AWN Headline News

pasi (Philippine animation studio, inc.) and Nelvana have teamed up to co-produce 13 episodes of COMMITTED, an animated series based on the popular Michael Fry comic strip. The United Feature Syndicate comic strip is a chronicle of the day-to-day life of a working mom with three children and her stay-at-home writer husband. Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin are providing the lead voices for the series. The new toon is being produced for Fox Family Channel and CTV in Canada.

The Britt Allcroft Company plc announced that as part of its global expansion, the company has changed its name to Gullane Entertainment and hired new key staff members. The companys former managing director, William Harris, has been appointed CEO and commercial director and group entertainment president, Charles Falzon, will serve as president. The move is an opportunity for founder Britt Allcroft to hand over the operations of the company to focus on more creative endeavors.

Mondo Media has signed GUNDAM WING character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto to design characters for an upcoming Mondo Mini Show. Currently the project is entitled SPIRAL, a sci-fi action adventure series which will be available on MondoMedia.com later this year. Kawamoto is best known for his character designs on COWBOY BEBOP, several GUNDAM series, GOLDEN BOY and the cinematics for THE GHOST IN THE SHELL video game. Also brought onto the project as key animator is Cindy Yamauchi, whose credits include AKIRA, VENUS WARS and RANMA 1/2.

Wild Brain, the San Francisco-based animation house, has wrapped on three 30-second spots for Interline/Scandinavian Designs. The fast-paced commercials pop the furniture companys many types of chairs and sofas onto the screen with an up-tempo sleek design. "The challenge was to design the spots to showcase their huge selection of furnishings in a visually compelling manner, yet remain true to the clean, sleek feel of the line," said spot director and designer Julia Tortolani.

ToyFare, a leading magazine about action figure collectibles, has put together a list of the best individual action figures of all-time. The October 2000 issue, on sale August 29, awarded 5 spots to Hasbro, with McFarlane Toys coming in second with 4 entries. "The list covers three decades of action figures," said editor Douglas Goldstein.

Al Shier has been promoted to visual effects producer at Venice-based Blur Studio, a 3D animation, visual effects and motion graphics design company. For the past two years at Blur, Sheir has served as a line producer and visual effects coordinator. In his new role, Shier will oversee the production of 2D and 3D visual effects and act as liaison between clients and the company's artistic staff. Shier began producing over a year ago, during which he received numerous producing credits.

Digital Film @ The Moving Picture Company has completed the opening title sequence for LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS-director Guy Ritchie's new gangster film, SNATCH. The titles, created by Digital Film and designed by So, a division of Picasso Pictures, depict the main characters in the movie. Spinning and strobing images, glimpses, flashes, quick cuts, flipped images, jump frames and freeze frames were added to create a hard-edged look for the opening.

Spazzco, a San Francisco-based animation studio, has signed on to produce three original Web Premiere Toons for Cartoon Network Online. TIME-E-LAPSE will uncover the dos and donts of time travel. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF MY DOGS HEAD answers the question what is my canine thinking? THE BICKLESHNOTZ COUNTY FLYING CLUB recalls the exploits of some of the worlds most outlandish aviators. Sam Register, vice president/creative director of Cartoon Network Online, said, "Spazzco has a real understanding of classic cartoon production.