In its 17th year, the Showbiz Expo and Conference is a major spot for companies to showcase their production products and discuss the future of the entertainment industry. Among this year's seminars will be "Digital Hollywood: Bringing Entertainment Project Management into the New Millennium." The event will be hosted by Creative Planet and feature a look at how new technology will transform the efficiency of entertainment production. Another seminar of interest is "Storyboards For People Who Can't Draw." The discussion will be lead by James O. Fraioli, the author of STORYBOARDING 101. On Saturday, the expo will hold "Compositing Live-Action and Animation." The seminar will be moderated by Mark Simon, author of STORYBOARDS: MOTION IN ART and owner of AARGH! Animation Inc. On Sunday, there will be a seminar entitled "Live-Action Special Effects." Various other seminars will center on production, direction, scriptwriting and much more.

DancesWithFilms is a competitive event featuring a line-up of more than a dozen full-length narrative films and sixteen narrative shorts. DWF's mission is to open a venue for new and upcoming filmmakers to present their work without the fear of politics overshadowing their screen time. The criteria for entries are: 1. Is the person attached able to raise financing (even small sums) at any point based solely on the "name"? 2. Is the person attached able to open doors that might otherwise stay closed? (They do not exclude "working" persons in the industry.) The film must have been completed no later then January 1998.

Cartoon Master, sponsored by Cartoon the European Animation Association, will delve into the expanding opportunities on the Internet. The focus of the event will be to take a look at the legal terrain of the Web and how it affects producers. In the first session on Friday, the program will define what new media is and how it will affect professionals in production, distribution and ownership. Later on Friday, the discussion will focus on how television programming will be affected by the new medium. The first session on Sunday will center on the field of rights on the Net. Finishing up the event will be a discussion on Internet rules, legislation and territory development.

The Nantucket Film Festival is dedicated to screenwriters. The event will feature film screenings, staged readings, morning chats with writers, panel discussions, forums and an awards ceremony for best writer, feature and short. This year screenwriter Paul Schrader (TAXI DRIVER, MISHIMA) will be honored. The sponsors for the event are Entertainment Weekly, NBC, Showtime, iCast and Listerine.

The 14th World Festival of Animated Films - Zagreb 2000 is an ASIFA sanctioned event dedicated to the art of animation. Categories are: work from 30 sec. to 6 min. long; work from 6 min. - 15 min. long; work 15min. to 30 min. long, and artists film debuts. Submissions can be sent on VHS tapes, but for screening a film print or a BETACAM SP PAL tape must be provided. Award with cash prizes will be given as follows: grand prize, a first prize in each time oriented catagories, and best first production.

Be a part of Playboy's rich heritage of cartoon humor. Participate in Playboy's Comix and Animation Contest. Win $25,000 and a one-year contract with Playboy. All multimedia formats welcome: Shockwave, Flash, videotape, pen and ink and more. Animation entry running time must not be over 5 minutes. Grand prize winner receives $25,000. Five honorable mentions will also be selected. Judges include Scott Adams, Award winning creator of Dilbert, and Kevin Smith, Writer/Director of hit films "Chasing Amy" and "Dogma." As with any contest there are lots of rules and regulations. So go to Playboy web site or call (888) 875-4WEB and (330) 247-2000 outside the U.S. or Canada for all the information you need to enter.

The Vancouver Effects and Animation Festival (VEAF) will showcase all types of effects work and animation during its six-day celebration. Everything from realistic water effects to traditional cel animation work. Some of the categories are: Commercials (animated), Commercials (effects), Feature Film (animated), Feature Film (effects), Music Videos (animated), Music Videos (effects), Short Films, Titles, Idents, PSAs and Stings, Simulations, Education and Training videos, Student work, CD-Roms and Web sites.

The Singapore Animation Fiesta 2000 will highlight creativity in animation. The festival will feature screenings of top animation from around the world as well as workshops and forums. Sponsored by Temasek Polytechnic, the event will feature screenings ranging from Toei, Japan's largest animation studio, to Betty Boop, and from Aardman animation to the edgy wonders of Barry Purves. Workshops during the festival will center on stop-motion with clay, 3D Studio Max, creating human models in Maya and Anime-style drawing. Barry Purves, Digital FilmWorks' Chris Leone and Digital Anvil's Chris Olivia will all be conducting master classes. The forums will focus on computer games, video game modeling techniques and violence in anime.

The DH Institute of Media Arts is hosting a one-day Drawing Workshop instructed by Glenn Vilppu. This class will introduce attendees to Basic Drawing and Figure Construction. The time will be 11 am - 3 pm, with a lunch break from 12:30 - 1 pm. The tuition will be US$75 for non-students and $60 for students. Vilppu is an instructor at Disney and Warner Bros. Feature Animation, as well as the American Animation Institute, UCLA, DreamWorks and Rhythm & Hues.

Want to get a hold of Glenn Vilppu's instructional drawing books? Visit the AWN Store at www.awn.com/awnstore.

The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) will host a three-part multi-disciplinary exhibition titled "RISD FILM: A Celebration of Contributions to the Film Industry." Curated by Burleigh Smith, head of the Film Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, "RISD FILM" will feature works by such noted RISD alumni as Gus Van Sant '75, Martha Coolidge '68, Mary Lambert '74, Bob Richardson '79, Jean De Segonzac '75 and Seth MacFarlane '95. The event will include an invitational afternoon event for industry executives, agents, managers and media; an evening fundraising event at the DGA on June 8; and a special public screening at Santa Monica College on June 10. The afternoon exhibition at the DGA will be 6 hours in its entirety, divided among the three screening rooms by animation/features, advertising/television/music videos and shorts/independents. The industry screening is scheduled from 2 - 5 pm. The fundraiser's festivities on Thursday evening from 7 - 10 pm will feature a compilation screening of selected works from the exhibition. MacFarlane, whose senior thesis at RISD evolved into the current version of FAMILY GUY, of which he is creator and executive producer, will serve as Master of Ceremonies. All proceeds from this event will be used for scholarships for film, animation and video students at RISD.