Career Coach, our monthly column by Pamela Thompson, a noted authority on
jobs and recruiting, has a new installment...

Check out this weeks comics for ADULTS ONLY, extracted from the
comic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton"...

This week's AWN Animation Trivia Quiz features questions about Paramount Pictures and Famous Studios...

Now available in the AWN Store - Tooniversal Holiday Specials; An Exclusive Mati Kutt Video; Plus, The Ottawa 1999 Festival Catalogue....

DreamWorks SKG, the company behind "The Prince Of Egypt," and distributor
of PDI's "Antz," has expressed their pleasure with England-based Aardman
Animations' forthcoming feature "Chicken Run," by signing the Peter
Lord/David Sproxton/Nick Park company to a four feature deal. Set to be
released June 23, 2000 in the US, "Chicken Run" is a stop-motion animated
comedy feature about two chickens, Rocky and Ginger, and their attempt at a
"prisoner of war"-type escape from a farm in the 1950s. The film is

Warner Bros.' THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, with visual effects by Hollywood,
California-based K.N.B. EFX Group, Inc., finished third at the US weekend
boxoffice with an estimated $7.8 million, for a total of $28.1 million. The
film is a remake of the 1958 William Castle horror film that starred
Vincent Price. Buena Vista's THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by
DreamQuest, finished eighth, grossing $3.2 million for a total of $264.1
million. The American version of Hayao Miyazaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE, which

Burbank, California-based The Walt Disney Co. has reported a drop in
fourth-quarter profits. The entertainment company, which owns a film
studio, a TV network (ABC) and runs theme parks around the world, said net
income fell to $85 million, or 4 cents a share, from $296 million, or 14
cents a share, in 1998. Disney's earnings for its fourth quarter which
ended September 30 included charges for acquiring Internet search service
Infoseek Corp. Excluding the charges, profits fell 37 percent to $212

Los Angeles, California-based Iwerks Entertainment, which specializes in
high-tech entertainment systems, support services and film-based software
for Giant Screen, ride simulation and specialty venue attractions, recently
opened a sales and support office in London, England. The office, which is
located at 59 South Audley Street, will be led by John Schreiner, Vice
President, Managing Director for Europe. The company is in the midst of a
European growth period that has included the addition of Iwerks Extreme

Charles Schulz, the 77-year-old creator of the PEANUTS comic strip, has
secured final go-ahead to build a museum as a permanent home for Charlie
Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the gang. Plans for the
17,000-square-foot Peanuts museum in Santa Rosa, California, a town 50
miles north of San Francisco, where Schulz continues to work in a studio he
built twenty-five years ago, were unanimously approved at a city council
meeting October 26, 1999. Schulz and his wife first suggested the idea of a

Nearly 900 members of the animation industry and the general public
attended the 27th Annual Annie Awards, Saturday, November 6 at the Alex
Theatre in Glendale, California, USA. The awards ceremony, presented by
ASIFA-Hollywood, The International Animated Film Society, honors animation
achievement within film, television, commercials, home videos and
interactive productions. Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, the voices of
Pinky and the Brain from the Warner Bros. hit show, were co-hosts of a

Four hundred guests crowded the second floor theatre at the Chicago
Cultural Center, Sunday, October 24, for the 1999 Gala Awards Ceremony and
Closing Night Party of the 16th annual Chicago International Children's
Film Festival. The following awards for animated films were given out:


Children's Jury Prizes - Feature Films and Videos - Animation


1st Prize, KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS by Michel Ocelot (France)


2nd Prize, ANNE FRANK'S DIARY by Julian Wolff (France, Ireland, UK,
Netherlands)

The Tampere 30th International Short Film Festival takes place in Tampere,
Finland from March 8 - 12, 2000. Entry deadline is December 7, 1999. As the
biggest short film event in Northern Europe, the Tampere Festival features
80 screenings, a film market, and seminars. For more information contact:
Tampere International Short Film Festival, Box 305, FIN-33101, Tampere,
Finland; Tel. + 358-3-213 003; Fax: + 358-3-223 0121; or E-mail:
film.festival@tt.tampere.fi. Also visit www.tampere.fi/festival/film.

The 10th International Trickfilm Festival takes place in Stuttgart, Germany
from March 16 - 21, 2000. The entry deadline is December 1, 1999. The
International Competition will present the best animated productions from
the past two years. More than 500 films will be screened at the festival.
The Best of Animation includes a selection of the most interesting films in
the history of artistic, animated film. Young Animation is a competition
featuring animated films from schools and colleges. The festival will also

mental images recently announced that its high-end Mental Ray rendering
software was the first workstation application to run on Intel's first
engineering samples of the IA-64 Itanium-based platform. mental images and
Intel have been working hand-in-hand to create a version of Mental Ray that
was ported and optimized for the Itanium processor. The new platform was
demonstrated to attendees of the Intel Developer Forum in Palm Springs by
Intel CEO Craig Barrett on an early version of Microsoft's 64-bit version

Previously, we reported that Warner Bros. Home Video had announced that THE
IRON GIANT DVD would be letterboxed at 1.85:1, which would have been
unfortunate because the film has a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and Brad Bird
designed THE IRON GIANT partly in homage to the very wide CinemaScope films
of the 1950s. But Warners has changed their mind and the DVD will be
letterboxed at 2.35:1. THE IRON GIANT DVD will include letterboxed (2.35:1)
and pan & scan versions of the movie, be 16X9, have AC3 and 5.1 surround

Image Entertainment is releasing Art Clokey's DAVEY AND GOLIATH on DVD and
VHS. DAVEY AND GOLIATH was a stop-motion television series that was made by
GUMBY creator Art Clokey for the Lutheran Church in America from 1962 to
1977. It was usually shown on Sunday morning. In the series, Davey, a boy,
and his dog, Goliath, would usually get into some sort of trouble, but
learn a moral lesson by the end of the story. The DAVEY AND GOLIATH DVD
will include eight 14 minute episodes. It is not region coded. Image is

DISNEY CONSUMER PRODUCTS has named ROBYN MILLER senior vice president of
Global Marketing and Studio Development. In her new role, Miller will be
responsible for developing and implementing worldwide marketing and
branding strategies for all of Disney Consumer Products' businesses:
Licensing, The Disney Store, Disney Publishing Worldwide, Walt Disney Art
Classics and Disney Interactive. She will also oversee the development of
consumer products strategies for Disney entertainment properties. At Buena

OLAF OLAFSSON has been named vice chairman of TIME WARNER DIGITAL MEDIA.
Olafsson's appointment becomes effective November 15. Olafsson will work
with Michael Pepe, president and chief operating officer of Time Warner
Digital Media, and the rest of the management team at Time Warner Digital
Media to continue developing strategic business plans for Time Warner's
diverse digital media businesses and identifying emerging growth
opportunities for the company in the digital realm. Olafsson joins Time

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY has completed the next stage in the development of
its international organization for Europe by naming six Disney veterans to
country management roles. The six executives will all become managing
director of six country groupings. CLAUS GYDESEN, 39, has been appointed
managing director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland and will continue to
be based in Munich. As head of Disney's video operations in these markets,
Gydesen established a direct-to-retailer operation that helped make Buena

FRANK SAPERSTEIN has been appointed Creative Director of Philippines-based
pasi (PHILIPPINE ANIMATION STUDIO, INC.). His responsibilities will include
quality control, co-productions and marketing, and technical development of
the studio. He is based out of Los Angeles, California. Saperstein comes
directly from Matinee Entertainment where he served as
Producer/Director/Writer of KAMPUNG BOY, a co-production with pasi, which
won a Special Prize for Best TV Program at Annecy '99. In addition, MIMBI