The two guys behind Nova Scotia-based RDAStudio's TALES OF IRTH have signed a deal to produce the Flash animated series for DreamWorks and Imagine Entertainment's new Web venture POP.com. About a year ago, Robert Leth, 47, and Frank Forrestall, 27, started working together to bring Forrestalls fantasy TALES OF IRTH to the Web. POP.com has been actively searching the Net for intelligent and forward thinking Webisodes to bring to POP.com. Jamie Tosi, head of Flash animation at POP.com said to AWN, "TALES OF IRTH is very sophisticated, but with a subtle humor. It will help raise the bar on [Internet] content." Forrestall draws the toon in pen and ink then colors it in Flash, which Tosi explains "gets it away from the Saturday morning [cartoon] look." Leth told Canoe Internet Network, "Our business plan was: 'If we build it, they will come.'" Leth continued to say, "They [POP] are our partner in co-production. They get to exclusively display the content that Frank and the team creates for 30 days on their site. Thereafter, were going to collaborate to remarket it for other purposes. That includes merchandising T-shirts, and all sorts of other things." According to Tosi, POP has no official launch date but will soft launch the site sometime in the spring. Once they have worked out the bugs they will make an official announcement. If one is curious what is so great about IRTH to nab a 13-episode production deal, one will have to wait until POP is fully operational. Currently, playing on the RDAStudio site is a short cartoon with a character holding a sign that reads, "Sorry, gone to POP.com." POP.com was formed by DreamWorks' founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, Imagine Entertainment partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and Vulcan Ventures, which is led by Microsoft co-founder and DreamWorks investor, Paul Allen.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
