It sounds ridiculous when you consider how much money producers have to get from executives in Hollywood for even a "low-budget" picture -- tens of millions of dollars -- or even how much funding an "indie" production takes ('shoestring' budgets starting around $50,000!?).

A professional animator, with Hollywood experience, set out to level all that.  With a total budget of just $5,000 for computer hardware and animation software, in six months, entirely on his own from a cabin in Alaska, he made 23-minute animated short rivalling the quality of high-budget Hollywood animated features.  He had his story to tell, of course, but just as much, he did this to prove it can be done, and he wrote books detailing exactly how he made the movie.

The animator's name is Tim Albee.  He's worked on the Babylon 5 science fiction series, a couple Disney animated features, most recently on the Battlestar Galactica re-imagination and has been teaching classes on animation at a university.  The 23-minute animated short that is a good proof-of-concept, made back in 2004, is entitled "Kaze: Ghost Warrior" ... a sort of CGI anime featuring anthropomorphic animal characters, with realistic fur (instead of flat textures).

The website specific for Kaze:  Ghost Warrior is at http://ta-animation.com/

Tim also has a shop at http://loupguru.com/ where you can buy the DVD, his various books and other materials, and is also host to a web forum-based community at http://loupguru.com/Community/ intended to serve as a place for interested animators to collaborate on projects and ask for tips and advice.