Business
Cloud 9 For Sale.
The private owners of Marina del Rey, California-based Cloud 9 Interactive
plan to sell the company and its' holdings. Company co-founder, president
and CEO Debra Streiker-Fine is in discussions with five potential buyers,
and says a recent evaluation assesses that the company is worth $20 million.
In September 1997, Cloud 9 formed a television production division (AF
9/16/97), Cloud 9 Media, and announced a slate of several projects in development,
including animated series Zeroman (with Leslie Nielsen and Amberwood
Productions), I Can Be Three (with Epoch Entertainment) and the
development and licensing of original animated characters from Cloud 9's
interactive Learning Adventure CD-ROM titles. It is not yet known
what the fate of these projects will be.
Pulse Alums Get Jinx-ed. Former employees of Pulse Entertainment,
a game development company which recently formed P7, an alliance with 7th
Level Entertainment to focus on Internet-based interactive content, have
formed a new game development company called Jinx. Both P7 and publisher
Ripcord are minority shareholders in Jinx. Based in San Francisco and headed
by co-founders Vinny Carrella and Phill Simon, Jinx is continuing production
on Space Bunnies Must Die!, a game slated for release by Ripcord
Games in June. Jinx is also developing a sequel to the Pulse title, Bad
Mojo. "Pulse is going to concentrate on the burgeoning Internet
market and we wanted to stay focused on games," said Jinx president
and executive producer Phill Simon, "We've got some ideas for different
kinds of games which can be made faster and more cost-effectively."
M.P.S.C. Surveys Industry. The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Union
local 839 in Los Angeles released the results of its annual member survey.
39% of the Union's approximately 2,800 members replied to the survey, which
reveals some interesting, and sometimes amusing, information, such as:
16.9 % of Local 839 members are originally from outside of the U.S. . .
. 31.6% sometimes work non-union. . . . In the past year, 62.4% have worked
on animated features, 38.4% on television, 13.7% on direct-to-video and
7.8% on commercials. . . . 25% claim to be afflicted by "stress"
and 18% by "irreversible brain damage" as a work-related ailment.
. . . furthermore 54% do not know where their membership card is.
You can read the complete survey results within the January issue of The
Peg-Board on the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists web site on Animation
World Network.
http://www.awn.com/MPSC839/839INDEX.HTM
Marlon Schulman, vice president
of Bandai Entertainment's new
Home Video division.
Photo courtesy of Bandai.
Bandai Broadens Business. Tokyo-based
Bandai Visual, a division of toy manufacturer Bandai, has launched a new
CGI production division called Digital Engine. The company has also launched
Bandai Entertainment Video, a U.S.-based division which will handle home
video distribution in North America. Marlon W. Schulman, formerly of Orion,
has been named vice president of the new distribution division. Two animated
feature films are already in production through Digital Engine in Japan.
The first project, slated for completion in 1999, is Steam Boy,
a science-fiction adventure set in 19th century England and directed by
Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira). The second feature, directed by Mamoru
Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), is tentatively titled G.R.M. and
scheduled for release in 2000. The films will be distributed theatrically
before their respective video releases. Additional theatrical and direct-to-video
content is also being produced by Bandai-owned traditional animation house
Sunrise Studio in Japan.
(Colossal) Turns The Page On Chapter 11. San Francisco-based production
company (Colossal) Pictures, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
in May 1996, has agreed to a settlement offered by Cleveland, Ohio-based
company, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for an undisclosed amount. Colossal
filed a lawsuit against The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in June 1997, alleging
breach of contract when the former client canceled a multimedia exhibit
project which the studio was producing. The incident is cited by Colossal
as a contributing factor in the company's bankruptcy. As stated in Colossal's
Bankruptcy Agreement, the money received from The Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame will be distributed to Colossal creditors on a percentage basis. While
the company publicized an "emergence from Chapter 11" in December,
several unsecured creditors, including three former sales representatives,
will be paid only 29% of the outstanding invoices. "Colossal has gotten
away with staying in business without paying their debt. I believe the
amount of money left over for the unsecured creditors, who will be paid
last, will be little to nothing," said former Colossal rep Mary Vandamme.
Though operating on a much smaller scale, Colossal has had a flow of commercial
work during the past 18 months in bankruptcy. In December, Colossal signed
with two new sales representative companies, Creative Management Partners
and Bill Rabin & Associates.
For the backstory on this ongoing saga, visit Karl Cohen's article, "(Colossal)
Pictures Proves There is Life After Chapter 11,"
in the May 1997 issue of Animation World Magazine.
A talking excrement in Spumco's
web cartoon,
The Goddamn George Liquor Show. © Spumco.
John K. Says South Park Story Steals.
December's debut of the South Park
Christmas special on Comedy Central may have insulted some conservative
viewers with its religious mockery and toilet humor, but it has animator/director
John Kricfalusi feeling that imitation may not be the best form of flattery.
Kricfalusi, who is best-known as the creator of the cartoon show Ren
& Stimpy, says that last week's South Park episode stole
characters and concepts from several of his original properties. The South
Park episode features a singing, dancing piece of human excrement as
a main character named "Mr. Hankey." Kricfalusi says he created
a similar talking poop character for Dark Horse Comics over four years
ago, called "Nutty the Friendly Dump," which is still unpublished,
but was pitched to many networks, including Comedy Central, as part of
The Goddamn George Liquor Show, which Kricfalusi's company Spumco
now broadcasts as an episodic show on the Internet. The web cartoon's first
episode, "The Babysitter," which premiered October 15, 1997 (http://www.spumco.com),
introduced an entire family of talking poop characters, one of which is
complete with a hat and white gloves, like South Park's Mr. Hankey.
Comedy Central says Kricfalusi's claims have "no merit," and
that neither of South Park's creator/directors Matt Stone and Trey
Parker have ever seen the Spumco web site. Additionally, Comedy Central
spokesperson Laura Nelson said that the Mr. Hankey character was created
25 years ago by Trey Parker's father, as a potty-training incentive for
the young boy. The South Park Christmas episode was watched by over
4 million viewers on Wednesday, earning Comedy Central a record-high 5.4
rating.
In an interview with AWM, Kricfalusi pointed out that an early Christmas
episode of Ren and Stimpy called "Son of Stimpy" depicted
a similarly characterized talking fart. He also added that the show uses
the line, "you sick little monkey," popularized on Ren and
Stimpy, and also feels that the Mr. Hankey concept draws from Ren
and Stimpy's pseudo-commercial "Log." "We basically
gave up on TV a couple of years ago because we couldn't get anyone to understand
our humor," Kricfalusi said, "I know what the audience wants,
but I can never figure out what the network wants. It's frustrating when
a big distribution network shows up with a bunch of your jokes in one episode."
Despite his obvious frustration, Kricfalusi admits, South Park is
"the funniest show on TV right now."
Send your newsworthy items, press releases, and reels to:
Email: wendyj@awn.com
Fax: (213) 464-5914
Mail: Animation World Magazine
6525 Sunset Blvd. Garden Suite 10, Hollywood, CA 90028 USA
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