AWN Headline News

MEN IN BLACK: THE SERIES has been picking up steam on Kids WB! The Sony

Pictures Entertainment show has increased its ratings by 110% since its

second season last year. It has earned a 4.2 rating with kids 2-11 and a

5.0 rating with kids 6-11.

New York-based BLACK LOGIC, a production and post-production house, has

hired 3D animator MARK VOELPEL. As R/GA Digital Studios' Director of

CGI, Voelpel directed commercials for Dodge, Bell South, S.C. Johnson,

LG and Orkin. Mark won a Clio for his work on the Orkin campaign. His

feature film credits include 3D effects supervision on flicks like

DEMOLITION MAN, THE LAST ACTION HERO, and THE SHADOW.

Salsa Distribution has put together a deal that will create a new Jim

Henson programming block entitled MUPPET TIME in Panama. FETV will air

MUPPET TIME starting January 3, 2000 in a deal that lasts 2 years. The

block will include the MUPPET SHOW, MUPPETS TONIGHT, MUPPET BABIES,

FRAGGLE ROCK and JIM HENSON'S ANIMAL SHOW.

Atlanta-based CRAWFORD COMMUNICATIONS, a service provider for all

aspects of television, film, Internet, audio and satellite

communications, has announced that BILL THOMPSON has been promoted from

Production Services Division's Director of Operations to VP of

Post-Production. The 10-year veteran of the company will oversee

editing, audio, graphics, telecine and the film labs. While no longer

servicing the day-to-day operations, Thompson will still head Crawford's

production services.

Walt Disney's former Executive VP of Corporate Affairs JOHN COOKE was named the J. PAUL GETTY TRUST's exec VP of External Affairs. He will be responsible for establishing and maintaining all business relationships, including partnerships between the Getty and other cultural and corporate institutions around the world. . . .

ANDREA-MANUELA SEIBERT has been named VP, European Sales for RIVE GAUCHE INTERNATIONAL TV. Seibert previously served as lead Acquisitions Exec and Special Project Exec at RTL Television in Munich, Germany. Based in Germany, Seibert will head European sales and marketing of Rive Gauche's programming library, handle acquisitions of European-produced specials for worldwide distribution and coordinate European co-productions.

The Jim Henson Company's MuppetWorld Web site will celebrate its first Yuletide with Kermit the Frog lighting an on-line Christmas tree. MuppetWorld offers a compelling interactive environment, allowing fans to play with their favorite Muppet characters. Fans may purchase Muppet merchandise, take cooking lessons from the Swedish Chef who offers weekly culinary masterpieces in the "What's Cooking?" location, and be able to tune into their favorite Muppet clips.

shockwave.com, One Infinity and Madlab Creative have produced Why2k@large which uses Flash 4 animation and MP3 streaming audio technologies to present an animated, multimedia series focusing on the approach of the year 2000. Live interviews were collected on the streets of New York City, New Orleans and San Francisco featuring what the American public thinks about the approaching Millennium.

In promoting post-production on the MAC platform, Apple recently bundled a number of 3D and 2D tools with its Final Cut Pro system. MAXON, Terran Interactive, and Puffin Designs have announced that their software will be bundled in with Final Cut Pro at no extra cost. MAXON's Cinema 4D GO -- their entry level 3D package (in short, a cut down version of their very popular Cinema 4D XL package) -- will be included in the Final Cut Pro package as a full working version, allowing users to create 'flying logos' and other simple 3D imagery for use in their productions.