MTV brings five different animated shows to NATPE including their newest entry, MTV Downtown, a look at the lives of a group of diverse, multi-ethnic characters who live, work and play in the East Village of New York City. The cast centers on a pair of siblings who are polar opposites: older brother Alex is introverted and thoughtful, while teenage Chaka is wild and impulsive. Thirteen half-hour episodes of the show are being offered.
* Monday, January 18 - Friday, January 22, 1999. Monaco and Paris, France.
Animator and director Julia Tortolani has joined Wild Brains creative roster of commercial directors. She joins the company from Radical Media in New York City where she directed commercials for Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Ford and Hardees. Her longer format animation work includes a 55-minute animated program installed with a synchronized light show at Universal Studios Marvel Mania Theme Restaurant in Hollywood. Regarding her move to Wild Brain, Tortolani said, Im really excited about the opportunities at Wild Brain.
Columbia TriStar Television Childrens Programming (CTTCP) has appointed Michael T. Helfand to Vice President, Business Affairs where he will be responsible for CTTCPs full range of business affairs negotiations for pilots and series. Helfand joins Columbia TriStar from DIC Entertainment where he was Head of the Legal and Business Affairs Department.
Technical animation specialist Brandon Davis has joined the animation and visual effects team at Computer Café. Davis, whose experience spans interactive games, corporate media and television, has expertise in water, smoke, light and other particle effects simulating physical processes, as well as authoring programs to perform these functions. He first freelanced with Computer Café when the company called on his assistance in creating visual effects for the motion picture Armageddon.
Kris Greengrove has been named to head the cel animation department at Curious Pictures.
Atlanta-based Crawford Communications designed and produced a 45-second computer animated identification sequence for Odyssey Productions, producers of the popular Minds Eye video series now distributed by Sony Music Video. The sequence was designed by Robert Taylor of Crawford Digital and Jason Ett of DESIGNefx with an original soundtrack by Randy Garmon and Reid Hall of m&e (music & effects). Created in Alias|Wavefront Maya and composited in Flame, the spot is a visual representation of The Minds Eye concept.
San Francisco-based Radium contributed a combination of 3D animation, morph and compositing techniques to a 30-second spot for Lawson Software produced by Complete Pandemonium. The spot features a fast-talking businessman delivering a sales pitch to a prospective client as he slowly turns into a 3D snake, modeled by Radium computer animator William Opdyke. The visual effects were executive produced by Dana Townsend.
Animation World Network is looking for an intern to assist the editorial staff with our monthly on-line publication Animation World Magazine and weekly Flash Email Newsletter. Responsibilities will include proofreading, copy editing, news gathering, transcribing interviews, filing, researching publicity information, writers and companies, conducting surveys, working with freelance writers and managing correspondence for the editor and associate editor. Part of the positions responsibilities involves doing publicity for the publication.
Animha Productions, a unique association of professionals dedicated to independent film production and animation workshops, has just finished a new film. "When the Water is Sick..." has been produced in association with the ASIFA Workshops Group. It will be included in a special compilation of animated films by children from around the world to be screened at Annecy, France, in summer '99. To find more about this and other Animha projects, visit their web site at:
ASIFA-Hollywood's 6th annual Animation Expo is coming to Glendale this March 5-6...
This week's comic is a funny look at the topic of organ transplants...
Hollywood-based Gnomon Inc. has launched a monthly speaker series for digital production professionals...
Featured in the Animation World Store this week: an amazing collection of Russia's most important short films!
* Wednesday, January 27. London, England.
As part of Londons Museum of the Moving Image lecture series, British Pathe opens up their archives to present a unique view of early British animation. Titles by Lancelot Speed, H.M. Bateman, Tom Webster, Frank Holland, Walter Booth and Brian White will be screened in this event presented by researcher Ken Clark. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. and admission is £6. For museum information call 0171 401 2636 or for the box office call 0171 928 3232.
The new animated comedy from Eddie Murphy and Will Vinton Studios, The PJs, has been generating great ratings and some harsh words from the African-American community. A special Sunday night preview of the show on January 10 garnered an incredible 12.6/18 rating, the second-highest preview or premiere numbers in Fox history, topped only by the 12.7 from the January 1990 premiere of The Simpsons. Likewise, the show delivered strong numbers when it moved to its regular Tuesday, 8:30 p.m.
Carol Laufer, a 6-year veteran of Blue Sky | VIFX, has been promoted from producer to the position of executive producer at the companys Harrison, New York studio. She replaces Nina Rappaport who left to pursue other interests. Laufer has produced numerous projects at Blue Sky | VIFX including the Rayovac battery campaign featuring Michael Jordan and a three-spot campaign for Target featuring a host of photorealistic animated toys.
Betty Lou Gerson, the actress behind the distinctive voice of fur-loving villainess Cruella De Vil, in Disney's classic animated feature, "101 Dalmations" (1961), passed away on January 12 at the age of 84.
The four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend created a healthy box office with DreamWorks The Prince of Egypt continuing to edge its way towards $100 million. The religious epic, which was banned this week in Indian Ocean-located The Maldives for its offensive portrayal of Moses, came in eighth with $6.2M after 32 days of release for a grand total of $82.5M. At its current pace, the film is poised to pass The Rugrats Movie as the highest gross non-Disney animated feature of all-time.
Cartoon Network has announced the launch of three new animated series for the 1999 season - Courage, The Cowardly Dog, Mike, Lu & Og, and I Am Weasel. Courage is based on the 1995 Academy Award-nominated Cartoon Network short Chicken from Outer Space, created, written and directed by John R. Dilworth. Thirteen episodes, launching in November 1999, will chronicle the adventures of a timid dog as he defends his elderly owners in the small town of Nowhere from paranormal elements.
* January 10 - March 14. Los Angeles, California, USA.
* Thursday, January 21. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
The Women in Animation's Writer's Group will hold a discussion about what writers should know about lawyers and agents. The event starts at 7:00 P.M. Call Kellie-Bea Rainey to RSVP and for directions at (818) 623-0020 or e-mail at kellie-bea@kellie-bea.com.
Originally intended as a direct-to-video film, Walt Disney Pictures hasannounced that "Doug's 1st Movie," based on the ABC series "Disney's Doug,"will be released to theaters on March 26 in time for the spring break andEaster holidays. Both the TV series and film are produced by New York-basedJumbo Pictures Inc., a subsidiary of Disney acquired in 1996. "Doug's 1stMovie" follows the misadventures of 12-year old Doug Funnie as he findshimself caught between saving the endangered "monster" of Lucky Duck Lake
Wanting to get a piece of the lucrative animated feature pie, Miramax Filmshas announced their acquisition of worldwide distribution rights to theanimated musical fairy tale, "The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina."The film is being produced at Hyperion Studios, known for other animatedworks such as "Life with Louie," "Bebe's Kids" and HBO's "Happily EverAfter: Fairy Tales for Every Child." The film features the voices of ElijahWood as Tom Thumb and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Thumbelina.The story
Funny Farm Studios is a new 2D animation studio starting up in Atlanta, Georgia. The facility is headed by Donna Ervin, former manager and producer for DESIGNefx cel animation, and two animation directors, Jim Peebles and Jeff Fastner. "We have enormous talent, experience and speed to offer," states Ervin. The studio will target the national and regional commercial, interstitial programming and web development markets.
