Wild Brain, Inc., a leading U.S. animation studio, has brought to theever-expanding club its new child, wildbrain.com. The new Web channel willbroadcast animation from around the globe and will be the feature providerof animation on Yahoo! Broadcast. In the deal, Yahoo! will provide Websolutions for Wild Brain's video animation programming, which is availableon wildbrain.com as well as Yahoo! Broadcast. wildbrain.com will debut withGLUE, an Internet exclusive toon featuring the adventures of a town full ofquirky 2D characters. Creating the talent base for the new venture is:award-winning creative director, John Hays (Wild Brain's president andco-founder); general manager, John Kirtland (former director ofinternational at Infoseek/Disney's Go.com portal); and veteran animationproducer, Amy Capen (MTV's Liquid Television). The new network will providesurfers with four key areas of focus. The "Digital Drive-In" will broadcastoriginal animation produced exclusively for wildbrain.com. "Festivals" willevent schedules, interviews and live broadcasts from around the world."Showcase" will bring together innovative animation projects from the farout reaches of the universe. Finally, "Games" will provide joystick junkiesthe chance to view "cut scenes" previously available only to expertplayers. The focus of the network will be animation only; a forum dedicatedto the global promotion of the art of animation. In addition to providingentertainment, the new venture will allowed Web surfers the chance topurchase merchandise that will include favorite festival materials,exclusive wildbrain.com videos, animation cels, books, magazines, artistmaterials, clothing, and loads of other animation related items. With newWeb animation companies springing up faster than POKEMON rip-offs, WildBrain's strong animation history and veteran staff will give wildbrain.comthe potential to be a major competitor in the exciting new avenue ofInternet animation.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
