MTV's Eric Calderon & Expedia's Richard Barton Join AtomFilms
ATOMFILMS has announced that ERIC CALDERON has joined the company as
Animation and Digital Media Development Executive and RICHARD BARTON has
joined their board of directors. Before moving to AtomFilms, Calderon was
the former Director of Animation Development at MTV. Calderon will be in
charge of recruiting and developing animation and digital media talent,
content and technologies. At MTV, Calderon oversaw MTV animation series
such as: CARTOON SUSHI, CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH, DARIA, DOWNTOWN, and the
Ivan Molomut Joins Black Logic As Head Of Sales
IVAN MOLOMUT has joined BLACK LOGIC, a design and animation house, as head
of sales. Molomut's firm Ivan and Company, which he established in 1997, to
market traditional film production, cel animation, CGI, visual effects,
editors and music houses, to advertising agencies and clients, has
represented Black Logic for the past two years. In 1991, Molomut formed
Velocity Film, a bi-coastal production company. As president, head of sales
and marketing and executive producer, he represented directors to ad
Nick Nurtures 3 New Toons
Nickelodeon has announced plans for a new animated series featuring
Hispanic leads. DORA THE EXPLORER will follow the crusades of a 7-year-old
Hispanic girl who lives inside a computer. The show will encourage viewers
to participate in the adventure. The new show is "a rounding out of our
efforts to reflect the world of kids," said Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon's
executive vice president. Other new toons include: INVADER ZIM, about an
alien who spies on Earth by masquerading as a kid and attending elementary
New Jobs: Animators, Artists, Faculty Filmmakers and more wanted
- Do you live and breathe anime, comics, manga and sci-fi? Do you enjoy
working in a fast-paced, start-up environment? Then this may be your dream
job! Actionace.com, a pre-IPO company located in the San Francisco Bay
Area, is launching an on-line entertainment channel featuring webisodes
animated in Flash. Actionace.com is hiring all levels of ANIMATORS, from
seasoned professionals to entry-level. Job requirements/skills are: 4-year
college degree (animation major preferred); Thorough understanding of
Brussels Festival Hosts Sand & Clay Animation Workshop
The 19th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival will start next Monday
and run until March 11, 2000...
Recruiting at ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Expo
ASIFA-Hollywood will host its 7th Annual Animation Expo on March 3-4, 2000,
in Glendale, California...
Animation On the Internet - Creating It and Distributing It!
Meet key industry leaders in two power packed panels! AWN's Dan Sarto will
present "THE NEXT WAVE: ANIMATION ON THE INTERNET" at the Animation Expo on
Saturday, March 4, 1:00 PM - 5:30 PM. A panel of leading animators and
industry experts will discuss current opportunities and future
possibilities for the creation and distribution of animation on the
Internet. Session 1 will focus on THE TOOLS, TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES
being used to create web-based animated content. With so much focus on
Free Slide Lecture with Prestigious Life Drawing Instructor Glenn Vilppu
On Saturday, March 4, 2000, world class life drawing master Glenn Vilppu
will present "On the Tails of Anders Zorn, Carl Larsson and P.S. Kroyer in
Scandinavia" at the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Union (MPSC Local
839), North Hollywood, California. To attend this free event, please call
(661) 269-1726 or (818) 994-2402. Glenn Vilppu will also present his tour
of Denmark and Sweden, scheduled July 10-21, 2000. When traveling through
major cities, Vilppu will lecture on the local art. Artists, photographers
J. Stuart Blackton Screening
* Wednesday, March 1, 2000. Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
In celebration of the 125th anniversary of J. Stuart Blackton, The Silent
Society of Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and the International Animated Film
Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, are presenting a program highlighting this motion
picture and animation pioneer. A diverse sampling of works by the medium's
first director-producer-animator and actor will be featured, all drawn from
Stuart Little Team At AFI
* Thursday, March 2, 2000.
An Evening with STUART LITTLE, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood and AFI. Henry
Anderson and the STUART LITTLE/Sony Pictures Imageworks team will present a
lively discussion of the performance aspects of the animation, plus some of
the technical as well. The program concludes with a screening of STUART
LITTLE. The event will take place at 7:30 PM at the Mark Goodson Theater on
2021 N. Western Ave. For more information contact ASIFA-Hollywood at: 725
Cartoon Seminar
* Thursday, March 9, 2000 - Saturday, March 11, 2000. Madrid, Spain.
Cartoon, the European producers organization, will present a seminar on
"how to negotiate with the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Japan."
Discussions will focus on the structures, customs and constraints of the
fore mentioned markets. After an introduction on each country, the various
policies on international co-productions will be discussed. A question and
March's WIA Writers' Group
* Thursday, March 9, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
This month's Women In Animation Writers' Group Seminar will be held at 7:30
pm at Saban Entertainment, 10960 Wilshire Blvd. (corner of Midvale). The
discussion centers around the outline, the scene, and animation terms. Fee:
US$5 to cover costs. RSVP to Jean Ann Wright required. Tel.: (818)
360-8321 or E-mail: jjwright@gte.net. For more information on WIA events,
please visit the Website at
WIA, Inc. General Meeting
* Saturday, February 26, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Women In Animation, Inc. will be holding their annual meeting with guest
speaker Lynda Weinman of lynda.com. The meeting introduces members and
anyone interested in WIA with what has happened in the past year and what
exciting events and activities are on the way for 2000. Weinman, a pioneer
of graphics and animation on the MAC, will bring to the event her knowledge
eBay To Auction Mickey's Merchandise
Disney's Go Network has inked a 4-year agreement with eBay making it the
exclusive on-line auction site for Walt Disney's Web properties. Under
terms of the deal, eBay and the Go Network will create two co-branded
auction sites -- one to provide person to person transactions, the other
merchant to consumer sales, featuring goods from Disney's properties and
ESPN, among others. Disney will market the two sites through its Go
Network, a portfolio of Web sites that includes Disney.com, ABC.com and
Rugrats: Burger King's Thanksgiving Whopper
Burger King, a leading hamburger chain, has decided to back RUGRATS IN
PARIS with a licensing campaign to coincide with the film's Thanksgiving
release. Burger joint cross promotion of films released in the holiday
season means big money for both parties. Burger King opted to work out a
deal with the Nickelodeon/Paramount sequel to RUGRATS: THE MOVIE, which it
backed in 1998, instead of DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS,
starring Jim Carrey. Insiders say Burger King may drop US$20 million into
Riots Raises Roster With New Producer and CGI Artist
RIOT, a digital effect house, breaks out with the naming of a new visual
effects producer ALIX EGLIS and visual effects artist CLAUS HANSEN. As a
freelancer, Eglis has produced commercials for Santa Monica,
California-based Crew Cuts and Lost Planet. For Culver City,
California-based Mars Media, she produced the R&B group, TLC's "Unpretty"
video and Will Smith's "Wild, Wild West" video. Eglis will oversee projects
for Riot, acting as a liaison from the client to the artists. Prior to
Radium Expands Santa Monica Branch's Roster
RADIUM has expanded its Santa Monica office roster with a new head of
production JONATHAN WHITEHEAD and visual effects artists MARK HOLMES and
CHRISTINE RIVARD. Whitehead will oversee the daily operation of the Santa
Monica branch including client relations, bidding, marketing, personnel and
line producing. For the last six years, Whitehead was an executive producer
at Saatchi & Saatchi, primarily working on ads for Toyota. Whitehead's
feature film producing credits include GHOSTBUSTERS II, THE ABYSS, STEEL
Vivid Animation Stops Production
Jeff Lotman, CEO of Vivid Animation and Virtual Celebrity Productions,
announced that the company has closed operations. "Vivid, which had just
completed its first commercial project, for MasterCard, will no longer
accept commercial projects," said Lotman who has decided to focus all of
his energies and resources on his two-year-old licensing and merchandising
company Global Icons. "Global Icons is growing faster than I had hoped and
the potential is so great that it demands all of my attention at this
A New Cubicle For Dilbert On The Net
After UPN put DILBERT on an indefinite hiatus which starts March 14, the
producers of the cartoon series announced it would broadcast an episode of
the show along with rare outtakes on the Net. The 22-minute previously
aired episode entitled "The Merger" will air commercial-free on the Web
from February 17 - 29, 2000. Columbia/TriStar, who produces the show, will
become only the second major studio to enter into the Netcasting arena. In
November of 1999, Warner Bros. simulcast parts of an episode of "The Drew
German EM.TV Acquires The Muppets
Munich-based EM.TV & Merchandising has acquired the Jim Henson Co. in a
cash and stock transaction valued at US$680 million. The German company now
owns the rights to the Muppets and Sesame Street characters. The purchase
gives EM.TV "some of the most powerful and enduring kids and family brands
worldwide and. . . access to the world's biggest and most important media
market," said Thomas Haffa, EM.TV CEO. "In addition, our investment in
Henson will give us a position in cable networks, which will open up new
Snow Falls At 3rd Again
The kid flick SNOW DAY, with special effects by Curious Pictures, settled
at third place for a second straight week at the U.S. box office. The
Paramount-produced flick grossed US$14.8 million over the President's Day
holiday weekend, bringing its cume to $31.5 million. USA Films release
PITCH BLACK finished at #4. Yet another ALIENS-esque sci-fi flick, PITCH
BLACK grossed $14 million. THE TIGGER MOVIE finished the weekend in fifth
place, making $10.5 million, bringing its cume to $22.3 million. Even
Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak Premiere
On Sunday, February 20, 2000, everyone's favorite alien villain from Space
Ghost's CARTOON PLANET, Brak, will present his own half-hour musical
variety show on Cartoon Network entitled BRAK PRESENTS THE BRAK SHOW
STARRING BRAK. Starting at 7 pm, the special will feature 10 original songs
and many comedy sketches. The dimwitted host gets the chance to sing a
heart-warming duet with R&B singer Monica, ride down a country road in an
ol' pick-up truck singing the tune "Highway 40" with teen film star Freddie
Live-Action Tick Actor Named
Patrick Warburton, best known for playing Elaine's mechanic boyfriend,
Putty, on SEINFELD, will don the blue superhero suit in the new live-action
TV series THE TICK. Barry Sonnenfeld will direct the half-hour pilot, and
share executive producing credits with partner Barry Josephson and TICK
creator Ben Edlund. Shooting is scheduled for the first two weeks in April.
Angela Anaconda Marathon
To celebrate the American holiday, President's Day, Fox Family will be
hosting a seven hour marathon of ANGELA ANACONDA on Monday, February 21,
2000. Fourteen episodes of the hit animated series will air back-to-back
starting at 7:30 am. Catch all of Angela's misadventures with her friends
and chief rival Nanette Manoir, her stuck-up blonde classmate.
Digimon Marathon
DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS will take over the airwaves for a seven hour
marathon on Sunday, February 27, 2000. The "Digithon" will feature 11 new
episodes to Fox Family starting at 7 am. Follow the mysterious adventures
of the series' seven young heroes as they discover the secrets of the
"black gear" which threatens the existence of Digiworld.
