Business

King of the Hill. © Fox Broadcasting Company.

Film Roman Signs Licensing Agreement With MSH. MSH Entertainment Corp. has announced that it has entered into a development, co-production and cross licensing agreement with Film Roman, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will own a portion of the adjusted gross profits from the television broadcast, toy and merchandising licensing rights of each other's selected animated and live-action properties produced under the agreement. In addition, MSH will engage Film Roman for co-development funding and deficit financing of some of the properties. Film Roman produces The Simpsons and King Of The Hill, both of which appear on Fox Television. MSH Entertainment is a family oriented, multi-platformed company and brand marketer of exclusive original properties. It is also a creator of toy concepts, original as well as toys related to children's television series, specials and movies. Film Roman and MSH recently entered into an agreement with Jane Seymour, star of the TV show Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and James Keach, her husband, for the development of a merchandising and toy line and the production of an animated special written by Seymour and Keach titled This One 'N That One. The production is based upon their children's line of books published by Putnam & Co. that was inspired by their twin sons.

Chromacolour International Moves. Chromacolour, an international leader in the manufacture and sale of traditional and digital animation materials, software and equipment, has just moved their manufacturing operation to a new 20,000 square foot facility in North East Calgary, Canada. This is also the location of their global headquarters and Sales and Distribution center. The company's European Sales and Distribution center has been recently relocated to a new facility in London, England as well. Over its 20-year history, Chromacolour has developed a reputation for standing behind its promises and providing a growing range of new and improved products. Chromacolour's corporate philosophy is to provide the highest quality products and unparalleled customer service. For information contact: John Munro, Director, Marketing & Sales at (403) 250-5880 ext. 224 or visit Chromacolour's web site at http://www.chromacolour.com.

DreamWorks Pulls Out Of Studio Deal. DreamWorks SKG, the Hollywood film studio co-founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, pulled out of a deal to build a new $250 million studio on July 1, 1999 because it could not reach a financing agreement. DreamWorks said it was unable to reach a financing deal that "makes good business sense." The closely held company also cited rising construction costs and tougher financing terms due to the rebound in the Los Angeles real estate market. Last year DreamWorks signed a deal with developer Playa Capital Co. to acquire 47 acres in a development in the Playa del Rey area of Los Angeles to construct the first new Hollywood studio in sixty years. The headquarters and studio were to have been part of the 1,087-acre Playa Vista development, which had drawn years of environmental opposition because of its location near sensitive wetlands not far from the Pacific Ocean. Sources have reported that Los Angeles billionaire Gary Winnick and Union Labor Life Insurance had intended to lend DreamWorks $200 million, but negotiations did not go smoothly. DreamWorks had planned to build nearly 1.5 million square feet of facilities, including at least eight sound stages, for its live-action film, music, television, consumer products and other divisions. DreamWorks says it could expand its operations in Glendale, north of downtown Los Angeles, where it has already built an animation studio.

Disney And Katzenberg Settle Suit. The Walt Disney Co. and former Disney head executive Jeffrey Katzenberg have settled a lawsuit for undisclosed terms, thus ending a months long public trial. Since it began in April, the trial has produced many headlines as Katzenberg sought to secure from Disney two percent of future income derived from all movies, TV shows and merchandise made while he was studio boss from 1984 to 1994. Katzenberg estimated his share of the bonus, which was part of his employment contract with Disney, to be anywhere between $382 million and $580 million in court filings. Disney put the figure closer to $140 million. Katzenberg, who already had been paid $91.3 million in bonus money, said he was pleased to resolve the matter, but neither he nor Disney have made the final settlement figure available to the public. Along with former Disney President Frank Wells, Eisner and Katzenberg were largely credited with turning around Disney's animated films and other operations in the mid-1980s. Disney grew from what was considered a moribund company in Hollywood when the three men took over in 1984, to one of the world's largest entertainment companies with theme parks, a movie studio, TV production and cable TV operations by the time Katzenberg left 10 years later. During the trial, however, Disney tried to paint Katzenberg as a poorly performing executive whose live-action movies lost around $231 million during his tenure. Katzenberg's legal team, led by noted entertainment attorney Bert Fields, took the position that Katzenberg's movies may have lost money early, but would be become profitable through ancillary markets such as home video, toys, and satellite TV in the future. Fields argued Disney denied Katzenberg the bonus only because of the "personal animus" of Eisner, and at one point charged Eisner with labeling Katzenberg a "little midget" to help prove his case. Comments like that, and others in which Eisner compared himself to a cheerleader and Katzenberg to a pom-pom, had other Hollywood executives groaning about the negative headlines being generated around the world from the trial. By mid-May retired Judge Paul Breckenridge, acting as a referee in the case, ruled Disney did owe Katzenberg the bonus, and a new phase of the trial was started to calculate exactly how much the bonus was worth. The second phase ended with Wednesday's announced settlement.

Touchstone TV Merges With ABC. Walt Disney-owned companies Touchstone Television Productions and ABC Television Group are merging to form ABC Entertainment Television Group. According to ABC Television Group president Pat Fili-Krushel, "The goal in consolidation is to produce creative results that result in more Disney product on ABC and also allow us to achieve economies of scale." In other words, this consolidation will likely result in more Disney-produced television programming appearing on ABC (Touchstone currently has only two shows debuting this fall, and only one of those for ABC), but some people will lose their jobs as redundant positions are eliminated. Sources say this consolidation is part of a major restructuring currently underway at Disney that will be announced and become more evident in the near future.

Mercury Filmworks Adds 3D. One year old Vancouver-based Mercury Filmworks, a fully equipped digital animation facility, has added 3D production to its list of in-house services. Currently, the 3D animation department at Mercury is working on the television series D'Myna Leagues, which has been created and developed by Vancouver-based animation house Studio B, and is slated to air on Canada's CTV/VTV in January 2000. With the addition of the new 3D department, Mercury is now unique in its ability to take not just a single show or special, but a full episodic series from paint through to on-line editing, audio, network packaging and delivery. They also offer 3D prop and set integration, compositing, special effects, and complete post production services.

Cartoon Network Forms Cartoon Network Studios. Cartoon Network is forming Cartoon Network Studios, an independent production facility to develop and produce original animated programming for the 24-hour, all-cartoon cable channel. The new, Los Angeles-based facility, due to begin operation by the end of the year, will give Cartoon Network more control over series development, production, and administration procedures. Among the series that the new studio will produce are the currently airing The Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, and Dexter's Laboratory. Staff and talent currently associated with these shows will retain their positions at Cartoon Network Studios. Before this news was officially announced, there were rumors that the Hanna-Barbera studio had been renamed Cartoon Network Studios. This is not true. According to a Cartoon Network spokesperson, "Cartoon Network Studios is a separate entity created for production of Cartoon Network originals. Hanna-Barbera still exists under the Warner Bros. domain and will continue to create 'classic' material such as Scooby-Doo specials." This move appears to be the final chapter in the reorganization of Time-Warner's animation divisions since the merger with Turner Broadcasting in late 1996. Now Warner's Feature Animation and TV Animation production divisions, as well as Hanna-Barbera, are united under President Jean MacCurdy, while Cartoon Network is forming a separate studio to feed their competing network.