ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 4.11 - FEBRUARY 2000

People

Charles Schulz Retires. Charles Schulz, the creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the entire Peanuts gang, decided that he will retire in order to concentrate on beating his newly diagnosed cancer. This decision ended almost five decades of Schulz's world-famous comic. Schulz, who has always refused to let another artist draw Peanuts, stopped producing new daily panels as of January 3, 2000 but allowed his syndicators to recycle comic strips from 1974 if newspapers still wanted to run the strip. On a daily basis, Peanuts is published in more than 2,600 newspapers around the world, reaching 355 million readers in 75 countries and 21 languages. There have been more than 50 Peanuts animated TV specials, more than 1,400 books selling 300 million copies and four feature films, not to mention museum retrospectives and Web page tributes. The first Peanuts strip appeared in seven newspapers on October 2, 1950. Since then, Peanuts became the most widely syndicated comic strip in history. Schulz retired to his home in Santa Rosa, about 50 miles north of San Francisco, where he will focus on his recovery. "I have always wanted to be a cartoonist, and I feel very blessed to have been able to do what I loved for almost 50 years," the 77-year-old Schulz said in an open letter to his friends and fans in some 75 countries. "That all of you have embraced Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and all the other Peanuts characters has been a constant motivation for me." Good grief! What shall we read on a Sunday morning? We salute the master and wish for a quick and easy recovery.

Disney's Former Internet Exec Convicted. On Thursday, December 16, 1999, a federal court jury convicted former Walt Disney Internet executive, 34-year-old Patrick Naughton, of possessing child pornography, but deadlocked on charges that he crossed state lines seeking sex with a "13-year-old girl" which he arranged via the Internet. Naughton's lawyers asked that he remain free on bail awaiting an appeal, however the request was denied due to the fact that federal law requires persons convicted of crimes of violence to be jailed upon waiting for an appeal. Therefore due to the nature of the conviction, Naughton was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals immediately after the verdicts were read. The former head of Disney's Go Network, had testified that his on-line chats with an FBI agent posing as the girl named Kris in the "dad&daughtersex" chat room were fantasy role-playing and that he assumed his conversation partner was a much older woman. Naughton claims that the pictures of naked children found in his computer were sent to him without his knowledge. The original arrest took place on September 16, 1999 at the Santa Monica pier, where Naughton had arranged a rendezvous with "Kris" after flying to Burbank from Seattle to attend a meeting at Disney headquarters. He could face a possible ten years in prison at his sentencing hearing on Sunday, March 5, 2000.

Ex-Go.Com Exec Freed From Jail. As was reported [AF 12/21/99], a federal court jury convicted former Walt Disney Internet executive, 34-year-old Patrick Naughton, of possessing child pornography, but deadlocked on charges that he crossed state lines seeking sex with a "13-year-old girl" which he arranged via the Internet. On Wednesday, December 22, 1999, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie reversed his own ruling and released Naughton from jail, saying it was likely that he would win a new trial. On Friday, December 17, 1999, a day after Naughton's conviction, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned part of the federal Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, which Naughton was convicted under, as unconstitutional. The court found that Congress went too far when it outlawed materials which "appear to be" or "convey the impression" that they are sexually explicit pictures of kids. Naughton's defense argued that higher courts typically hold that if any part of a law is found unconstitutional, a conviction under that law can't stand. Originally on Monday, December 20, 1999, Judge Rafeedie contested that Naughton must stay in jail because the 9th Circuit's ruling did not apply to his case. The judge said the appeals court's decision affected only cases involving computer-generated images made to resemble children -- not sexually graphic pictures of actual minors. In Naughton's case, he said, prosecutors had proven that some of the pictures found in Naughton's computer at the time of his arrest were of real children by tracing them to a criminal investigation in Britain. However on Wednesday, Rafeedie finally conceded to the defense's argument and ordered the former Internet exec freed on $100,000 bail. Naughton was arrested September 16, 1999 on the pier in Santa Monica, California, where he had arranged a rendezvous with "Kris," an under-cover FBI agent, after flying to nearby Burbank from Seattle to attend a meeting at Disney headquarters. Naughton, who appeared in court Wednesday handcuffed and shackled, unshaven and wearing a jail uniform, was clearly relieved by the judge's decision. Asked by reporters how he felt, Naughton said, "How does it look like I'm feeling? I'm glad to be out by Christmas." Naughton also said he is looking forward to spending time outdoors. However, he is barred under terms of his release from doing any traveling.

Disney's Chairman Roth Resigns. On Wednesday, January 12, 2000, The Walt Disney Co. announced that Joe Roth, their movie studio chairman, was resigning to form an independent film company. He will be replaced by studio president Peter Schneider. Roth assumed the chairman position in August 1994 after the departure of veteran Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. During his tenure, Roth helped Disney lead rivals at the U.S. box office in terms of market share, with help from such hits as The Sixth Sense and Toy Story 2. Shortly following the news of Roth's resignation, Disney shares were off 2-10/16 at 33-11/16. Roth's successor, Schneider, joined the company in 1985 as a vice president of feature animation finally becoming president of Disney's feature animation and stage play production groups. Schneider was involved in some of Disney's biggest animated hits like The Lion King and Beauty And The Beast, while also heading the development of stage plays based on those movies. In January 1999, he was promoted to president of Walt Disney Studios. Chairman Michael Eisner told Reuters, "The fact of the matter is Peter Schneider is a totally proven creative executive."

Lacroix Fades From Fantome. Fantome, one of Europe's premier producers of 3D animation, was founded in 1985 by Georges Lacroix. Fantome has gained an international reputation, and garnered more than 40 international prizes, including an Emmy. Its most notable credits are: The Geometric Fables (50 x 3 minutes), the first computer-generated animation series ever made, and Insektors (26 x 13 min) which has sold in more than 160 countries. In 1998 after being faced with financial difficulties (AWM 3.2), the company was finally bought by Belgian Group Neurones (AF 3/3/99) in 1999. Georges Lacroix was asked to serve as the studio's director and artistic director, as well as heading specific Neurones/Fantome projects. Lacroix wants to inform the animation industry that he no longer works for Fantome and will not be involved in Fantome's and Neurones' upcoming productions and future projects. Considering that his name has been closely associated with Fantome for over 15 years, Lacroix wanted to communicate this new situation in order to avoid confusion with the many international business relationships he has gained over the years.

Musical Chairs: Walt Disney's former Executive VP of Corporate Affairs John Cooke was named the J. Paul Getty Trust's exec VP of External Affairs. He will be responsible for establishing and maintaining all business relationships, including partnerships between the Getty and other cultural and corporate institutions around the world. . . .

Seven Animation's Jo Noble.

London-based Seven Animation, a 3D computer animation and special effects company, has named Jo Noble as Producer. Noble has done work on Paddington Bear, Dirty Beast, and Beano. Noble will supervise Seven Animation's children's programs being developed for MIPTV 2000. . . .

Crawford Communications' Bill Thompson.

Atlanta-based Crawford Communications, a service provider for all aspects of television, film, Internet, audio and satellite communications, has announced that Bill Thompson has been promoted from Production Services Division's Director of Operations to VP of Post-Production. The 10-year veteran of the company will oversee editing, audio, graphics, telecine and the film labs. While no longer servicing the day-to-day operations, Thompson will still head Crawford's production services. . . .Andrea-Manuela Seibert has been named VP, European Sales for Rive Gauche International TV. Seibert previously served as lead Acquisitions Exec and Special Project Exec at RTL Television in Munich, Germany. Based in Germany, Seibert will head European sales and marketing of Rive Gauche's programming library, handle acquisitions of European-produced specials for worldwide distribution and coordinate European co-productions. . . .Toronto-based DECODE Entertainment has announced Dominique Bazay and Caroline Dorris to its recently formed international distribution division. As Director of International Sales, Bazay, who will be based in Toronto, will head distribution activities and sales to Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, Eastern Europe and South Africa, among other territories. Bazay previously served in sales for BBC Worldwide Americas, Paragon Entertainment, and the CBC. Dorris will also serve as International Sales Exec handling Asia, Latin America, New Zealand and the Middle East. Dorris previously worked for DECODE's development and distribution activities in international markets. . . .

The Attik's Paul Driver.

British-based Attik, a commercial and broadcasting production house, has appointed Paul Driver as Design Director at Attik's New York branch. Formerly the Creative Director at Attik/Huddersfield, Driver will head day-to-day creative decisions at the New York studio. . . .Craig M. Johns was named to Interface Media Group's Client Services Department. Interface Media provides Washington D.C. with film and video production services. Formerly Locations Coordinator for the Iowa Film Office, Johns will work with clients on a day-to-day basis scheduling resources and coordinating client's needs. . . .Blue Sky Studios, a leading animation house, has promoted Linda Zazza to Operations Manager. She will oversee day-to-day operations of the facility and office, including recommending and hiring administrative staff, working with vendors, planning events and budgeting. Zazza began her tour of duty at Blue Sky as an executive administrative assistant. . . .

Black Logic's Mark Voelpel.

New York-based Black Logic, a production and post-production house, has hired 3D animator Mark Voelpel. As R/GA Digital Studios' Director of CGI, Voelpel directed commercials for Dodge, Bell South, S.C. Johnson, LG and Orkin. Mark won a Clio for his work on the Orkin campaign. His feature film credits include 3D effects supervision on flicks like Demolition Man, The Last Action Hero, and The Shadow. . . .Trivandrum, India-based Toonz Animation India PVT. Ltd. named Tom Tilbury to their exec staff. Base of operations for Tilbury will be Los Angeles, where he will helm all sales and marketing for the studio's operations in India and the U.S. Tilbury joins Toonz Animation from Cambridge Animation Systems were he served as VP of International Distribution. . . .Radium, a computer graphics house, adds 3D animator Andrew Sinagra to its ranks. Sinagra will focus his specialized talents in modeling, particle effects and volumetric effects to commercials and music videos. Previously employed at Midland Productions, Sinagra worked on creating 3D animation for Robots Of Mars, a computer animated feature. . . .Bruce Gionet has become Black Logic's new CGI Supervisor. Gionet will lead the New York-based company's artists in the production of computer generated imagery for film, television and advertising. For the last eight years, Gionet was the Director of CGI at Cyclotron/Post Perfect in New York City. His credits range from his work on the opening of The Late Show With David Letterman to Emmy-winning design on WWOR New York's News opening. . . .Quickband Networks, a leading distributor of short-form entertainment, has signed Kim Adelman as editor of SHORT, a compilation of award-winning live-action, animated, experimental and documentary short films distributed exclusively on DVD. The company also promoted Craig Wells to director of acquisitions. Kim Adelman joins QuickBand Networks from fXM: Movies From Fox. At the Fox-owned movie network, Adelman launched the short film division, fXM Shorts. During her tenure at fXM, Adelman produced 19 films, which have brought in several award at festivals worldwide. Wells joined QuickBand Networks in the Fall of 1998 as marketing services manager. Most recently Wells shortly served as acquisitions associate before being promoted to his current position. While living in New York, Wells appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables and Chess, and performed lead roles off-Broadway in national tours, regional theaters, television and several short films. For the three years prior to joining QuickBand, Wells served as creative services coordinator at former Los Angeles-based magazine "Buzz" and "Buzz Weekly." . . .Assistant editor Jesse Reisner has moved up to editor at New York-based Editing Concepts. Reisner holds a BFA degree in visual arts from Brown University. Despite his impressive academic career, he credits the staff at Editing Concepts with the bulk of his education and technical experience. Reisner's first national spot "Puppy Love," for Casio via Della Femina/Jeary and Partners, debuted recently. His earlier work includes regional spots for Bob Stores (KGA Advertising, CT, Spencer Antle director), Powerade for McCann Erickson, a GNC spot for Deutsch, and Showtime promos directed by Michel Suissa of Black Logic. . . .CYBERWORLD International Corporation, a new-media company, has announced that Paul Lypaczewski has joined the company as senior vice president of strategic business & product development. Lypaczewski will oversee the strategic business and product development group within CYBERWORLD to further develop the company's software technology. Lypaczewski will also help build strategic industry relationships to help make CYBERWORLD the dominant provider of interactive Internet-based multimedia. Lypaczewski previously served as TrueSpectra Inc.'s CEO and president. While at TrueSpectra, he developed a strong team to market and manage capitalization of Iris Technology, a network-centric program used to automate the creation, publishing, and managing of on-demand images for the Web. . . .The Emmy award-winning producer of The Late Show With David Letterman, Jude Brennan, has joined the ever-expanding roster at Oxygen Media. Brennan will occupy the newly created bi-coastal position of senior vice president of programming. Brennan will helm the television programming schedule for the network. The new Oxygen channel will launch nationwide on February 2, 2000. For the last 20 years, Brennan has served as vice president of creative affairs for David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Inc. in addition to producing the show. . . .MeTV.Com, a new Internet video-on-demand company, opens its feature film licensing drive with the arrival of veteran film-buyer John Reweda as vice president of content acquisition. "John's (Reweda) expertise will play a key role in establishing contact with the leading movie studios and independents as we move toward our June 2000 consumer launch date," said Martin French, MeTV.com senior vice president. Reweda will help the fledgling business develop and obtain content for its MeTV.com Web site, which is the delivery platform for phase one streaming movies, a merchandise mall and a movie database. The company already has alliances with Microsoft Broadband's Jump-start Initiative, encoding.com, interVU and iBEAM. Since 1975, Reweda has filled increasingly senior positions with American Multi Cinema, Inc, moving up from general manager for operations at the AMC University Square Theaters to head film buyer for the Western division to vice president film buyer, where his responsibilities included negotiating contracts with key distributors. . . .Bernard Stolar was named president of Mattel Interactive, the division that includes The Learning Company and other software and high-tech products. Stolar joins Mattel from Sega where he helped engineer the launch of the Sega Dreamcast video game console in the United States. At Mattel, he will try to mend the ailing Learning Company division, whose unexpected $105 million loss in the third quarter shocked investors and diminished Mattel's 1999 earnings. Stolar left Sega several weeks before Dreamcast appeared in U.S. stores after strategy disagreements with the Japanese parent, Sega Enterprises Ltd. At Mattel, he will also help Mattel chairwoman and chief executive Jill E. Barad reshape the Barbie and Hot Wheels brands into broader family products with a stronger focus on educational software and high-tech, interactive toys. . . .Olive Jar Studios has opened their doors to a new executive in charge of special venue and theme park productions, Mark Rhodes. Rhodes will help the company's new West Coast branch increase business in both long format productions and theme park attraction work, as well as aid in the commercial division. When at Universal, Rhodes supervised two separate animation projects produced by Olive Jar for Universal Studios' new Islands of Adventure theme park, which opened in Summer 1999. Rhodes' other responsibilities while at Universal included the production of all film and video media for the large-format 3D Spiderman Attraction. Previously, Mark spent four years at IMAX Ridefilm Corporation where he produced a variety of special venue attractions for Douglas Trumbull. . . .Infogrames North America, Inc. announced that Derek Quackenbush and Ron Rudolph have joined the interactive company's senior management team. Quackenbush takes on the role of CFO for Infogrames' North American operations, while Rudolph will head human resources and administration as the company's senior vice president of administration. For the past three years, Quackenbush served as Sony's 989 Studios' director of finance and administration. Prior to 989 Studios, he held various finance positions at companies, such as Psygnosis, Intouch Group and Ernst & Young. Quackenbush will be responsible for Infogrames North America's finance department. With over 28 years experience in the administration and human resources field, Rudolph joins Ingrames from Wyse Technology where he served as vice president of administration. He has also held roles at technology giants such as 3COM, Unisys, Intel, and Fairchild Semiconductor. . . .Acclaim Entertainment Inc., a leading worldwide interactive entertainment company, has appointed Jay Andronaco as manager of public relations and Bradford W. Loucks as vice president of sales. Andronaco will oversee public relations initiatives for Acclaim's recently announced Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) license, including the launch of the first video game title on February 17, 2000, ECW Hardcore Revolution. In addition, Andronaco will manage media relation initiatives for select Acclaim Sports titles. Prior to Acclaim, Andronaco was manager, marketing communications/media relations for World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. He managed all aspects of communications, marketing and promotional programs for WWF properties, including pay-per-view, television, live events, special events/projects, new media and the WWF stars. He also managed sports marketing affairs with professional sports organizations and headed the fan services department. Loucks will helm Acclaim's North America sales and distribution organization, including managing key accounts, expanding into new markets, and building Acclaim's sales team to maximize company revenue and market share growth. Most recently, Loucks served as regional vice president and general manager for the New Jersey region of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York where he lead the region to record sales, profit and market share results. Previously, Loucks was regional vice president and general manager of the Mid-South Region, where he grew profits 35 percent and increased sales 22 percent to $350 million. . . .Mill Film announced that Laurent Hugueniot and David Lomax have been promoted to joint heads of Mill Film 3D. The promotion takes place with immediate effect and follows on the heals of the recent announcement that Mill Film will unite operations with sister company Magic Camera. Lomax joined Mill Film in February 1997 from Pixar Animation Studios where he was senior technical director for modeling and shader development on the animated feature film, A Bugs Life. Since joining Mill Film, Lomax has served as senior technical director for a number of feature films including Babe - Pig In The City, My Life So Far and Waking Ned Devine. Lomax is currently leading overall software development on Ridley Scott's epic Gladiator, particularly concentrating on replicating crowds of CG people. Hugueniot joined Mill Film in 1997 and has worked on Babe - Pig In The City, Still Crazy, The Frightners and also provided technical direction and animation for Enemy Of The State. Hugueniot is currently the CG supervisor on Gladiator which involves recreating photo-realistic Roman sets including the Coliseum and populating them with thousands of digital extras. . . .Film Roman Inc. has announced that veteran entertainment industry executive Leonard J. Grossi has joined their board of directors and Sidney Clifton has been promoted to director of television development. Currently, Grossi is a partner in LSLG Associates, which owns a 49% interest in WHPN-TV, a Madison, WS-based UPN affiliate. Grossi has recently formed and serves as chairman and CEO of both Baseline Media and Entertainment Inc., a media, communications and entertainment consulting firm, and Mile Square Entertainment, which develops and produces film and television projects. Grossi will also be a minority owner of KDI Channel 17, a low-power television station in San Diego being purchased by a local tribe of Native Americans. Previously, Grossi served as the senior executive vice president at United Paramount Network (UPN), functioning as its founding chief operating officer. Prior to that, Grossi spent eight years at Twentieth Television, serving first as executive vice president of administration and operations for the domestic and international distribution divisions, and then as executive vice president, managing all aspects of Twentieth Television's worldwide production, marketing and distribution activities. Clifton will oversee all the company's television development in addition to pitching projects to potential co-producers and networks. She will also help acquire material for possible future Film Roman productions. Since September 1998, Clifton has served as manager of television development at Film Roman. She had joined the company in March of that year as development coordinator. Previously, Clifton was a features columnist for Exodus Magazine in San Jose and has been published in Essence Magazine. . . .Claire Robinson has been named senior vice president, intellectual property law, for The Walt Disney Co. Robinson will oversee Disney's intellectual property group, which is responsible for intellectual property matters for the company and its subsidiaries worldwide. Previously, Robinson held the position of vice president in the same department. Before joining Disney in 1989, she was with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Previously, she has been chairman of the Government Relations to Copyright Committee of the American Bar Association, a trustee of The Copyright Society of the U.S.A, and serves on the Board of Editors of Matthew Bender's Antitrust Report. . . .Arnold Rifkin, whose Cheyenne Enterprises, LLC, is currently partnered with such talent as Bruce Willis, Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, has joined the Board of Directors of on-line entertainment company MediaTrip.com. Rifkin was a founding partner in the talent agency, Triad Artists before it was acquired by the William Morris Agency in 1992. Soon after Rifkin went on head the Motion Picture Department at William Morris before being named president of the agency in 1996. This fall, he established his Cheyenne Enterprises, LLC, which is involved in a number of film and television projects, including a 3-year development deal with 20th Century Fox, focusing on television series. . . .Rainbow Studios, a digital media company, announced David Stipes has joined Rainbow Studios' management staff. Stipes role will be to direct and motivate Rainbow's team of award-winning producers, designers and artists in current and upcoming projects. Stipes comes to Rainbow from Paramount Pictures where he served as visual effects supervisor. Stipes designed visual effects and supervised on-set live-action, motion control, CGI and digital compositing for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Prior to joining Paramount Pictures, Stipes spent 12+ years managing David Stipes Productions, Inc. During that time, he designed, supervised and produced traditional and digital visual effects for more than 30 feature films such as Creepshow, Nightmare On Elm Street 5 and Real Genius. Stipes' television program credits include V, Tales Of The Gold Monkey, The Flash, Intruders and prestige specials such as The Thornbirds, and the CBS White Paper Special Report. . . .

Cartoon Network's Timothy Hall.

SyCoNet.Com, Inc., a leading U.S. distributor of anime videos and DVDs, announced that Anneliese Chang will become their new director of marketing. Chang will be responsible for the development of sales and marketing for the company. Before joining SyCoNet.com, Chang held a management position at Disney Consumer Products-Licensing, where she managed the product development for over 20 toy licensees on various Disney properties including Toy Story 2, Dinosaur, Mickey Mouse and Winnie The Pooh. Prior to The Walt Disney Company, Chang oversaw the execution of sales collateral materials for over 160 magazines and 60 events in the Creative Services Department at Emap Petersen, Inc., formerly The Petersen Publishing Company. . . .Rebecca Poole, a veteran Nickelodeon Movies exec, has been appointed to the newly created position of VP, production, at Burbank, CA-based AniManagement. Poole will help lead the company's new efforts in animated and live-action film production. Her responsibilities will include managing the division's existing client base and the acquisition and development of original material. Most recently, Poole served as manager, creative affairs, at Nick Movies. Before joining Nick, Poole worked at American Zoetrope. . . .Cartoon Network has named Timothy Hall their new executive vice president. Hall will be responsible for integrating marketing to popularize the network's brand in the U.S. and globally, and creating new business around the world. Prior to Cartoon Network, Hall was senior vice president of boys' toys marketing and product development at Hasbro, Inc. Hall was responsible for the overall strategic direction, marketing and product development of Star Wars toys and games, among other brands. He began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble.


Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.