AWN Headline News

Computer Cafe has opened a full service animation studio in Santa Monica,California. The 1400 square foot site, in the heart of Santa Monica's mediadistrict, will be staffed by art director/digital artist Ron Honn, who isrelocating from the company's Santa Maria headquarters, and producerJonathan Stone, who joins the company from Saban Entertainment. Artistsfrom the Santa Maria facility will staff up the Santa Monica studio on aproject basis, and the company will also staff the new site with local

THE BANANA SPLITS will return via Cartoon Network Online's Web PremiereToon series in 2000. Produced by Hanna-Barbera and Sid & Marty Krofft, THEBANANA SPLITS ADVENTURE HOUR was originally broadcast on NBC from 1968-70,and the show was repeated throughout the 1970s. Episodes currently airSaturday mornings on Cartoon Network. The live-action variety show featuredrock musician characters in fuzzy animal suits: Fleagle, a beagle; Drooper,a lion; Bingo, a gorilla; and Snorky, an elephant. The foursome would

After several weeks of rumors, Film Roman has officially confirmed thatthey are developing an animated feature film based on THE FABULOUS FURRYFREAK BROTHERS, the underground comic book by Gilbert Shelton. THE FABULOUSFURRY FREAK BROTHERS is about three hippie brothers: freewheelingcowboy-hatted Frank; mad-inventor Phineas, and Fat Freddy, as well as FatFreddy's cat, who is described as meaner than Garfield, smarter than Felix,randier than Fritz, and a better mouser than Tom. Mike B. Anderson (THE

Actor DeForest Kelley, STAR TREK's Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy died Friday,June 10 after an extended illness. Kelley, born January 20, 1920, inAtlanta, Georgia, US, played supporting roles in a number of movies,including THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (1956); GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K.CORRAL (1957), RAINTREE COUNTY (1957), and APACHE UPRISING (1966). STARTREK creator and producer Gene Roddenberry had wanted Kelley to play thedoctor in STAR TREK from the get-go, having worked with him previously on

Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation has announced the appointment ofRobert H. Ard to the position of Group Executive, Applications, and ShankerMunshani to be General Manager of its Workstation Graphics Division. Ardwill be responsible for the Digital Studio, Digital Theater, and PixelProducts divisions. He will also continue as the General Manager of thePixel Products unit. Ard is a veteran software industry executive. Prior tojoining Evans & Sutherland in 1998 as the General Manager of the Pixel

Oxygen Media, Geraldine Laybourne's media company founded to providecontent for women, will undertake cable television's first originalanimated prime-time series specifically targeting women. Machi Tantillowill be Executive Producer. "Our goal is to create the first animatedtelevision series for women, exploring issues from a female point of view.We also wanted to build an outlet specifically for female animators, whosedistinctive voices will help us develop a unique Oxygen animation style and

Protozoa, a leading real-time 3D character animation studio, is producingBBC Choice's new breakthrough kids series, THE DOG & DINOSAUR SHOW. Inproduction now, Protozoa, which did the real-time motion-capture animationfor live TV show guest appearances by M&M's Crispy character (Will VintonStudios created and animates the CGI character in the live-actioncommercial campaign), will produce 26 segments of the show using itsproprietary performance animation software, ALIVE. Asked why he chose

The Academy of Art College in San Francisco will open their annual SpringShow, featuring the best work from the academic year, with a specialpreview party for professionals to look at the work and meet the graduatespersonally. The show will begin on Wednesday, May 26 with professionalhours from 3-7 pm. The public will be invited at 6 pm and the show willstay up until June 11 at 180 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, USA.This is a good way to recruit new talent. For more details call Susan

* Tuesday, June 8 - Thursday, June 10. New York, New York, USA.

The global deal marketplace for the $132 billion business of licensingtakes center stage in New York City, June 8-10, 1999, with LICENSING '99INTERNATIONAL, the largest worldwide licensing event and the single mostconsolidated presentation of properties in one place. Licensing '98International drew a record 15,000 attendees from more than 60 countries.The show featured nearly 400 exhibitors representing more than 3,700