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German children's television producer RTV Family Entertainment has received a temporary reprieve from its financial woes in the form of a bridge credit line issued by a banking syndicate. The funds are backed by a letter of credit from RTV's majority shareholder Ravensburger AG, and will enable the floundering company to cover all current and past due liabilities. RTV still needs approximately 4 million Euro (US$3.7M) to continue operations through the end of the year.

GailSchenbaum and Karen DiNoto have joined the Los Angeles-based creativedepartment of Big Idea Productions. Gail Schenbaum has been appointedsenior vice president of creative affairs, responsible foridentifying and developing live-action and animated family featurefilms, direct-to-video and television projects. Schenbaum brings withher nearly 20 years of experience in the film and televisionproduction arena. Most recently she was a producer and creativeconsultant for a number of companies, including Pearson UK,

pasi (philippine animation studio,inc.) has teamed with management consultants VentureslinkInternational and ABC-TV Channel 5 in the Philippines to launch thePASI KARTOON SHOW, which premiered Saturday, June 15, 2002. Theone-hour program will air weekly and is designed to create a localmarket for Filipino-produced animation. The first 13 installmentswill be comprised of a half-hour episode each of KONG, THE ANIMATEDSERIES and BIKER MICE FROM MARS. Later episodes will utilize other

German animation producer RTV FamilyEntertainment has announced that the recent collapse of Kirch Mediaand co-production partner Phenomedia, as well as losses from baddebts with foreign partners, has led to a rapid deterioration of thecompany's financial situation. A May 2002 cancellation of a 5 millionEuro (approximately US$4.7M) credit line from a major Austrian bankhas added to the company's dire financial straits. According to apress release issued by RTV, the company needs between 6 and 7

Do you have a series in production? Are you looking for financial partners? Are you about to sign a co-production contract and need to establish your production budget? Then you should be in Cardiff, Wales, U.K. on June 21st and 22nd for the CARTOON FINANCE Cartoon Master.

Discreet's plasma, a professional animation software for creating 3D content for the Web, is now available. plasma software allows animators to work directly in a 3D space to create high-quality visuals for Web services such as instant messaging, greeting cards and interactive games. plasma features integration with Discreet's 3D and Macromedia's authoring tools including Macromedia Flash MX and Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio, making the creation of 2D and 3D Web elements easier. plasma is available now for a suggested retail price of US$650.

Based on the Academy Award-winning short BOB'S BIRTHDAY, the 52-episode animated series BOB AND MARGARET has been acquired by Showtime Networks from Corus Entertainment's Nelvana, including 26 episodes never aired in the U.S. The series, created and written by David Fine and Alison Snowden, will premiere July 5, 2002 on Showtime Women, a channel devoted to programming in which women are instrumental, and will later air on other Showtime channels.

U.S. producer of anime and manga Viz Communications, Inc. has partnered with manga publisher Shueisha Inc. to launch a new mass-market boys' magazine. Viz currently produces Japanese animation and comics in English with over 20 monthly titles. The new monthly magazine, to be launched in November 2002, will be patterned after Shueisha's magazine SHONEN JUMP and will feature the manga from which many of the world's most popular anime properties such as DRAGON BALL Z and YU-GI-OH were derived. "U.S. kids know all about anime due to exposure on television," said Yamaji.

Three new releases took the top three spots at this weekend's box office. Number one was the live-action comedy SCOOBY DOO, featuring an all CGI Scooby courtesy of Rhythm & Hues and Warner Bros. Feature Animation. The Mystery Inc. crew debuted with $56.4M, making SCOOBY DOO the third highest grossing debut this year, after EPISODE II and SPIDER-MAN. In second place was the thriller THE BOURNE IDENTITY with a strong $27.6 debut. In third was the John Woo-helmed World War II pic WINDTALKERS, with visual effects by Cinesite, earning $14.5M for the weekend.

Boston, Massachusetts' Animation Technologies, Inc. is looking for a DIGITAL ANIMATOR . . . Hollywood, California's ASHELOCKE DESIGN GROUP is looking for a CHARACTER ANIMATOR (UNPAID) . . . Bangalore, India's Bionic Informatics Pvt. Ltd. is looking for a DIRECTOR PROGRAMMER . . . Toronto, Ontario's Bitcasters is looking for a SHOCKWAVE PROGRAMMER . . . Chennai, India's CHENNAI STUDIOS is looking for a MAYA CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . Clay Pixel Studios - India is looking for an ART SCHOOL RECRUITER and a STRATEGIC ADVISOR/EXECUTIVE . . . Berlin, Germany's DFA is looking for a 3D MODELER . . .