ANIMATION
WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 3.10 - January 1999
People
Musical Chairs. Savage Steve Holland, co-creator of Eek! the Cat, has signed on with the William Morris Agency for representation in all fields. He will be repped by Rob Wolken, Spencer Baumgarten and Greg Lipstone. He is currently creating, writing and directing DIC's Sabrina, the Animated Series. In addition, he's also written and directed live-action films including Better Off Dead (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986). . . . . Cindy Coughlin has joined BKN as Vice President of Domestic Licensing and Merchandising. She will be responsible for developing licensing programs for current properties like Pocket Dragon Adventures and upcoming shows such as Roswell Conspiracies. BKN also promoted Veronique Angelino to Senior Vice President Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising where she will assume full responsibility for all international licensing operations. . . . The Interface Group has hired designer/animator Carol Hilliard to join their Creative Service Department. She will work closely with director of Creative Services Jeff Weingarten and the company's graphics team which includes designer John Bennett and animation director Frank Rogers. . . . . Senator Jack Austin, representing the Canadian province of British Columbia, has been appointed to CINAR Corporation's Board of Directors, increasing the number of members to nine. Senator Austin is also currently the president of the Canada China Business Council, which represents 250 Canadian companies active in Canada-China trade and investment relations. Ronald Weinberg, President and CEO of CINAR, commented, "With our recent initiation of Canada's first official Canada-China co-production for an animated series created in China, the Senator's extensive relations with China will strengthen our business ties.". . . . Producer/director Eric Radomski recently joined Film Roman as Executive Producer. His new role includes heading up the company's restructured animation development and production program, as well as taking the helm of Film Roman's expanding digital shorts program. Company president and CEO David Pritchard stated, "Film Roman is fortunate and excited that Eric has agreed to help us rebuild the new Film Roman. We see him as part of the future of this company, and will rely on him to lead our animation division into new areas including our groundbreaking efforts in our new CG department and its digital shorts program. This is an exhilarating time for Eric to be joining our company." Radomski joins Film Roman from HBO Animation where he was a supervising producer/director for Todd McFarlane's Spawn and Ralph Bakshi's Spicy City. Prior to that, he directed Freakazoid and was a producer/director on Batman: The Animated Series and the animated Batman feature Mask of Phantasm. . . . Laurie Goldberg has been named vice president of public relations at Cartoon Network. She will oversee all publicity and public relations for Cartoon Network including programming, consumer and cable affiliate marketing campaigns, Cartoon Network Online, Cartoon Network Enterprises (NASCAR and SMASH tennis) and the network's licensed promotions and merchandising. She joins the network from Pinnacle Brands, Inc., a sports trading card company in Dallas, where she also served as vice president of public relations. . . . Beau Cameron has joined Santa Maria, California-based Computer Café as a 3D character animator. His first project is animating a flock of penguins for a Mervyn's television spot. . .
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| George Merkert. Photo courtesy PDI. |
Pacific Data Images (PDI) has appointed industry
veteran George Merkert as Executive Producer of the Motion Picture
Visual Effects division. This decision comes on the heels of PDI's announcement
of their intention to grow the company's operation and core business capabilities
beyond its present size and scope, and to further develop its traditional
animation/visual effects support work with a new emphasis toward content creation.
Merkert joins PDI from Sony Pictures Imageworks where he produced visual effects
for Godzilla, James and the Giant Peach, and Starship Troopers.
"I'm very pleased to join PDI, which has the talent to become a major
contender in the visual effects business," Merkert said. "It's exhilarating
to work with such a talented group of individuals and to help them realize
their enormous potential.". . . . Richard Morss has joined UK-based
digital production company, Pepper's Ghost Productions (PGP), as Executive
Creative Director. Morss had been Controller of Children's Programs at United
Film and Television Production prior to his appointment at PGP. This follows
the hiring of Alan Marques, who joined PGP last month as head of production.
PGP Managing Director Paul Michael stated that this represents a shift of
focus for the company. "Richard and Alan have joined us as the company
moves from its development phase to that of a production company, with several
projects to bring to the market over the next year. We have recognized the
need to be able to provide half-hour TV series using 3D graphics and animation
at an affordable price, both for children and adult audiences."
MacFarlane's Family Guy Values. Twenty-five-year-old Seth MacFarlane,
the creator of the upcoming Fox TV primetime animated series Family Guy,
has signed a five-year, multi-million dollar development deal with Twentieth
Century Fox Television. Under the deal, MacFarlane will develop new programming
and remain the executive producer and principal voice actor on his series
Family Guy. Fox has guaranteed MacFarlane $2 million to $2.5 million
for the first three years and if the show continues to air after that time,
he will receive large increases the final two years. MacFarlane will also
receive a share of the profits if the show is successful and sells in syndication.
The series, expected to premiere in early `99, possibly after the Superbowl
in January, focuses on the dysfunctional Griffin family, which includes: Peter,
the dimwitted father, brilliant, but homicidal, Baby Stewie, loving mother
Lois, and Brian, a talking dog. On average, MacFarlane provides the voices
to more than a dozen characters in each episode.
Universal Exec Is Ousted. Universal Pictures chairman Casey Silver
was forced to resign after a year of consistent box office flops such as Primary
Colors, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Out of Sight, Meet
Joe Black, and this weekend's disastrous opening of the expensive sequel
Babe: Pig in the City, which was slaughtered by two other family-oriented
features, Disney's A Bug's Life and Paramount's The Rugrats Movie.
Silver had been head of Universal's movie production, marketing and distribution
since November 1995. Universal Studios President and Chief Operating Officer
Ron Meyer will take over his duties while Silver, a well-liked exec, will
stay at Universal as an independent producer. Universal's lackluster year
has left them ahead of only financially struggling MGM in market share among
the major studios. Universal's two other releases this year are the remake
of Alfred Hitchcock's classic film, Psycho and the Robin Williams film,
Patch Adams.
Tigger's Voice Changes. For over thirty years, long-time actor
Paul Winchell has supplied the voice of Tigger in Walt Disney's Winnie
the Pooh animated productions. However, the upcoming animated Pooh feature,
Tigger's Family Tree, won't feature his distinctive voice; instead
Tigger's voice will be supplied by veteran voice actor Jim Cummings, who is
also the current voice of Pooh Bear. Although a Disney spokeswoman denies
he was fired, Winchell was let go after only one day of work on the film.
She says his day of work was an audition, and the job simply went to the actor
who gave a better performance. A more likely reason is that Winchell asked
for more money as Disney is paying him union scale. Many insiders are saddened
by this strange voice casting decision. Mark Evanier, a veteran voice director
and animation writer, commented, "Paul Winchell is one of the great creative
geniuses of the entertainment industry and his talents helped make Tigger
a beloved character (and lucrative property). Any producer who thinks a knock-off
is just as good as the original, especially when the original is available,
is fooling himself and trying to fool the public." Another viewpoint
came from industry voice actor, Joe Bevilacqua, who said that, "Disney
should spend the extra money on Paul because of all his years of service to
the company. Having the real voice of Tigger is always preferable to an imitation,
and since Paul Winchell is alive it makes no sense not to use him." Jim
Cummings has previously provided the voice of Tigger but only when Paul Winchell
wasn't available to perform the voice due to illness or vacation. This is
the first time that Winchell has been available and not gotten the part. However,
it should be noted that Paul Winchell's Tigger voice is still being used for
upcoming TV specials.
Roth Resigns - Herzog Harnessed In. Fox Entertainment Group president
Peter Roth resigned last week after a disappointing season for Fox Network's
television shows. Comedy Central chief executive officer Doug Herzog was announced
as the replacement where he'll head Fox's development, scheduling, marketing
and promotion. Herzog is responsible for bringing South Park to Comedy
Central and it is his intention to push the envelope content-wise at Fox as
well. Certainly, a good deal of Fox's future rides on animated shows with
three major primetime series premiering on the network in `99: Futurama,
Family Guy, and PJs. Roth, who had been president of Fox Entertainment
Group since 1996, is returning to the development and production of original
programming for Fox Network.
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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