The First Bristol Animated Encounters
* Friday, May 19 Sunday, May 21, 2000. Bristol, U.K.
The PJs Movin' On Up To The WB
Warner Bros. Television will announce its fall schedule this week and it will include claymation series THE PJS. The Hollywood Reporter published the news saying that the official announcement will go before advertisers in New York on Tuesday, May 16. Earlier this year, WB had signed a deal with THE PJS producer Imagine TV/Touchstone that gave the network the option of picking up the show for the fall 2000 season. Previously airing on Fox, THE PJS future was uncertain even as late as last week.
Daytime Emmy Tech Awards Announced
On Saturday May 13, 2000, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences handed out their Daytime Emmy Awards for technical achievement. Many of the awards handed out featured animated series like big winner ROLIE POLIE OLIE for best special class animated program. The 3D animation series beat out ANGELA ANACONDA, BATMAN BEYOND, DISNEYS MICKEY MOUSEWORKS and THE SYLVESTER & TWEETY MYSTERIES for the honor. BLUES CLUES lost to BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY in the childrens series writing category and lost to BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE in the childrens series directing category.
What's New In The Student Corner?
Demo Reel Dos and Don'ts is focused on in this month's Career Coach by Pamela Thompson. A demo reel is a vital marketing tool for animators...
Bendazzi's Reference Material On Music And Animation
After the publication of our closer look on Animation Serving Music (AWN Spotlight 4/27/00), animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi sent us the following information...
Plympton's Comic Of The Week
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
This Week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
Store Specials: A New book featuring Folimage Animation Studio
Folioscope presents "L'Equipée de Folimage Studio de Films d'Animation," the catalog for the exhibition on Folimage, the creators of the 1999 Cartoon d'Or winner "L'Enfant Au Grelot" ("Charlie's Christmas"), among other award winning productions. The Folimage exhibition will be presented at the Annecy Museum, Annecy, France, June 3-October 31, 2000. The Annecy festival will also present a retrospective of the studio's world-famous work.
A Closer Look: Unicef: Ten Years Strong...And Every Day Counts
Animation is a vital tool at UNICEF for communicating life-saving information. Unlike any other medium, animation has universal appeal. It is quick and to the point. It can cross gender, age and cultural barriers. As well as communicating health messages, animated characters can provide role models that alter children's lives for the better by changing perceptions or teaching tolerance.
Web Toon Undercover Brother Turned Into Feature
Author and writer John Ridley (THREE KINGS) has signed a deal with Universal and Imagine to scribe a live-action version of his Web toon UNDERCOVER BROTHER. The blaxploitation-spoof currently airs on Urban Entertainment and is the first Web created project to make the jump to the big screen. Ridley is getting a US$1 million dollar advance on the script and could wind up with $2 million if the script is green-lighted.
Grasso Named Will Vinton Exec VP
Will Vinton Studios has named Maria Grosso as their new executive VP of development at the new Los Angeles office. The former development exec at Warner TV and Universal will work closely with Tom Turpin, president and CEO of Will Vinton Studios, on formulating new TV, film and new media programming. "Maria brings the perfect experience base to expand our producing activities," Turpin said. "The ability to bring unique and distinctive stories to the marketplace is what were after.
Webbies Name Best Sites Of The Year
On May 11, 2000 in San Francisco, California, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences handed out their Web honors. AtomFilms walked away from the night with two awards winning the peoples voice award in the broadband category and winning the film category. Each category ranging from arts to personal to news to weird where awarded two awards one winner and one peoples voice award. Web surfers placed over 130,000 votes for their favorite Web site in the 27 different divisions.
Interactive Awards Announce Winners
On May 11, 2000, The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) held the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The event was hosted by comedian Martin Short and saw other celebrity presenters like Harry Shearer (THE SIMPSONS), Ahmet Zappa (MTVS WEB RIOT) and Delroy Lindo (CIDER HOUSE RULES). Rapping up the first day of the E3 Conference, the 2000 Interactive Achievement Awards were presented with the support of Intel, Alias/Wavefront, GameWeek, Sonic Foundry and Webster Interactive.
New Jobs: Animators, Digital Artists, Directors, Instructors, Managers and More.
Creative Planet's AWN is recruiting! We are looking for an EDITOR for the AWN ANIMATION RESOURCE GUIDE and an AFFILIATE PROGRAM MANAGER to help us grow our Affiliate Program.
Glenn Vilppu Drawing Workshop At Dhima
The event is a one day drawing workshop taught by prestigious life drawing instructor Glenn Vilppu...
We're Seeking Comic Strips!
The July issue of Animation World Magazine is going to feature Comics. As a special bonus, we are asking you to submit your comic strips for possible publication in the magazine...
Call For Erotic Art Animation Artists
The 10th Annual Sensual & Erotic Art Exhibition will happen July 13-15, 2000 in Reno, Nevada, USA. The show is open to all artists using animation as their primary medium in the category of erotic art. This year's exhibition will focus on challenging works by promising new talent in this medium. For applications and guidelines call or send a SASE to: The Lifestyles Organization, Attn.: Curator, 2641 W. La Palma Ave. Ste C, Anaheim, CA 92801, USA; tel.: (714) 821-1235; fax: (714) 821-9919; e-mail: xart@lifestyles.org.
Warner Bros. Director Arthur Davis Passes
Warner Bros. cartoon director Art Davis passed away on May 9, 2000 at 3 pm. An underrated and overlooked director of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, Davis directed many Daffy Duck and Porky Pig cartoons in his tenure. He directed one classic Bugs Bunny toon in 1949 called BOWERY BUGS. Davis started his animation career in 1921 and is credited with being the industry's first in-betweener. Davis took over the Clampett unit as director in 1945. After his unit was dissolved in 1948, he continued on as an animator and story man in the Freleng unit until the studio closed.
Aries New VP At Nick Studios
Lolee Aries has been appointed vice president of production, Nickelodeon Animations Studios. At Nickelodeon, she will oversee the day-to-day production on all of Nickelodeon Animation Studios in-house projects including current series SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, HEY ARNOLD!, CATDOG, ANGRY BEAVERS, OH YEAH! CARTOONS! and the upcoming series CHALKZONE, THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS and INVADER ZIM. Aries will also focus on the digital production process and boosting the utilization of in-house talent. Aries joins Nickelodeon from Film Roman, where she served as VP of production.
Mattel Lands Nick Toys Deal
Mattel, Inc. has signed a new multiyear worldwide licensing pact with Nickelodeon to renew and expand its current toy license agreement. The deal will include toy categories such as action figures, dolls, plush toys, games, handheld games, puzzles, and infant and preschool products. Mattel now controls all properties from Nickelodeon's children's television programming services, as well as Nickelodeon's motion pictures division, Nickelodeon Movies. As part of the deal, Mattel will be the international toy licensee for Nickelodeon's RUGRATS and BLUE'S CLUES in more than 30 countries.
Stan Lee Media Lands Top Animation Talent
Three of animation's top producer/artists on BATMAN, THE X-MEN and THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, as well as such comic book classics as SPIDER-MAN, CONAN and TARZAN, have joined Stan Lee Media, Inc. (SLM). Will Meugniot, Larry Houston and Thomas McLaughlin, who have overseen programming for such major studios as Fox, Warner Bros., Sony and Saban, will be steering SLM projects in development as well as THE 7TH PORTAL Web animation franchise.
King Of The Hill Puts Foot Into Net
The convergence between the Net and TV gets narrower as KING OF THE HILL steps into the game in a big way. On Sunday, May 14, 2000, Fox will air an episode of KING where Peggy Hill is lured into making an inspirational video about her long time embarrassment her big feet. However, the shifty photographer just posts Peggys plus-sized piggys on a fetish Web site called peggysfeet.com.
Gladiator Works As Dream Maker At US BO
Slaying the competition at the U.S. box office, DreamWorks' GLADIATOR easily finished in the top spot. The Roman action epic, with primary special effects by Mill Film Ltd., grossed a Goliath US$34.82 million, which is nearly the combined gross of the rest of the top ten films. GLADIATOR dethroned two-week box office champ U-571, which fell to second. The Universal World War II submarine story grossed another $7.77 million bringing its total theatre receipts to $49.59 million. Despite horrid reviews from about every source, THE FLINTSTONES VIVA ROCK VEGAS managed to finish in third place.
Stuart Little & Pokemon Fade From International BO
With live-action Julia Roberts-starrer ERIN BROCKOVICH reigning the international box office, POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE and STUART LITTLE started their descent down the charts. For the week ending May 4, 2000, STUART LITTLE fell from the #1 spot in Australia to land in 2nd place. The Columbia pic grossed another US$1.53 million Down Under, raising its cume in the country to $10.7 million. The radiant rodent also fell from the top spot in Germany and Hong Kong to land in fourth place in both countries. STUART's gross in Germany was $516,789, raising its German cume to $4.75 million.
ASIFA-East Awards Excellence
On Sunday, May 7, 2000 the 31st annual ASIFA-East animation festival was held in New York City. The event packed the auditorium with animators and animation buffs. The overflow of the audience was sent to a second theater to watch a simulcast of the winning films. The event holds four categories for students, commercials, sponsored films and independent films. The big winners were Nickelodeon, taking home three awards in the sponsored category, and Acme Filmworks, which won three awards in the commercial category.
