Animation
World Magazine, Issue 3.2, May 1998
People
Nancy Cartwright.
Simpsons Voices Settle. All
of the major voice actors on The Simpsons have renewed their contracts
with Twentieth Century Fox to continue their work on the series. The last
of the agreements were reached last week, after several weeks of contract
negotiations which had four of the actorsHank Azaria (Apu, Moe and others),
Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Krusty, Barney and others), Harry Shearer (Mr.
Burns, Ned Flanders and others) and Yeardley Smith (Lisa) requesting salaries
upwards of $100,000 per episode and producers poised to re-cast new voices
for the animated series. Nancy Cartwright (Bart) and Julie Kavner (Marge
and her sisters) had reached prior agreements with Fox. Production, which
had been put on hold during negotiations, began immediately with a script
reading on April 2 attended by all of the actors and a recording session
on April 6 for the 1998 Halloween episode. Daily Variety (4/3/98)
reported that the cast members' salaries will double to $50,000 per episode
next season (season 10), jump to $60,000 in season 11 and to $70,000 in
season 12, and that each actor will receive a $1 million bonus in the year
2005, though it's sources for this information were unnamed. Making light
of the situation, the most recent episode of The Simpsons which
aired on Sunday, April 5, opened with an inside joke that may have gotten
a laugh from people involved in the show's production, but probably stumped
most viewers. In the opening sequence, Bart wrote as his ever-changing
"chalkboard gag" phrase, "I will not demand what I'm worth."
Was this a comment on the contract negotiations? Fox declined comment.
But people involved in the show's pre-production at Film Roman said they
knew nothing of this added gag, and that it was most likely planted by
one of the producers at Gracie Films who has final approval of the show
in post-production.
Mike Judge.
Musical Chairs. Harvey Entertainment has not renewed its contracts with two of its top executives: chief executive officer (CEO) Jeffrey Montgomery and chief financial officer (CFO) Greg Yulish. Instead, the company has hired former All American Communications CEO Tony Scotti and former MGM chief financial officer Mike Hope to oversee operations for an interim six month period. It has been reported that Harvey's major shareholders on the board of directors prompted the change of management, for financial reasons. Concurrently, Harvey Entertainment has named Don Gold senior vice president of its new Harvey Home Video division, which will release two animated titles this year and three in 1999. Gold was previously senior vice president of sales and marketing at Trimark Pictures. . . . Palo Alto, California-based Pacific Data Images (PDI) has hired John Batter to the newly created position of Chief Financial Officer. He previously held the same post at DreamWorks Interactive where he was part of the start-up management team. Prior to DreamWorks, Batter was CFO for game developer Xatrix Entertainment. Batter's appointment will free up time for PDI founder and president Carl Rosendahl to move into a chairman's position. The company is also searching to fill an additional executive CEO or COO post to assist Rosendahl. In addition, PDI recently promoted Patty Wooton to senior vice president of production. . . . . Visual effects director Ric Ostiguy, animation director Gunnar Hansen, animator Alexandre Lafortune and executive producer Mario Doucet have formed Voodoo Arts, a new digital production studio in Montreal, Canada. All previously worked for Santa Monica, California-based Buzz Image Group (now part of POP). . . . Robyn Miller, co-creator of the CD-ROM game Myst and its sequel, Riven, is leaving Cyan, the company he founded with his brother Rand Miller, to launch a film development company called Land of Point. . . . Ridefilm producer Ellen Coss (Race to Atlantis, Star Trek: The Experience), has left Rhythm & Hues to form her own company with director Mario Kamberg (The Fantastic World of Hanna-Barbera, Seafari, Star Trek: The Experience). The new company, Escape Artists, Inc. will focus on ridefilms as well as mainstream theme park work such as attraction development, but will not be a closed production entity. "I would love to give work to Rhythm & Hues," said Coss, who worked at R&H for over five years and maintains a working relationship with the company. . . . Producer Kristina Reed also recently exited Rhythm & Hues to join Disney-owned effects studio Dreamquest Images. She is now working as a digital producer on the live-action feature film, Inspector Gadget. . . . King of the Hill writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland, along with the show's co-creator, Mike Judge have sold a pitch to Twentieth Century Fox for a live-action feature film called Lost in Duncanville. Mike Judge, who has a first look film and TV deal with Fox, will supervise development of, produce and may direct Duncanville. Judge is currently directing a live-action feature spin-off of his independently animated short, Office Space for Fox. Previously he directed the series and animated feature versions of the property he created, Beavis and Butt-Head for MTV. . . . New York-based visual effects/post-production company Manhattan Transfer has hired David Isyomin as visual effects supervisor. Isyomin previously held the same position at Digital Domain in Venice, California and also worked at R/Greenberg & Associates. . . . Chris Robinson, director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) has recently added an editorial role to his slate. He will be the editor of FPS, a Canadian print magazine about animation which was previously edited by Emru Townsend. Kelly Neall, a past co-director of OIAF, will be associate editor. FPS expects to print quarterly issues starting in fall 1998. . . . NELVANA Enterprises in Toronto has named Sean Murch director of Canadian Sales & Distribution. He was previously director of development at Natterjack Animation in Vancouver, and his background includes stints with Radical Entertainment and Red Rover Film Company. . . . New York and San Francisco-based commercial studio Curious Pictures has added five new designer/directors to it's roster: Sylvain Chomet is best known for his award-winning and Oscar-nominated animated short film, The Old Lady and the Pigeons and his career to date includes animating at U.K studios Richard Purdum Productions and Tandem Films; Andy Knight and Linzi Knight co-founded Toronto-based Red Rover Studios (Andy recently directed Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas for Disney, and is also the creator of the Fox/NELVANA animated series, Ned's Newt); Joan Raspo has worked for VH1 and Two Headed Monster; and Susan Smith is creative director at WIG, the graphics arm of Western Images in San Francisco. She will remain in this position while directing commercials for Curious. . . . New York-based broadcast design firm Lee Hunt Associates (LHA) has added two new executive producers to it's staff. Kate Cestar, formerly a producer at Fox Broadcasting, f/X Networks and Comedy Central, will be executive producer of Promos and Caarin Fleischmann, formerly of Crossroads Communications, will be executive producer of Long Form for LHA. . . .
CGI artists Agata Bolska and Debra Santosa
joined
San Francisco-based studio, Radium. Photos courtesy
of Radium.
San Francisco-based effects and animation house,
Tippett Studio has hired two new people to expand it's feature film
roster. Rose Duignan, who will join Tippett as marketing director,
was most recently development/management/marketing consultant for Rhythm
& Hues in Los Angeles. Her background also includes work at ILM and
Danger Productions (Bump in the Night). Joining Tippet as visual
effects supervisor is Bruce Nicholson, whose background includes
visual effects directing and supervising on Star Wars Trilogy Special
Edition, Special Effects (IMAX), and more than 30 other films
and commercials. . . . Klasky Csupo has named Vicki Ariyasu
director of development. In this position she will oversee the development
of all new television and feature film projects. Ariyasu was most recently
executive vice president of Bagdasarian Productions, and previously worked
at Caravan Pictures and Amblin Television. She also owns and operates an
independent consulting firm called Data Wranglers, whose clients include
The Disney Channel, Miramax and HBO. . . . San Francisco-based studio,
Radium has hired CGI artists Agata Bolska, formerly of Xaos,
and recent Academy of Arts graduate Debra Santosa to work on 3-D
computer animation for commercials and feature films.
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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