Rick DeMott's Recent Posts

Harvey Entertainment Company has inked a deal with San Francisco-basedSpunky Productions, Inc., a digital media company, to produce anddistribute Richie Rich Web cartoons. The new toons will be available onboth SpunkyTown.com and the Harvey site. Spunky will adapt early comic bookadventures of the world's richest kid into 2 - 5 minute episodes to startairing during the holiday season. Product tie-ins will be developed by bothcompanies to be sold on both of their Web sites. Dan March, Director of New

LIPSinc., the producer of Ventriloquist for 3D Studio MAX, recentlyannounced that they had launched a new lip-synching program called Echo.Whereas Ventriloquist is a plug-in for 3D Studio MAX, Echo is a standaloneprogram which outputs in flipbook, dope sheet and function curve animationdata for animation platforms, interactive 3D game engines, and multimediaapplications. Timeline Studios, a company founded by best-selling authorMichael Crichton, is using Echo in the company's first title, slated for

On November 18, 1999, LEAF, the London Effects & Animation Festival,bestowed their award for best effects in a feature film on STAR WARS:PHANTOM MENACE. Over 700 industry personalities watched LEAF's finale, anhour long visual effects smorgasbord from around the world. Rob Coleman wason hand to except the award for Industrial Light & Magic's work on thePHANTOM MENACE. Other winners included: AKA Pizazz's "Megalomaniac" forbest commercial animation; Jason Shulman's HOLLOW for best student film;

* Saturday, December 18, 1999. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

John Canemaker, animator/author/director of the animation program at NYUTisch School of the Arts, will be in Los Angeles this month to sign copiesof his latest book on animation history: "Paper Dreams: The Art And ArtistsOf Disney Storyboards." Canemaker will be available at 2 pm at the HowardLowery Gallery, 3812 W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank, where he will sign"Paper Dreams" and copies of any and all of his many books on animation.

The Monte-Carlo Television Festival has announced the members of theirinternational jury for the 2nd European Television Producer Award. GuyFournier, the Canadian writer/producer, will preside over the seven memberjury. Guy Fournier has written some 2000 hours of television drama forFrench and Canadian productions, over 150 hours of films and series fortelevision, plays for the theater, feature length films (FANTASTICA, UNEAMIE D'ENFANCE) and has also published a number of books. Other jury

Monday, December 13, 1999, AtomFilms, a leader in next-generationentertainment, announced that it has inked a deal with investors totalingUS$20 million in financing. This signing marks the end of a second round ofstrategic financing led by Chase Capital Entertainment Partners LLC andChase Capital Partners, and joined by Arts Alliance, Frank J. Biondi Jr.,general partner at WaterView Partners and former chairman and CEO ofUniversal Studios, Intel Corp., and Trans Cosmos USA Inc. "This round of

Film Roman's Board of Directors has finished their search for a new CEO andpresident with the naming of veteran industry exec John Hyde to theposition. Hyde's expertise ranges from work in television, film, music andnew media. By replacing former CEO/pres. David Pritchard, Hyde steps into aposition with promise and heightened pressure. Besides producing THESIMPSONS and KING OF THE HILL, over seeing various live-action filmproductions, and coddling their infant on-line channel Level13.com, Hyde

The horse race to the box office checkered flag came down to a photo finishbetween TOY STORY 2 and THE GREEN MILE this past weekend. When the dustcleared, the toon titans of TOY STORY 2 finished #1 at the U.S. box office.The film grossed US$18.25 million in this its third week in release,bringing its cume to $140.4 million. In its opening weekend, THE GREENMILE, with primary visual effects by ILM and additional animation by Rhythm& Hues, POP and Matte World Digital, had to settle for second with a gross

The 7th World Animation Celebration (WAC) arrives in L.A. on Tuesday, May30, 2000 - Sunday, June 4, 2000 for its festival and internationalcompetition. WAC will showcase more than 800 films, including the best inboth classic and contemporary animation. As the main attraction, WAC willpresent awards to the best new animated works from around the world. TheWorld Animation Celebration will present a trade show, an internationalbusiness conferenece, world and American film premieres, seminars,