York presence is Nick Digital Lab, a 15-seat digital studio who supplied CG to Litwinko at MTV Commercials on spots for Sony PlayStation and 7-11. Nickelodeon's Burbank studio houses the directing talents behind SpongeBob SquarePants, Invader Zim, Fairly Odd Parents and Hey Arnold! who are now available for commercial work.

Most recently, both locations collaborated on the on-air promos for Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. Nick Digital Commercials is overseen by senior director Joel Krasnove and production manager Ashley Oliver.

"We are going to do with Nickelodeon what we did with MTV," states Hagerty. "We're selling cultures and mindsets as much as anything else. By that I mean if you want to get to the teen/early twenties demographic, go to people who sold very successful programming to them for years. People who worked on Death Match and Daria and Beavis and Butthead whose attitudes built those shows. If you want the eight to 12 demographic, go through Nickelodeon, who are successful with that group. Those artists and their brains are working through Rogue."

Litwinko organizes all that talent, attitude and technology over the net and high-speed lines from central command just east of Union Square. "I kept the same model I used at MTV. We put the dream team together for each project. Different animators have different strengths. We've kept in touch with all the MTV talent and have a roster that we draw upon."

Much of that talent was in New York last September and Litwinko says it certainly had an effect.

"A lot of our artists were in the middle of it. But I think in general people are starting to heal again. We've gone through that shameless merging of patriotism and selling cars and heroes. People need a giggle and a little healing from laughter. And we sell laughter."