New studio opens in India

Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd., a new animation production studio in
India, will have a limited opening in August, with an official opening
following November 1-5, 1999. Toonz will offer a full-range of production
services for episodic television series and commercials. Toonz will also be
dedicated to developing original pilot shows based on Indian folklore and
mythology. "India has a rich treasury of folklore which will form the basis
for many of our pilot shows," states Bill Dennis, President and CEO. In its
third year, the studio hopes to produce its first feature film project.
Cartoon Network, Hong Kong has already signed on to be the new studio's
first client, and Toonz will be completing a series of commercials for the
network.


Toonz has hired an experienced international production and
training staff including such people as Prescott Wright, former director of
The Tournee of Animation and animation instructor. The studio will be
staffed with 150 artists, and located in a 180 acre modern facility called
Technopark in Trivandrum, a city situated on the Arabian Sea. For its
November opening, Toonz will host "A Week with the Masters" which will
bring the top names in international animation pre-production together to
discuss the importance of story boarding, character design, and story
development. Promising to become an annual event, "A Week with the Masters"
will benefit from Technopark's International Conference Center and such
high profile guests as keynote speaker Rob Coleman, Industrial Light &
Magic's Animation Supervisor on STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE.
Other participants currently confirmed are: producer-director-writer Derek
Lamb, Ian Diamond of Cartoon Network, and representatives from Wild Brain
Studios in San Francisco.