AWN Headline News

The WB has already removed its new primetime animatedseries MISSION HILL from its Friday night line-up due to poor ratings. (Itspremiere episode finished 115th in the ratings for the week of October 4 -10.) It's expected to return as a midseason replacement. New episodes of SOUTHPARK return beginning next Wednesday, October 27 at 10 pm on COMEDYCENTRAL, with an all-new Halloween special, KORN'S GROOVY PIRATE GHOSTMYSTERY, guest starring the band, KORN. . . MTV is developing an animated

DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE has made several appointments. GUIDOMASTROPAOLO has been named Director of Global Planning and BusinessDevelopment for Disney Publishing Worldwide. Located in Paris,Mastropaolo's duties will include leading international initiatives to growrevenue by negotiating acquisitions, new business ventures and majorlicensing deals in order to ensure meeting overall publishing financialgoals. In addition, he will co-manage the strategic planning process and

Several weeks ago (Animation Flash 9/28/99) Oxygen Media, Geraldine Laybourne's company founded toprovide content for women, announced its online production team. Now OxygenMedia has named seven executive producers for its original cable televisionline-up. CARSEY WERNER MANDABACH will oversee seven hours of originalprogramming each day on the 24-hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week cable network. Thenew appointments are: LINDA CORRADINA (former Senior Vice President,Programming and Production, VH1) will join Giselle Benetar as Executive

Copenhagen, Denmark-based A.FILM has finished a :40 spot for Daloon SpringRolls, Denmark's largest Chinese frozen food manufacturer. In the spot,which unveils a new product called Funsters, a dragon, called "daloon" inDanish, presents the product like a wise and distinguished old man, but thechildren's crazy antics off-screen cause him to lose his cool. The CGI spotwas animated using 3D Studio Max with a few live-action props. Craig Frankdirected. The word from Denmark is that after the spot aired for threeweeks, the product sold out.

WALT DISNEY FEATURE ANIMATION has named JEFFREY FARNATH to the post ofsenior vice president of business development and finance for Walt DisneyFeature Animation and Walt Disney Theatrical Productions. In addition tosupervising all areas of business development and finance, Farnath willnegotiate and manage international licenses for Disney's stage-showbusiness, oversee long-term strategic planning for Disney's animationproduction units and develop growth strategies for theatrical productions

Fox has removed FAMILY GUY from its Thursday night line-up due to poorratings. (Apparently UPN's new WWF SMACKDOWN! is creating stiffcompetition.) According to a Fox spokesperson, the network remainscommitted to the show, and its return date will be known in about twoweeks. The show did well last spring when it launched in a Sunday nighttimeslot and Fox committed to another season. Therefore, it seems likelythe show will return as part of the Sunday night lineup when one of the

Saturday, November 6, 9 am - 3 pm. Burbank, California, USA.

Women In Animation sponsors the Third Annual Career Day Event. Paneldiscussions include "Animation: The Reality of the Business" and "YourMarketing Tools: Resumes, Portfolios and Demo Reels." There will also be aportfolio/demo reel review, and small group workshops for both computer andtraditional animation. Space is limited, so RSVP is required. Fees are $15for WIA members, and $20 for non-members. Checks must be received no later

NETTER DIGITAL NETS BATS. North Hollywood, California-based NetterDigital Entertainment, Inc. created the CGI bats for the upcoming film,BATS, directed by Louis Morneau, from Destination Films, which is scheduledto be released on October 22. In the film, swarms of genetically alteredbats terrorize a small Texas town. Netter created 178 film effects in nineweeks. The Netter team was led by four women: Susan Norkin, visual effectsproducer; Laurel Klick, visual effects supervisor; Gina Di Bari, lead