People
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| Anne Sweeney has been named president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks. Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company. |
Musical Chairs.
Anne Sweeney has been named president
of Disney/ABC Cable Networks, filling a position left vacant when
Geraldine Laybourne left in June to form her own media company. Since 1996,
Sweeney has been president of the Disney Channel, a title she will retain
with the promotion, which will add several programming outlets under her
wing: Lifetime, A&E, The History Channel and E! Entertainment Television,
as well as ABC's Saturday morning line-up. Prior to Disney, Sweeney was
at FX for three years and at Nickelodeon for 12. . . . Film Roman
has hired Mitchell Solomon as president of its new feature film
division, which is currently developing live-action films. He was previously
senior vice president of production at Filmcolony. . . . Fox
Kids Network has hired Patricia LaVigne as vice president of
on-air promotions. She was previously with the ad agency Pittard Sullivan's
European office in Munich but will now be based in Los Angeles.. . . .London-based
multi-media and animation studio Pepper's Ghost Productions has
hired Alan Marques as head of digital production. He was previously
at The Magic Camera Company. . . . Los Angeles-based Sony Pictures Imageworks
(SPI) has hired animation director Henry Anderson to work on
the feature film Stuart Little. Anderson was most recently at Blue
Sky|VIFX in New York. SPI has also hired George Joblove as vice
president of technology, a newly-created position. He was previously technology
director at R/GA Digital in New York. . . . Everland Entertainment,
distributors of the Veggie Tales animated home video series, has
hired Rick Forsythe as executive director. He was previously with
Rainfall Educational Toys, Chariot Media and Family Christian Stores. .
. . DreamWorks has cast several movie stars to play the voices of
characters in its animated feature Shrek. Mike Myers will
play the title character, a monster who was originally going to be voiced
by the late comedian Chris Farley. The film will also feature voices by
Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow and Linda
Hunt. Shrek, slated for release in 2000, is currently in pre-production
at PDI in Palo Alto, California. . . . Robert Rehme has been re-elected
president of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.)
for a second consecutive one-year term. He was also president for one term
in 1992-93. The A.M.P.A.S. Board of Governors was also recently elected.
William C. Littlejohn has been re-elected to the short films and
animation branch, which is also represented by Carl Bell and June Foray,
whose three-year terms are staggered to renew in 1999 and 2000. . . . The
board of directors of The Writers Guild Of America (WGA) West voted
last week to terminate the contract of its executive director Brian
Walton, who has held the position for 13 years. This issue of Animation
World Magazine includes <an article about WGA's Animation Writers
Caucus>. . . . . Blue Sky|VIFX's president Richard Hollander
has been named an industry advisor for the American Museum of the Moving
Image in New York. The company will also participate in two upcoming presentations
at the museum: "T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous" and "Behind
the Screen.". . . . London-based Cartoon Network U.K. has promoted
Brett Foraker to the newly-created position of creative director,
a role in which he will oversee production of on-air promos. . . .
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| Denis Morella, creative director of Curious Pictures, San Francisco. Photo courtesy of Curious Pictures. |
San Francisco-based Curious Pictures has
promoted Denis Morella to the newly-created position of creative
director of the West Coast office. He joined Curious in September, 1996
after serving as a director at (Colossal) Pictures. Curious also promoted
Holly Edwards from to senior producer. She joined Curious in January,
1997. . . . Composer Carter Burwell will write the theme song for
the animated series Dilbert which will premiere on UPN in January.
. . . Tim Hill, creator of Nickelodeon's Action League Now! (part
of the Kablam! series) will direct the live-action/puppet feature
film, Muppets in Space for the Jim Henson Company and Columbia Pictures.
This will be a first-time feature film directing job for Hill. . . North
Hollywood-based Film Roman has hired several new recruits to work
on the animated series, Family Guy. Roy Smith (formerly of
Saban) and Peter Shin (formerly of Klasky Csupo) will be co-animation
producers, and John Bush (formerly of Hyperion) will be line producer.
. . . David Silverman has joined Pixar Animation Studio to
direct animated features. After Silverman exited his post at DreamWorks
Feature Animation several months ago, there was widespread speculation
about where he would be headed next. Before joining DreamWorks, he was
a key creative on The Simpsons, and worked with Matt Groening to
develop the show. Pixar has not yet announced on which film Silverman will
be working. . . . Children's Television Workshop (CTW) has named
Alice Cahn group president, television, film and video, filling
a position vacated in May by former vice president of production Marjorie
Kalins. Cahn is no stranger to CTW; she was previously director of children's
programming for PBS, which airs several TV series produced by CTW. . .
. The Jim Henson Company hired Susan Frank as executive vice
president of corporate marketing worldwide. She was previously executive
vice president of worldwide marketing and promotions for the Fox Children's
Network, where she worked with Margaret Loesch, now president of Jim
Henson Television. . . . Warner Bros. Online has hired Harry
Medved as director of public relations. He previously held a similar
position at InterActive Agency. . . . The late Roy O. Disney (d. 1971),
brother and business partner of Walt Disney and father of current Walt
Disney Company chairman Roy E. Disney, has been honored with a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The memorial was dedicated on July 27 in front
of the Disney-owned El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Down the
street, Walt Disney's star was one of the original 1500 installed in the
Walk of Fame in the 1960s. . . . .So long, Los Angeles, Bonjour Paris!
David Stainton has been promoted to the position of senior vice
president of creative affairs for Walt Disney Feature Animation.
In the new role, Stainton will relocate from Los Angeles to guide production
in WDFA's Paris studio, focusing mainly on the production of the animated
feature film, Tarzan. Stainton joined Disney in 1989 and was most
recently vice president of creative affairs. . . . Elie Dekel has
been named executive vice president of Fox Family Worldwide's new
consumer products division, which will oversee the company's home video,
promotions and licensing & merchandising activities. Dekel, who joined
Saban Entertainment (now part of Fox family) in 1990, was promoted from
the position of executive vice president of marketing & advertising
for Fox Family Worldwide. . . . Dream Quest Images, the feature
film visual effects division of the Walt Disney Company, has hired V.
Scott Jones as vice president finance/chief financial officer. Most
recently, he was a freelance financial consultant, subsequent to serving
as CFO and corporate treasurer at American Cybercast Corporation. He has
also held finance management positions at ABC and The Walt Disney Company.
. . .
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| Mike Judge, superstar. Photo courtesy of MTV. |
Mike Judge,
creator of Beavis & Butt-head (MTV) and co-creator of King
of the Hill (Fox), has signed a four-year contract with Fox Television,
in which he will develop live-action and animated series for the network.
He will also retain his position as executive producer of King of the
Hill and will continue to voice its characters, Hank Hill and Boomhauer.
Daily Variety (8/4/98) estimates the new deal is worth U.S. $16
million. . . . . Actor Hank Azaria (Apu and Moe on The Simpsons
and Bartok in Anastasia ) will be the voice of Eric Feeble in the
American dub of the animated TV series Stressed Eric for NBC. Although
the original soundtrack is in English, NBC dubbed a new voice track over
the main character's British accent to make the dialogue more comprehensible
to American viewers. A co-production of Absolutely Productions, the BBC
and Klasky Csupo, the show will premiere on NBC on August 12 at 9:30 p.m.
. . . Actor Michael J. Fox has signed with Columbia Pictures to
play the voice of the lead character--a computer animated mouse--in the
live-action/computer animation feature film, Stuart Little. Additional
characters will be voiced by actors Gene Wilder, Bruno Kirby
and Jennifer Tilly. The film, being directed by Rob Minkoff, will
feature visual effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks and will be released
in late 1999.The film, being directed by Rob Minkoff, will feature visual
effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks and will be released in late 1999.
. . .
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| Grant Adam, a CG artist at Manhattan Transfer. Photo courtesy of Manhattan Transfer. |
Manhattan Transfer
has hired CG artist Grant Adam to work in its visual effects department.
He previously ran his own company, Uncommon Characters, in Victoria, Australia.
. . . Animator/illustrator Rob Zammarchi, artist Matt Duchame
and graphic designer Karen Kutka have joined the staff of Boston-based
Fablevision Studios. . . . New York-based Brian Diecks Design
has hired designer Amanda Hayes and assistant producer Marcia
Finn. . . . Atlanta-based Crawford Communications has acquired
the company Taylor McCormick Graphics, and hired its founding owners Robert
Taylor and Michael McCormick as director of computer graphics
and CG animation director, respectively, for Crawford's 3-D animation and
digital effects division. . . .
Karl Cohen Recovering. Karl Cohen, president of ASIFA-San Francisco,
animation historian and author of Forbidden
Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators
is recovering from a stroke suffered late last month. He has canceled his
engagements to speak at the Society for Animation Studies Conference, the
NuArt Cinema in Los Angeles and the Ottawa Animation Festival. However,
some of these upcoming events will still take place as scheduled, but with
Cohen's colleagues filling in for screenings of films highlighted in Cohen's
book, Forbidden Animation. Get-well wishes for Karl may be sent
to AWN, where they will be forwarded directly to him at a hospital in San
Francisco. Please send clearly marked cards and letters by mail to:
Karl Cohen
c/o AWN
6525 Sunset Blvd. Garden Suite 10
Hollywood, CA 90028 U.S.A.
No e-mail messages, please.02 Anne Sweeney has been named president of
Disney/ABC Cable Networks. Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company.
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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