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AWN Headline News

Headline News

Moss Fills New President Seat At CINAR

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 12:00am

CINAR ENTERTAINMENT has filled the newly created seat of president with

PETER MOSS. In his position effective March 1, Moss will focus on

developing CINAR's entertainment business in North America, Latin America

and Asia. Before joining CINAR, Moss served as programming and production

VP for YTV, Canada's youth network. Moss has regularly worked in pre-school

programming with the Children's Television Network and the CBC.

Headline News

Adler Steps Up To Senior VP Time Warner

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 12:00am

EDWARD ADLER has stepped up to the position of senior VP of corporate

communications at TIME WARNER. Adler will oversee all aspects of

development and implementation of the media conglomerate's global corporate

strategies. Since 1997, he has been a VP of corporate communications and

will continue to serve as the company's chief spokesman.

Disney Headline News

Disney Will Close Canadian Doors

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 12:00am

Rumored since last fall, Walt Disney Animation Canada Inc. announced

Monday, February 14, 2000 it will close the doors of its animation studios

in Canada by the spring. Opened in 1996, the Toronto and Vancouver branches

of Walt Disney were created to produce primarily direct-to-home video films

in connection with Walt Disney Television Animation. The company slowly

started winding down production last fall and will completely close around

Shows Headline News

French Ellipse & Expand Form New Euro TV Company

Expand Images and Ellipse Programme, France's two leading television

production companies, announced on February 10, 2000 plans to merge. The

new studio, entitled Expand, will have an approximate revenue for 2000 of

FRF1.4 billion (US$210.2 million). The deal will enable both parties to

increase their international content output for the expanding European

market. As part of the deal, CANAL+ Images and Finexpand signed an

agreement solidifying their relationship as shareholders in the new studio.

Headline News

AtomFilms & Blockbuster To Partner

AtomFilms, a pioneer and leader in next-generation entertainment, announced

that it has entered into an agreement with Blockbuster, the global leader

in rentable home entertainment, for selected, syndicated, short-form,

digital content from AtomFilms to be video streamed on a co-branded section

of blockbuster.com. Beginning Spring 2000 and lasting for 2 years,

AtomFilms will provide both content and streaming-related technologies for

the short-form content component of the Blockbuster Web site. The

Cartoon Headline News

Johnny Bravo Live On Cartoon Network

Johnny Bravo will host a talk show and chat with callers live on Cartoon

Network. The toon's flamboyant personality will be brought to life with

Alive Animation's Multi-Standard Instant Cartoon Images (MICI) system.

Programmed to pose Johnny in hundreds of positions, the MICI system also

instantly lip synchs the voice actor to his alter-ego. THE BIG BRAVO-LIVE!

will begin airing February 21 - 25, 2000. This historic event can be

attributed to the success of Johnny Bravo's new weekday morning talk show

Headline News

Charlex's "Thank You" For The Nation Football League

CHARLEX, a visual effects post-production house, helped the National

Football League thank their fans with a 60-second spot aired during

American football's biggest game, the Super Bowl. Headed by Alex Weil,

Charlex founder and director, the Charlex artists used a mix of film,

digital effects, graphics and editing to create the look of the "Thank You

2000" spot. The commercial begins on a shadowy checkerboard. Suddenly light

floods into the room as a uniformed football player makes his way to an old

Cartoon Headline News

Joe Cartoon Co. Sues For Cybersquatting

Joe Cartoon Company has filed a lawsuit against two entities, John

Zuccarini and Cupcake City, for the violation of the newly enacted

Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. The lawsuit is one of the first

cases filed under the anticybersquatting statute in the U.S. The act

outlaws the unauthorized use of an Internet domain name that is

"confusingly similar" to another name, for the purpose of intercepting

users of the pre-existing domain. Filed with United States District Court,

Headline News

Class In Session At Eruptor.com

On February 29, 2000, comic book artist Marc Silvestri, creator of

WITCHBLADE, CYBER FORCE and DARKNESS, will be teaching fans and aspiring

artists how it's done through the first semester of on-line classes offered

at Eruptor.com. Silvestri will present a live, three-part series on

Eruptor's Web-based university, Eruptor College, to help students learn how

to produce layouts, refine characters and develop stories for comic books

of their own. The real-time class will allow Silvestri to answer questions

Company Headline News

Harvey Forms New Fashion Company

The Harvey Entertainment Company and PG Capital, an apparel industry

investment company, have finalized a joint venture for a new apparel

company, Harvey Fashion LLC. The new company will be responsible for

manufacturing, selling and marketing a complete apparel collection, based

on the popular Harvey Classic Character library. Paul Guez will serve as

chairman of the board and CEO. The creation of Harvey Fashion LLC replaces

and extends the scope of an earlier Harvey apparel venture planned with

Headline News

Macromedia Introduces Freehand 9

Macromedia, the leading provider of web design tools, recently announced a

major upgrade to its famous FreeHand design and layout software. FreeHand 9

is set to change the way designers approach their work by offering a

powerful toolset for their vector graphics, regardless of whether their art

is intended for print or Web. FreeHand 9 is expected to ship in March on

both Macintosh and Windows platforms, and will be offered as both a

stand-alone product and in the new Macromedia Flash 4 FreeHand 9 Studio,

Headline News

Director Buckley Rides With LastMinute's e-Cowboy Spot

Director Dick Buckley of FLYING TIGER FILM and visual effects director Alex

Seiden of CYCLOTRON@POST PERFECT N.Y. rounded-up the e-Cowboy's for the

Super Bowl debuted LastMinuteTravel.com spot. Produced for New York-based

agency, Burkhardt & Hillman, the 30-second commercial is a modern spin on

the Sergio Leone spaghetti western. Reinforcing LastMinuteTravel.com's

message that great things happen at the last-minute, the e-Cowboys find

themselves quickly departing on a cyber-booked vacation, to escape an

Super Headline News

Ring Of Fire Walks With Christopher Reeve in Super Bowl Spot

RING OF FIRE made the crippled walk in Nuveen & Co.'s Super Bowl spot.

Andrew Douglas of SATELLITE was brought in to direct the futuristic spot

where paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve walks to a podium to receive an

award. The super feet was done for Minneapolis, Minnesota-based ad agency

Fallon McElligott. Ring of Fire's founder, Jerry Spivack, served as

creative director and visual effects supervisor for the commercial. Ring of

Fire isn't new to creating outstanding Super Bowl spots, their 1999

Headline News

Much Grief, Charles Schulz Passes

On the eve of the final PEANUTS comic strip, creator Charles Schulz died of

a heart attack at his Santa Rosa, California home. He was 77 years old. As

reported [AF 11/21/99], Charles Schulz had decided to retire from drawing

his weekly comic strip after several strokes and newly diagnosed cancer had

left him partially blind in one eye and too weak to keep up with the

rigorous routine. A private funeral will be held later this week. He is

survived by his wife, Jeannie; two sons Monte and Craig; and daughter Jill

Dreamworks Headline News

DreamWorks Acquires Pacific Data Images

Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks, officially announced on

February 9, 2000 that his company has acquired the majority of interest,

approximately 80%, in Pacific Data Images (PDI). As reported [AF 2/8/00],

this deal comes on the heals of PDI founder and Chairman, Carl Rosendahl's

departure from the company to pursue "other creative interests." However,

Rosendahl will remains as a consultant for the newly named company,

PDI/DreamWorks. Katzenberg said that Palo Alto-based business will remain a

Dreamworks Headline News

Chairman Rosendahl Leaves PDI

On February 4, CARL ROSENDAHL, founder and chairman of Pacific Data Images,

announced to his staff that he is exiting PDI after 20 years "to pursue

other interests." Rosendahl's remaining stake in the visual effects house

has been acquired by DreamWorks. Previously owning 40% of the Palo Alto,

California-based facility, DreamWorks now commands 80% of the company. More

details are soon to be announced.

Production Headline News

Minter Promoted To VP At PDI

PDI has recently promoted DENISE MINTER to vice president of production.

Minter will now oversee all of Pacific Data Images' production efforts

around the world. Most recently, she was been senior producer on PDI

commercials for Sega Dreamcast and Coca-Cola. Since joining the company in

1993, Minter has also served as production manager on the DreamWorks and

PDI feature ANTZ.

Animation Headline News

ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Expo Announces Workshop Program

ASIFA-Hollywood will host its 7th Annual Animation Expo on March 3-4, 2000,

in Glendale, California. The Expo is a two day animation industry trade

show focusing on the exhibition of animation related products and services

and the recruitment of related talent and personnel. Confirmed workshops

include: master teacher and layout artist Glenn Vilppu's "Capturing the

Pose with Line;" Ralph Sanchez, Director of Animation Development at

Nickelodeon Animation Studio, providing insight into developing and

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