Izzy's Quest For Olympic Gold © 1993 ACOG.

Kids across the US and around the world love Izzy! At least that's what the people at the Atlanta Olympic Games would like you to believe. After all, Izzy is the much-publicized mascot of the Atlanta Games, whose persona has appeared on a whole range of merchandise; he also appears as the star of his own animated TV special, Izzy's Quest For Olympic Gold, something of a first for an Olympic mascot.

Izzy was unveiled as a "simple little mascot" during the closing ceremony of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Officials of the Atlanta Games turned to children around the United States to help define the character who was only known up until then as "Whatizit." Their final choice was Izzy, after the judges considered such other names as Jimmy Nastics, Link D. World, and I. M. There. Now that Izzy was alive, another contest was held where children were called upon to write stories about Izzy as their new Olympic hero. The "Great Adventures of Izzy" writing campaign began in October 1993 and more 85,000 children wrote stories for Izzy, many of which will be displayed during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

As part of the effort to market Izzy, the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Properties (ACOP) decided to star him in an animated television special. (ACOP is the marketing arm of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.) ACOP finally selected Film Roman, the North Hollywood studio, known for such animated stars as Garfield and Bart Simpson, as the "official studio" for the 1996 Olympic Games--something of a first in both Olympic and animation history.

Carol Corwin, producer for Izzy's Quest For Olympic Gold, recalls that ACOP's selected Film Roman because, "they liked the fact that we were a modest company and [studio head] Phil Roman stays involved throughout the whole process. We were honored to be chosen. Everyone felt proud to be involved on the Izzy project because our quality standards matched ACOP's."

Phil Roman, Film Roman's President and CEO, commented that, "When ACOP first approached us, we didn't think Izzy was an animatable character. We needed to add spunk and energy. That required creating a full personality in addition to an appealing friendly look. It needed to be eye-catching and captivating not only to children, but adults need to be drawn to it as well".

However, any change to Izzy's design needed to be subtle, since the character had already been widely licensed and merchandise distributed. With the help of animators Guy Vasilovick and Roger Sciasson, the studio put together a 40 second pilot for ACOP which showed Izzy going through a range of animated movements. From playing tennis to throwing a javelin to gymnastics, trying to imbue Izzy with exuberance and energy; in so doing, they had him morph his body into different shapes to facilitate each activity. They also added a nose to Izzy's face and fixed up his teeth a bit. Roman explained that, "We came up with a look to give him more life, a personality and warmth. We needed to change the character to make him more workable for animation. Izzy needed more punch and I think we did a good job of it".