Eric Rollman has been upped to president of production for Fox Family Worldwide, a joint venture between Saban Entertainment and Fox News Corp. His new role puts him in charge of production for Fox Family Channel, Fox Kids Network and Fox Kids International, as well as continuing supervision of on-air promo material production for the various channels.
New York-based LoConte Goldman Design has promoted four-time Emmy winner Arne Jensen to Senior Designer. Jensen has worked on numerous projects since joining the company in '96, including the ABC News NIGHTLINE redesign and ESPN SPEEDWORLD and NFL DRAFT graphics packages. In addition, Kenneth Shaw has joined LoConte's team of designers. Shaw had most recently been working for Olive Jar as a composite artist. "Ken impressed us with his natural ability to bridge the creative with the technical.
PDI (Pacific Data Images) has named ANTZ Production Designer, John Bell as the division's Creative Director. Bell's new responsibilities include managing the production design staff, and overseeing the creative direction and design techniques of the rapidly growing commercial and film effects unit as it continues to broaden beyond its present size and scope. "John has contributed to some of the most significant special effects films in the last decade," said Patty Wooton, PDI's Senior VP or Production.
Former CAA agent and MGM president and CEO Mike Marcus has joined Will Vinton Studios (WVS) board of directors. According to Marcus, "Will Vinton Studios has the potential of becoming the next Pixar. It is an exciting opportunity to get involved on the ground stages of a potentially enormous company." WVS CEO and president Tom Turpin added, "Mike brings with him a wealth of knowledge of the film business, talent packaging and film industry production management."
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached an agreement with Castle Rock Television for a collective bargaining contract covering the writers of DOWNTOWNERS, an animated series premiering on the primetime WB line-up this fall. The dispute had initially begun when writers on the show were unhappy with the benefits of the union that was representing them, the IATSE Cartoonists Local 839. A key point in the agreement was recognition of the WGA as the exclusive bargaining representative of primetime animation writers employed by Castle Rock Television and Downtowners Productions.
London-based Pearson Television has purchased EVA Entertainment for £2 million ($3.3 million). EVA, a five year-old pan-European venture, produces and distributes children's animation with a library of around 200 half-hours including SPOT THE DOG and BILLY THE CAT. The company was also one of four co-producers on BBC2's animated series, REX THE RUNT. Pearson's recently appointed director of animation John Bullivant will oversee EVA. However, the studio will continue to be run by EVA's managing director Mikael Shields, who'll function as chief operating officer.
PHIL ROMAN has resigned from his post as chairman of the animation studio he founded, Film Roman, the company announced on Friday, February 12. Roman founded the company in 1984 which has since produced numerous series including GARFIELD, BOBBY'S WORLD, THE SIMPSONS, KING OF THE HILL and FELIX THE CAT.
Comedian and former SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE cast member Adam Sandler (THE WATERBOY, THE WEDDING SINGER) has signed with Columbia TriStar (a division of Sony Pictures) to develop a full-length animated musical comedy featuring a character based on him. Sandler, who is producing the film with his partner, Jack Giarraputo, will also voice the title character.
On Saturday, March 6, Sothebys of New York will hold an auction selling animation artwork from Disneys MULAN. One hundred fifty-seven pieces of art (140 animation cel set-ups, 9 character models and 8 publishing illustrations) will be for sale. Since the film was painted digitally and no cels were used, the hand-painted, hand-inked cel set-ups were specially created for the auction by Disney artists and are accompanied by original backgrounds or production overlays that were used in the film.
Helium Productions has produced a complete graphics package for Fox Network in collaboration with design company Big Media Group. Helium produced 19 minutes of 3D animation which is shown in IDs for "Just One Fox," menu beds and on-air promo material including opens, closes and backgrounds for all talent IDs.
CG Animation Director, Technical Dirctor and Senior CG Animators positions available at Montreal-based Cactus Animation
This week's comic unveils the strange and mysterious allure of an exotic woman...
Featured in the Animation World Store this week: The Aardman Collection and Special Offer on Limited Editions...
ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the seminar program for the upcoming Animation Expo...
CBS has renewed three NELVANA childrens series and placed 13-episode orders for three new series to debut this fall. Returning this fall for a second season are ANATOLE, FLYING RHINO JUNIOR HIGH and MYTHIC WARRIORS: GUARDIANS OF THE LEGEND. The new Nelvana series, all of which are designed to meet the FCC mandate, are BLASTER, RESCUE HEROS and THE NEW TALES FROM THE CRYPTKEEPER. The three NELVANA series that CBS cancelled are BIRDZ, FRANKLIN and DUMB BUNNIES.
Buena Vista International Television (BVI-TV) has signed a first-time volume agreement with NELVANA Enterprises (Paris) to air their programs on Disney Channel in Spain and Italy. BVI-TV will have first rights to NELVANAs production slate for Spain and Italy, acquiring between two and four new series a year. Disney Channel currently plans to air the following NEVLANA titles: NEDS NEWT (Spain), FRANKLIN (Italy, Spain), STICKIN AROUND (Italy, Spain), SAM AND MAX (Spain), LITTLE BEAR (Italy), JAKE AND THE KID (Italy), BIRDZ (Spain) and Rupert (Spain).
Cartoons on the Bay, taking place in Positano, Italy from April 20-24, is currently accepting entries until the February 22 deadline. The festival presents the Pulcinella Awards to animated series of all lengths and animated TV movies. For entry forms, call 39 0637 4983 15, fax 39 0637 3535 21 or visit http://www.raitrade.rai.it/cartoonsbay.
The 15th Annual San Diego International Film Festival is currently accepting entries for their Animation Celebration evening in May. There is no entry fee; however, there will be a cash prize for the top film. Send video cassettes to:
Animation CelebrationSan Diego International Film FestivalDept 0078, UCSD9500 Gilman DriveLa Jolla, CA92093-0078
For further information, call 619-534-0497 or e-mail rbaily@ucsd.edu.
Another AWN Exclusive - clips and images all 1999 Animated Short Oscar Nominees...
AWN's free Winter '99 Animation School Directory is your complete, indispensablereference guide to over 400 animation related schools and educationalprograms, from 34 countries...
Herbert "Herb" Klynn, a pioneer in motion picture and television animation, passed away on February 3 at the age of 81. Combining graphic design and artistic talents, he worked at UPA from 1944 to 1959 on classic characters like Mr. Magoo, Madeline and Gerald McBoing-Boing, eventually rising to become the studio's Vice President and Production Chief. In 1959, he founded Format Productions with Jules Engel and was responsible for the creation of such popular animation series as THE ALVIN SHOW, THE LONE RANGER, and THE CURIOSITY SHOP, a collaboration with director Chuck Jones.
The hit Japanese show POKéMON, currently in syndication in the U.S. and exclusively on Kids WB! next season, has been sold to Televisa (Mexico) and Record-TV (Brazil). Both networks will premiere the show in April/May as a five-day-a-week program. The show has also been sold to numerous other Latin American broadcasters including Magic TV and Channel 11 (Argentina), Etcetera and Chilevision Channel 6 (Chile), Caracol (Colombia), Telecorporation (El Salvador), Televicentro (Honduras), Frecuencia Latina (Peru) and Venevision (Venezuela).
Todd MacFarlane, creator of the comic book and late-night HBO animated series, SPAWN, revealed he was the anonymous person that bought baseball star Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball at a recent auction for over $3 million dollars. MacFarlane, who has had a lifelong love of the game, said that he will have the ball mounted in a glass case and tour the country speaking to kid groups about baseball.
Cable network FX has ordered 13 episodes of their first-ever animated comedy series, THE DICK AND PAULA CELEBRITY SPECIAL, produced by Tom Snyder Productions. The show, set to premiere in spring '99, will use a derivation of Snyder Productions' trademark computer-generated process, "SquiggleVision." The weekly half-hour series is about the behind-the-scenes goings on of a husband-and-wife talk show team (Dick and Paula). They interview contemporary stars, fictionalized characters and major historical figures.
ASIFA-Hollywood has announced more details about their Animation Expo taking place March 5-6, 1999 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium and Glendale Community College.
