Germany's EM.TV found success with its first installment of the whimsical series FAIRY TALE POLICE DEPARTMENT (FTPD), which has sold to broadcasters in France, Italy, Spain, Latin America, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Africa and the Ukraine. Therefore, EM.TV will be bringing another round of FTPD to this year's show. The second series of FTPD (13 x 24-minutes) follows a special unit of the secret service that fights crime in the fairy tale world. FTPD agents Johnny Legend and his partner Chris Anderson ensure that all fairy tale favorites really do live happily ever after.

A new 13 x 10-minute series being billed as the first CG series from Africa is currently in pre-production at Johannesburg, South Africa studio AnimMate. "The series will be entirely produced by African talent in South Africa," Tanja Botha of Johannesburg-based Animation Africa, which is distributing the series, told C21 MEDIA. "It's a first for Africa.

The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, will offer a bachelor of science in Game Art & Design beginning in fall 2002. The Art Institute Online currently offers programs in graphic design and multimedia and Web design in an interactive, faculty-facilitated, asynchronous format that allows students to log in to complete their classes 24 hours a day, seven days a week at their convenience, making it ideal for students with irregular schedules or those who live in areas far from a brick-and-mortar school.

Program distribution and
development company CABLEready has inked a deal with Tokyo's SSA
Productions for key international TV rights to SLAMMIN' SAMMY, an
animated one-hour biography of Sammy Sosa, the Dominican-born Major
League Baseball star. The deal includes all of South and Central
America, the Caribbean (except the Dominican Republic), Asia's
Pacific Rim, Europe, Canada and Africa. SLAMMIN' SAMMY -- THE SAMMY
SOSA STORY traces Sosa's life from the hardships of his youth as a

Hallmark Entertainment has named Michael R. Oesterlin as director, International Sales where he will oversee Hallmark Entertainment programming sales throughout French-speaking territories, Turkey and Russia, and video worldwide. Before joining the company, Oesterlin was a sales executive for Warner Bros. International Television. While there, he was responsible for selling Warner Bros. programming to Free TV broadcasters throughout Africa, Israel, the Middle East and Turkey.

TAKALINI SESAME, the South African version of the popular children's series SESAME STREET, will be introducing an HIV-positive role model into the Muppet cast. The ASSOCIATED PRESS has reported that, at the urging of the South African government, representatives of the Sesame Workshop have decided an HIV-positive Muppet character will join the series in September 2002. "We want to build hope and address the issues of stereotypes against HIV," said Yvonne Kgame of the South African Broadcasting Corp., which airs the program.

He's no Michael Jordan, but Brendan Fraser (THE MUMMY, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE) has signed on to be the live-action star in Warner Bros. Pictures new live-action/animation feature film LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION (what… no SPACE JAM II?). Production is scheduled to begin on July 29, 2002, in southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada, with animation production at the Warner Bros. Animation facilities in Sherman Oaks, California.

TV-Loonland subsidiary Loonland Animation in Budapest has created and donated a short film in support of UNICEF. "Cartoons for Children's Rights" is a UNICEF broadcast initiative that aims to inform people around the world about child rights. So far, the effort has forged partnerships with nearly 70 animation studios in 32 countries that have developed 30-second non-verbal public service announcements (PSAs). UNICEF distributes the PSAs to broadcasters for the cost of the tape.

Fremantle International Distribution (FID) will be launching a second series of the animated adventures of BILLY THE CAT at NATPE 2002. Based on the books created by Stéphane Colman and Stephen Desberg, BILLY THE CAT is the story of a boy who is transformed into a cat as punishment for being cruel to animals. BILLY THE CAT has already been well-received by broadcasters worldwide, with sales of the first series to the U.S., the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Benelux, Australia, Latin America, South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

BartSoft Inc., based in Mississauga, Ontario and specializing in flash animation, web design and multimedia programming is looking for a SALES REP/AGENT . . . Columbus, Ohio's Columbus College of Art & Design is looking for an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER ANIMATION . . . Sherman Oaks, California's David Evans Center for Conflict Resolution is looking for a CARTOONIST to draw a comic strip . . . Manila, Philippine's ImagineAsia, Inc. is looking for a CG SUPERVISOR . . .Saint James, New York's Inky Dinky Animation Studios is looking for a 3D ARTIST AND ANIMATOR . . .