Oxygen Media, Geraldine Laybourne's media company founded to provide
content for women, will undertake cable television's first original
animated prime-time series specifically targeting women. Machi Tantillo
will be Executive Producer. "Our goal is to create the first animated
television series for women, exploring issues from a female point of view.
We also wanted to build an outlet specifically for female animators, whose
distinctive voices will help us develop a unique Oxygen animation style and
outlook," said Geraldine Laybourne, Oxygen's Chair and CEO. Ms. Tantillio
will report to Kit Laybourne, Oxygen's Head of Animation and Special
Projects.
Prior to joining Oxygen, Ms. Tantillo spent six years at MTV Networks, most
recently as Director of MTV Animation, co-supervising the production of
MTV's animated series, features, specials and shorts. Before that, Ms.
Tantillo worked on the development, scheduling and launching of pilots and
new series. While at MTV, Ms. Tantillo also directed and produced several
episodes of BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, MTV's animated series, and produced
several other animated projects, including CARTOON GIRL. She began her
tenure at MTV as a Production Manager for BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD.
Oxygen has already approved five pilots for inclusion in this animated
prime-time series which is comprised of 13 half-hour episodes, each
containing a mix of 3 to 7 minute segments. Details about three of the
upcoming segments are currently available. CLOSET CASE, by Theresa Duncan,
a producer of CD-ROMS such as ZERO ZERO and CHOP SUEY, is done in a water
color technique, enhanced by After Effects, and features actual women who
reveal themselves in the course of telling stories about their favorite
clothes. FEMALE TROUBLE, by Amy Sohn and John Raspo of Curious Pictures, is
about a young, intelligent woman searching for love in a big city, and
combines 2D animation with live action and After Effects-enhanced visual
effects. KNITWITS, by Candy Kuegel, a comedy based on an 11-minute film by
Kuegel, is about a group of five ethnically diverse women who are brought
together by their passion for knitting. It combines cel animation with
digital backgrounds. Plans call for the development of one or more of these
segments into a spin-off show. A date for the launch of the cable network
has been set for February 2, 2000, which is a play on the company's name,
Oxygen, since, in science, the symbol for the oxygen element is O2. Hence,
the launch date of 02/02/2000.
In addition, Oxygen's Creative Director and Co-Creator Kit Laybourne is
developing two current animation projects exclusively for the Internet that
will soon be available on Oxygen's website at
www.oxygen.com/lab . One is
OUR STORIES which turns the real life experiences of Oxygen's online
members into a weekly series. It is scheduled to be on-line in about three
weeks. The other is an ongoing narrative about a woman detective. It is
scheduled to appear on-line around mid-September. Mr. Laybourne was
Creative Director and Co-Creator of GULLAH GULLAH ISLAND, the Nickelodeon
pre-school program which won the Parent's Choice Award, and Co-Executive
Producer of LIQUID TELEVISION, the MTV animation series. Mr. Laybourne is
also the author of THE ANIMATION BOOK, a respected textbook for animation
students; a special digital edition of the volume was released early this
year by Three Rivers Press.
Since its inception last year, Oxygen has acquired and developed several
online sites, entered into a multi-year anchor tenancy, programming and
promotional partnership with America Online, and partnered with Marcy
Carsey, Tom Werner, Caryn Mandabach and Oprah Winfrey to develop and launch
a new cable network. Programmed by the principals of
Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, the Oxygen cable network will be integrated with
Oxygen's existing successful and growing online sites.
