Douglas Greiff has left his position as VP of program development at Nickelodeon to join Hip TV as partner and head of production. Specializing in Latin-themed programming, Hip TV has produced original programming in English, Spanish and Portuguese for USA Networks, E! Entertainment Television, The Discovery Channel and Fox Sports World, among others. Hip TV founder Beatriz Acevado said, “I’m delighted to have Doug as a partner in Hip TV.

The terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. on September 11th touched people worldwide, and many cartoonists have turned to art to express their grief. 9-11: EMERGENCY RELIEF is a comic book project to benefit the American Red Cross featuring some of the comic world's leading talents from legendary creators such as Will Eisner to hot new talents such as artist Frank Cho, who’s original artwork for the cover of the book recently sold at Baltimore Comic-Con's benefit auction for $5,000, with the money going to the American Red Cross.

Visual effects and graphic designer Victor Barroso has been named director of the newly created graphics & visual effects division at PostWorks, New York. Victor has spent the last three years as the director of graphics and effects at Flicker fx, the New York-based visual effects/design shop he co-founded in 1998. Prior to that he was director of graphics and effects at Edefx, New York. Victor brings his training as a painter and illustrator to his work and is equally comfortable on Avid Media Illusion, Henry, Hal, Discreet Logic’s Flame/Inferno systems and Nothing Real’s Shake.

MoCap systems manufacturer Motion Analysis Corporation has hired Jeff Thingvold as VP of application engineering and Napoleon Hambrick as VP of new media sales for North America, South America and Japan. Focusing on the new media animation sector of the motion-capture industry, Jeff Thingvold will coordinate the development of all software tools and incorporate customers' current and future needs into software technology designs. Prior to joining Motion Analysis Corporation, Jeff was the chief technology officer at Lambsoft.

Ed Leonard, head of technology at DreamWorks Animation, has been promoted to a position where he will oversee technology for all DreamWorks animation facilities. His responsibilities now encompass both traditional and computer-animated film productions at DreamWorks’ Glendale facility, as well as the PDI/DreamWorks location in Northern California. Leonard will also play a key role in setting up a new CG production pipeline in Glendale. Due to launch in the next year, the new production arm will be a state-of-the-art computer animation studio.

Santa Monica-based commercial and film production company Steam has added creative directors Rob Legato and Ron Ames and executive producer Marcy Frey to their roster. Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Rob Legato will be working with Steam as creative director. Rob continues to be represented by Sony Imageworks for feature film visual effects assignments. His credits as a visual effects supervisor include HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, CAST AWAY, WHAT LIES BENEATH and ARMAGEDDON.

Todd Waterman has been named director of animation for ImagineAsia, Inc., one of the principle companies of Global Animation Holdings. He will be based out of the company’s facilities in Manila, Philippines. Waterman has an extensive background as an animator, storyboard artist, character designer and animation director. He began his career working on the animated features AN AMERICAN TAIL, ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN and ROCK-A-DOODLE among others. He then worked for Steven Spielberg at his London-based studio, Amblimation, on the animated dinosaur feature WE’RE BACK.

The 4th Annual Writers Guild of America, west (WGAw) Animation Writing Award was presented to producer Alan Burnett at the WGAw annual meeting and reception on Wednesday, October 17, 2001. In the words of the board, the award is given to the caucus or guild member who has advanced the literature of animation in film and/or television through the years, and who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer.

With three major animation series currently in production and one more scheduled to start production next month, the U.K.-based animation house Telemagination has expanded its digital ink and paint studio. John McManus joins the company as senior compositor and Alistair Beckett and Neil Harris have been contracted as compositors, all to begin working immediately on the in-house production, PONGWIFFY.

So! Animation, a creative, cross-platform design shop, has joined forces with John Lovelace, So!'s new partner and executive producer/director of new business development. Former executive producer and director of new business development for the New York division of Click 3X, Lovelace brings the skills and knowledge gained at Click 3x to So! and will lead the company in their commitment to target commercial spots as well as long-form. Coinciding with the addition of Lovelace, So!