Honkworm and cartoonist Gary Leibs 2D and 3D animation studio, Twinkle, will co-produce a Webseries based on Doug Allens underground comic book story, JICKETTS SPEED SHOP. As part of the deal, Honkworm will distribute the series and also retains rights for offline media such as books, television and merchandise. SPEED SHOP was first published in the comic book ZERO ZERO and chronicles 40-something hipster Jicketts shady body shop.
ABC has secured broadcast rights for the classic holiday PEANUTS specials from rights holder United Media ending the specials 35-year run on CBS. The main reason for the switch was that the new deal was more lucrative for the rights holder. However no specific monetary details were released. The agreement also guarantees that ITS THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN and A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING will be aired each year, which wasnt always an absolute on CBS.
MIPCOM, the International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video, Cable and Satellite, hits Cannes, France on October 2 6, 2000. MIPCOM facilitates programme sales, deals, new contacts and joint ventures on a global basis. MIPCOM includes a five-day TV industry tradeshow, including a conference progamme on Television in the New Economy called MIPCOM: The International Trading Floor. MIPCOM brings together producers, distributors, broadcasters, Webcasters, worldwide cable and satellite operators, buyers, co-producers and investors from around the globe.
Toon In is AWN's guide to what's new on the Net. This week's installment features N' Sync ten years from now on BEHIND THE MUSIC THAT SUCKS, Plastic Man's journey into porn on WHERE ARE THE TOONS NOW? and much, much more.
Get your Toon In: Web Animation Guide here!
Every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"
The Toon Institute offers free animation lessons and tips on character design and is visited by students and instructors from all over the world...
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
- PRIVATE S.N.A.F.U. VOL. 1: Private Snafu was a character created by Warner Bros. during WWII for the Army-Navy Screen Magazine. These cartoons were shown only to servicemen, and were intended to convey serious messages behind the typical Warner humor. The shorts are even letterboxed, with director and release credits. Featured titles: "Coming! Snafu!," "Gripes," "Spies," "The Goldbrick," "The Infantry Blues," "Fighting Tools," "The Home Front," "Rumors," "Booby Traps," "Snafuperman," "Snafu vs.
It is already October and time to start predicting which toy will be this Holiday season's Furby. Martin Goodman is here with a look at what Santa will - and will not - have in his sack this Yuletide. AWN's Rick DeMott takes a look at The Powerpuff Girls phenomenon and the building of a franchise. Who are the brains behind the marketing of Pokemon? Meet 4Kids, the company most recently called the "Fastest-Growing Company in America" by Forbes Magazine. Brett Rogers explores. So, what comes first - the successful show or the licensing and merchandising deal?
Hollywood, California-based Imaginary Forces, a design studio producing groundbreaking work in all media including film, television, interactive, advertising and environment, is looking for an AFTER EFFECTS/MAYA/SOFTIMAGE ANIMATOR. . . Palo Alto, California-based PDI/Dreamworks is looking for an ANIMATION TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR for their computer animation studio. . .
Hollywood, California-based Imaginary Forces, a design studio producing groundbreaking work in all media including film, television, interactive, advertising and environment, is looking for an AFTER EFFECTS/MAYA/SOFTIMAGE ANIMATOR...
MIPCOM, the International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video, Cable and Satellite, hits Cannes, France on October 2 - 6, 2000. MIPCOM facilitates programme sales, deals, new contacts and joint ventures on a global basis. MIPCOM includes a five-day TV industry tradeshow, including a conference progamme on Television in the New Economy called MIPCOM: The International Trading Floor. MIPCOM brings together producers, distributors, broadcasters, Webcasters, worldwide cable and satellite operators, buyers, co-producers and investors from around the globe.
The 2000 edition of the Ottawa International Animation Festival took place last week with a record attendance to the action-packed week of screenings, exhibitions, workshops and, of course, parties! Many of the festival workshops centered on the topic of distribution. "Distribution And Exhibition," moderated by AWN's Dan Sarto, covered how independent animators could use the Internet to get their work purchased and promoted, and questioned whether there was a market for Web animation which doesn't necessary appeal to 16-year-old boys.
I Castelli Animati has pre-selected the animations for the official Web animation competition, which includes an audience prize. You can be part of the international cyber jury and vote for your favorites. The deadline to vote online is October 6, 2000. The 5th edition of I Castelli Animati will take place in Genzano, Italy, October 4-8, 2000. I Castelli Animati highlights animation in all its forms from commercials to features films.
"For the Birds," Pixar's new short film, has been selected to open the 2nd Hollywood Shorts on Sunday, October 8, 2000. The film enjoyed its world premiere at the Annecy Film Festival in France in June and bowed in the U.S. at the 27th annual Siggraph conference in July. "For the Birds" director Ralph Eggleston will be in attendance and participate in the filmmakers' panel after the screening. Hollywood Shorts is an industry showcase that introduces outstanding filmmakers to L.A.'s film and television community via monthly screenings.
Despite a negative recommendation by the negotiating committee, the members of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE, have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement...
* Wednesday, September 27, 2000. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
* Saturday, October 28, 2000. Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
* Saturday, November 4 Sunday, November 5, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
German production/rights buyer Helkon Media has acquired a 51% share in Dutch animation and merchandising house Rubinstein Media. Rubinstein founder and CEO Maurits Rubinstein will remain as head of the company. This move comes on the heels of Rubinstein and Helkon subsidiary Peppermints formation of a 50-50 joint children's television animation house entitled, Pepperkids.
At Pixar, Renderman NT is shipping, making the popular rendering software used in most visual effects films available to a much larger user base. However, Larry Gritz, developer of BMRT (available for download at www.bmrt.org/), the shareware rendering software most recently utilized in HOLLOW MAN and THE CELL, and co-author of ADVANCED RENDERMAN: CREATING CGI FOR MOTION PICTURES, is no longer with Pixar, though the hope is BMRT development will continue.
At the Ottawa International Animation Festival, Animation Toolworks introduced a completely new electronic audio-video device for animators, the LunchBox Sync. The LunchBox Sync is a successor to their Video LunchBox, which enables animators to test their work in progress instantly and eliminate time-consuming errors by monitoring pacing, lighting, audio synchronization and registration. The LunchBox Sync captures still images from a video camera and plays back this sequence of images at the same rate as film or television.
Due to microchip shortages, Sony has decided to cut its October 26, 2000 U.S. shipment of PlayStation 2 next generation gaming consoles by half. However, Sony states that this delivery change will not affect the projected amount of units in North America by the holiday season. 500,000 consoles will ship to 20,000 stores in North America then Sony will roll out 100,000 units each week thereafter. "We will be able to supply a flow of products, instead of a huge initial spike," said Kaz Hirai, COO of Sony.
Taking place from September 20-24, 2000 in Visby, on the island of Gotland, Sweden, the 11th Cartoon Forum awarded its coveted Cartoon dOr prize to Portuguese director José Miguel Ribeiros A SUSPEITA (THE SUSPECT). An international jury comprised of Stefan Fjeldmark (Denmark), Jacques-Rémy Girerd (France) and Thilo Rothkirch (Germany) determined the award.
ANGRY KID, the love-or-loathe-him ginger-haired horror from the home of WALLACE AND GROMIT, has proved so popular even the Internet isn't big enough for him. The SUNDAY TELEGRAPH paper reports that the Aardman Animations character is to make the move to television. At present, there are twenty-five different Webisodes, each about a minute long, available on the AtomFilms Website. The character is played by an actor shot frame-by-frame (pixelation), wearing one of Angry Kid's four hundred masks. The series was launched exclusively online on May 8, 2000.
