Disney’s upcoming live-action Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton, will be released in IMAX 3-D simultaneously with its standard release on March 5, 2010.

The IMAX 3-D version will be digitally re-mastered and will be the third in a five-film release agreement signed by IMAX and Disney in November. The remastering process will use the IMAX Digital Re-Mastering Technology to achieve the highest quality image and sound quality.

The movie stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Mia Wasikowska as Alice. It also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover and Alan Rickman.

Monsters vs. Aliens, DreamWorks’ latest epic, puts vaguely familiar characters from our favorite ’50s movies into a ginormous stereoscopic package.

It all started with the monsters in Cannes. The monsters in a script, that is. Conrad Vernon, who had just finished directing the 2004 film Shrek 2 with Andrew Adamson and Kelly Asbury, was in Cannes promoting that film and was reading scripts during his down time. One of the scripts was based on the Rex Havoc comic-book series. ‘It had monsters in it,’ Vernon says. ‘But the concept’sci-fi horror’wasn’t what I wanted. I thought it would be great to do a film from the monsters’ point of view, not the people’s point of view.’ The greenlight team at DreamWorks liked that approach enough to assign an artist to the project.

Meanwhile, Rob Letterman, who had directed the 2004 film Shark Tale with Bibo Bergeron and Vicky Jenson, had begun working on an idea for an animated feature with a Dirty Dozen type of theme. DreamWorks suggested marrying the two concepts’monsters from the 1950s with prisoners given a suicide mission in return for the promise of freedom. The merging result became Monsters vs. Aliens, directed by Vernon and Letterman.

‘Monsters versus aliens was always part of the concept,’ Vernon says. ‘We put the two concepts together and had the monsters locked up for the past 50 years in a secret military facility. When an alien menace attacks, none of the military branches can do anything about it. So, they create a team of monsters to throw at the alien menace as a Hail Mary pass.’

First, Vernon and Letterman needed to pick some monsters. After starting with a dozen, they reduced the potential cast to five: The creature from the Black Lagoon, the 50-foot woman, the blob, the human fly and Godzilla. Then, they decided to create their own monsters. ‘We decided, first, because of all the rights problems it would be easier to come up with our own,’ Vernon says. ‘And, second, we wanted to.’

The creature from the Black Lagoon merged with King Kong to become The Missing Link (Will Arnett). The human fly morphed into Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie). Insectosaurus (Jimmy Kimmel) is a 350-pound grub that can shoot silk out its nose. Susan Murphy from Modesto, also known as Ginormica (Reese Witherspoon) is a 49-and-a-half-foot woman. And, B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a clever abbreviation for Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate, is a one-eyed gelatinous mass created by accidentally mixing a genetically altered tomato with ranch-flavored dessert topping. General W. R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) sends the monsters on their mission at President Hathaway’s (Stephen Colbert) request.

Dave Burgess led the team of animators who brought the characters to life, a core group of 35 animators that swelled to 50 during the final weeks of production, with the help of five supervising animators. ‘Generally, we have the supervising animators each run a sequence with a team of six to nine animators,’ Burgess says. ‘When they finish one sequence, they move on to the next. But, we were getting the story in bits and pieces. We still had each supervisor run a sequence, but we cast their teams based on how much work they had and how many people they needed. People like to work with their gang, but this time, the animators benefited from working with each of our talented supervisors who have strengths in different directions.’

Riggers based the controls for most of the characters roughly on PDI/DreamWorks’ generic ‘Man A’ rig. ‘Once you know how to use the rig for one, the controls are similar for the others,’ Burgess says. The tricky bits were the tails. Link and Insectosaurus both have long tails and Burgess wanted the tails to drag on the ground, so the crew devised a way to stick the tails to the ground plane.

In addition, Burgess asked the riggers to do a full body simulation for the giant slug to add rippling that would help create believable weight and mass. Giving the right weight to Susan, the giant woman, was also a challenge. ‘We didn’t want her to lumber like a Godzilla,’ Burgess says. ‘But, she isn’t a normal-sized person, either.’ Because we see Susan in her normal size as well as her Ginormica expansion, the riggers and animators needed to make sure she stayed on model through the size shifts.

Dr. Cockroach was Burgess’s favorite character to animate. ‘We could explore the contrast between a brilliant, elegant man in control and out of control,’ Burgess says. ‘He has a huge cockroach head, like a toothpick with a giant olive on top, so he was fun design-wise.’ For the alien Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson), riggers devised an FK/IK system to help control his six tentacles and four eyes.

B.O.B. was the most challenging because of his gelatinous blob-like qualities. ‘He’s a character and a fluid simulation,’ Burgess says. ‘I don’t think anyone has created a character that elaborate and flexible, with a head and base, but no body.’ Animators could work with a stand-in version of B.O.B. composed of blue rings with an eyeball in the middle; he turned into a blob once the crew rendered him.

For the style, the team settled on a compromise between the broadness of animation in Madagascar and the naturalism of Shrek. ‘We kept going back to Chuck Jones,’ Burgess says. ‘We’d stay in a pose as long as we could and then explode out and end up in another great attitude. The more we could milk those beautiful poses, the more successful the acting.’

Because DreamWorks authored the film in stereoscopic 3-D from the beginning, animators viewed all their dailies in stereo. ‘We had to be super careful,’ Burgess says. ‘Stereo is not forgiving at all for cheated eye-lines, and hands almost touching had to be right next to each other.’

Stereo 3-D was also a learning process for the directors. ‘We’d gone three to four months into production when Jeffrey [Katzenberg] said that we would do the film in 3-D,’ Vernon says. ‘3-D didn’t change the story; everything is in support of the story. This is kind of a perfect movie for 3-D. Our main character is [almost] 50 feet tall and there’s no better way of showing that than by seeing that depth go away. You can really feel that General Monger is tiny, and she is gigantic.’

Creating a film that merges two eyes’two cameras’to create one deep image is a good analogy for the working relationship between directors Vernon and Letterman who had to merge two different ideas’monsters fighting aliens and the ‘dirty dozen”into one story.

‘If you’re leading a team with two visionaries in charge, you have to get that vision straight,’ Vernon says. Judging by the final results, they certainly did.

DreamWorks Animation’s Monsters vs. Aliens is currently playing in theaters nationwide.

After winning the Best Feature Prize at Ottawa, Aristomenis Tsirbas’ indie labor of love, Battle for Terra, is ready for its 3-D blitz.

Only a few weeks after DreamWorks’ splashy Monsters vs. Aliens opened in 3-D theaters across the country, a smaller-scale indie movie about a different kind of alien invasion will debut in glorious 3-D on select screens. Directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas and written by Evan Spiliotopoulos, Battle for Terra offers a refreshing twist on the old aliens-invading-Earth storyline. In this truly independently produced feature, it’s the human beings who are the invaders and the aliens who are living peacefully on their own planet.

Tsirbas, who has an impressive background as a vfx artist’he’s worked on Titanic, Hellboy, Star Trek: Voyager and Enterprise‘made a splash in the animation festival circuit with the shorts Freak in 2001 and Terra in 2003. As it turns out, the seven-minute-long Terra became a blueprint for the new movie, which will be released by Roadside Attractions in May.

‘I loved the novels of H.G. Wells when I was a kid, and really got into War of the Worlds,’ recalls Tsirbas during a phone interview from his studio in the heart of Hollywood. ‘But the aliens were always portrayed as shallow, evil beings. I wanted to know more about them. Why would they want to invade Earth? Why would they follow the pattern of imperialism and conquest that’s parallel to human history? So in my movie, I tried to turn things around and explore that idea from the point of view of the aliens ‘ what if humans invaded their planet?’

Not one to opt for easy solutions and pat storylines, Tsirbas also wanted to stray away from any black-and-white depictions. ‘As the film develops, we learn that the humans aren’t evil either’they feel that they have no choice’while it’s also revealed that although the aliens lead an idyllic, peaceful life now, they had a very dark past as well.’

Like many indie animators working around the world today, Tsirbas was weary of playing the waiting game with the big studios. ‘I guess you can say that our na’vet’ worked in our favor,’ he says. ‘Our producer Dane Allan Smith and I had worked together in visual effects for many years, but we’d never done anything like this before. We really didn’t know what we were going against ‘ We didn’t want the larger studios to make the decisions for us ‘ and it was taking them forever to get it off the ground. So, we decided to take things in to our own hands.’

Both Smith and Tsirbas also point out that they were very lucky to run into the team at Hollywood-based studio Snoot Entertainment. ‘There are so few outlets for emerging filmmakers today,’ says Smith. ‘Having a presence at fantasy and shorts festivals helped us a lot, and the timing was right, too. The folks at Snoot saw our short and wanted to get involved with the movie.’

Smith says it took his team months to develop the pipeline for the feature’a framework that would make sense economically. ‘We reverse engineered a software package we call the Beaver project that exports files out of LightWave into Maya,’ he notes. ‘We created an animatic over an eight-month period in LightWave, then exported it to Maya, and our character animators would feed the MDF files back to LightWave. We really maximized the efficiency of both packages without getting bogged down.’

As Tsirbas explains, the team’s background in episodic TV effects helped them create a sophisticated CG-animated world with remarkable efficiency and speed. In 2005, they took a key scene from the project and screened it at SIGGRAPH, and given the great feedback they received, it was a breeze to put together top-notch voice talent (Dennis Quaid, Brian Cox, Danny Glover, James Garner, Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans, to name a few) for the feature.

The decision to up to ante and make the feature a stereoscopic 3-D release was made about two years ago. ‘We knew that 3-D was a strong possibility, but when we started out, the technology wasn’t as prominent as it is today,’ says Smith. ‘However we took certain precautions in the event that we did decide to go 3-D. Every scene existed in a true virtual environment and we didn’t add a lot of compositing trickery which would’ve compounded the transition to 3-D later on in the game.’

The team added a second camera and proprietary software was developed to control the depth of the scene and the divergence of the objects in each shot. Smith says overall, the transfer to 3-D cost about one-eighth of the total budget. ‘For a more expensively produced feature, this would have been a lot more,’ he points out. ‘Everything is relative’ Let’s just say that ours was about 1/20 of the total budget for WALL’E! The biggest expense was getting the media to the theaters.’

As a filmmaker, Tsirbas is most proud of the fact that he and his relatively small team of talented artists (at the peak of production, 20 people were working at the studio) were able to do what many considered an impossible dream. ‘I think the fact that we all worked closely together under one roof helped us with our daily give-and-take and exchange of ideas,’ he adds. ‘We set a very tight schedule and adhered to it. We had a finite amount of tasks. Because most of the creative work was done during the animatic stage, it helped us with the camera moves and lighting stages.’

The journey to Terra and back has been a huge learning process for Tsirbas and company. ‘I think if you have a dream to make it in this business, you are going to need that passion to fuel the energy and hard work,’ says the director. ‘You also need a thick skin because you’ll hear the word ‘no’ a thousand times. If you love what you’re doing, then the hard work won’t feel so bad.’

He also believes that the outlook is quite good for indie animators who like to branch out from the family genre. ‘We have films like Waltz with Bashir broadening the perception of animation everywhere,’ notes Tsirbas. ‘Animation has taken a long time to break through the family genre. Pixar is also helping this process by diversifying the art form. This helps the indie animated films come to the market and get distribution. Just like digital video changed the game in the past, I think we’re witnessing an indie animation revolution, thanks to the availability of off-the-shelf software used by animators. It’s all good!’

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions will release Battle for Terra in theaters on May 1, 2009. For more info, visit www.battleforterra.com.

The first quarter of the year finds international animation content producers and buyers heading over to Cannes for the MIPTV market (March 30-April 3) and the Cartoons on the Bay festival (April 2-3) in Tiglio, Italy. We surveyed some of the top animation execs attending these events to get a solid take on the state of the global animation business in 2009. Here, they talk about some of the new toons they’ll be taking to the market as well as offering timely advice on how to survive the tough economic climate:

Weiling Kwok, Executive, Xianghong Film & TV

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

We are aiming at strengthening our international cooperation at the same time as keeping our original production.

—-

Mike Young, CEO, MoonScoop Group

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Our new Twisted Whiskers series, based on American Greetings’ massively popular greeting cards line, features squash and stretch animation with fur-covered, goofy, bug-eyed animal characters’all done on a television budget. The fur (and the budget) presented quite a challenge, but we and our co-production partner Dataquest have created a project that will be a ‘game-changer’ in the industry. The end result is an envelope-pushing series two years in the making, which has pushed the limits and may simultaneously break the hearts of many a rendering farm.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Chloe’s Closet is one of our newest series and I have a strong personal attachment to it since we created it based on ideas inspired by my own granddaughter named Chloe. My wife Liz and I watched the way Chloe interacted with her little duck security blanket who she named Lovely Carrot. When she played with Lovely Carrot, she seemed completely mesmerized and was truly enjoying the magical world she was creating in her mind. We’re hoping to re-create that same dynamic of how kids play and interact with these imaginary friends. It’s truly created from a child’s perspective. It’s all about Chloe using her imagination and totally role-playing the character that she dresses up as. Each episode is a quirky and unexpected adventure. The series is an animation hybrid of Flash, 2D and 3D CGI sets. It has a preschool math curriculum and features models that parents and children can make using household items. We are very proud of the way the show has turned out.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

We would plan a bank robbery except they have no money. We have hunkered down and stripped back our G and A (but not our artists) and we’re producing slightly fewer of our own shows. We also have some great work-for-hire projects in the pipeline. We need to try and survive the next 18 months. We also have a fresh sales impetus on our current as well as past shows. We are also using group-wide economies of scale to better effect, including being under one brand, MoonScoop.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Do not wait for others to dictate your business. Build value by real ownership. Now is the time to be bold.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you …

I’ve got a merchant bank that will invest in my property. This has virtually never been true and certainly not now.

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Spending time with my grandchildren. I got them all soaked to the skin paddling in rain puddles last week and spent the day washing and drying all their clothes. There are six of them after all. Golf (which I also play) merely adds to the stress.

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

Supporting Cardiff City ‘ the greatest team in football the world has ever seen.

—

Larry Feign, Director, STVDIO Media

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Love of rock-n-roll combined with love of furry animals (not that kind of love!) combined with being a goofball.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business … what are your survival strategies for the near future?

Cheaper whiskey for my animators.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

I AM a small, independent animation producer. Advice: Marry a doctor! If they can’t finance your projects, they can at least get you antidepressants.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you…

“We’ll definitely buy this series after you’ve finished the production.”

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Swedish vodka.

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

#3: Snickers bars (#1 is too gross for a family magazine and #2 is already married’hey, just kidding!).

—

Carlos Biern, Co-Production Director, BRB Internacional

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Toys living inside of a car are things everybody can identify with and are the heroes of our new show The Secret Life of Suckers. When you put the creators of Bernard or Angus & Cheryl writing behind it and a wonderful design you have a HIT!

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Art toys & URBAN music have been our everyday inspiration for creating these unique characters. There were thousands of funny stories during our brainstorming sessions. Many of them happened inside of our own cars and some of those were too imaginative and kind of surrealistic!

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business … what are you survival strategies for the near future?

It is a difficult time to bring forward new brands as most of the networks are not too open to take risks on new shows. So we are primarily pushing more our well known show brands like Bernard or Angus & Cheryl in new fields on financing while setting up new ways of financing through videogames.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Buy a Wii and an iPhone and use the online videogame shops for Playstation and the Xbox 360. Don’t try to start development of your next show until you spend four weeks understanding these interfaces, designs and storylines.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you…

This is the next Simpsons, Pok’mon or SpongeBob.

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

My third coproducer right now is using more creative ways using new technical production skills without losing the art and the craft!

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

My beloved island Formentera in the Mediterranean sea.

—

Adam Tootla, Senior Vice President?, Marvel Studios

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Super Hero Squad is a first for Marvel. First time we are self-financing, self-distributing, first Marvel Universe show inclusive of characters across all of our character lines and our first action-comedy series. This is Marvel’s single biggest non-theatrical initiative and we are putting full corporate efforts into this across all divisions. We expect it will be an evergreen franchise for many years to come!

—

Ann Austen, SVP of Development, Cookie Jar

Which aspects of ‘Tales From Cryptville’ make it unique and creatively fresh?

The Cryptkeeper himself will be state-of-the-art mixed media; we’ve added an environmental spin on the original subtext (vs. the Cold War era paranoia of the original comics) and most importantly, our storytelling is a departure from the original anthology format to a narrative one. Even the Cryptkeeper himself will have a role in the narrative, not just be a passive narrator.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Seek the unexpected. Don’t be afraid to take creative chances, and always have passion for whatever you do.

—

Muriel Thomas, Head of Sales and Co-Production for E1 Kids, E1 Entertainment

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

First, visually our shows are quite unique and they are complimented by strong storylines which appeal equally to boys and girls. Additionally some of our shows such as Peppa Pig and Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom incorporate humor that encourages parents to endorse the properties and enjoy the shows sometime as much as their kids.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

This is a question for the authors but I strongly believe that their own kids were a good source of inspiration.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

The current financial situation will certainly have an impact but we are strongly positive about [animated] shows. We believe that they will continue to travel well and their high quality will stand out.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

To keep projects as close as possible to their original concepts as it’s impossible to please everyone’

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ….

‘You are the very first person seeing this brand new project!’

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

No. 1 would be comfortable shoes and No. 2 to enjoy it.

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

It’s a secret!

—

Raquel Benitez, CEO, Comet Entertainment, Inc.

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Is a great and dynamic movie, we are very excited to be part of it. Around the World, for Free! is a wonderful comedy movie full of edgy characters and adventures.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Our inspiration comes from many different sources but mainly: life itself.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Controlling the expenses, reducing costs and being more selective about advertising, markets to attend, etc.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Try to focus on just one property that you really believe in, do not diversify your efforts.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ….

‘No problem!”Normally it means there is going to be a big problem later on!

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Always try to find some time off to walk by the beach.

—

Aron Dunn, Director of Creative Development, Portfolio Entertainment

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Big or small, this business runs on talent. A smaller independent company’s strength should be a passionate, and infinitely capable, tight-knit team. So, recruit, cultivate and retain the most talented people you can find. Keep an open dialogue with your creatives through the ups and downs of development. Keep them fit and engaged through the grind of production. And, give them the room and resources to play between projects. Because, the best idea in the world isn’t worth a thing if you don’t have dedicated and talented people to execute it perfectly.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you….

‘…we only have a few minor notes.’

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

How can you have guilty pleasures when your job involves reading comic books and playing videogames? Seriously!?!

—

Cristina Brandner, Managing Director, Neptuno Films

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

[show is Megaminimals, about animals in nursery school] This unique design! Such a sweet expression in a square head!

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Seeing our little son coming back from school so happy.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Keep kicking’

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Build good concepts with good designs and there will be a space for you.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ….

‘You look younger”

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

I’m very lucky to be at the French Riviera!

—

Richard Morss, Joint MD and Executive Producer, Straandlooper

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Small Tragedies is a collection of thoughtful but funny individual short films’each of which are designed to become ‘mini brands’ of their own, supported by online presence, publishing and more stuff about the issues raised by each particular tragedy. The rhyming narration to each film enables a fast paced, non-linear visual story telling technique. The format allows us to tackle difficult and truly tragic subjects such as plastic surgery gone wrong, obesity and the global credit crunch in a way that is thought provoking, but hopefully not ultimately negative or depressing. While the shorts will be published online, and as books and DVDs we believe that the collection will also work for TV.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

I had wanted for a long time to do a show about all the rubbish of our lives’pointless vanity surgery, fiscal greed, obesity, self-obsession, meaningless fame, etc.’but did not want to do something filled with hate and anger! The doggerel idea gave us the chance to do that, and hopefully to be outrageous and funny and black without mortally offending anyone.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business’what are your survival strategies for the near future?

In our case we are trying to get content directly to the consumer as soon as possible in its life. We cannot afford the long term risks involved with the traditional TV market, and have to ‘monetize’ our IP in every way we can as soon as we can. Otherwise, grow vegetables and pray!

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

We are pretty small! I would hestitate to advise anyone. I think the market is so changeable that we are all making it up. Unless you have access to massive state subsidies however, I think the tactics I outlined above are a reasonable way to move forward.

—

Prentiss Fraser, Vice President and Head of Sales, E1 Entertainment

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Majority Rules has an amazing up-and-coming cast, the scripts are great and it’s a very cool combination of live action and animation ‘ a winning combination.

—

Frank Saperstein, SVP’Animation and Children’s Programming, E1 Entertainment

DISCUSSING ‘THE DATING GUY’:

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

The stories of [The Dating Guy] focus on the dating misadventures of 20-something urban youths. We combine real-life, plausible situations with outrageous and other worldly events to create a unique blend of sophisticated yet irreverent humor.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

The real life dating exploits of one of the show creators was the springboard for the series concept.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Play your cards close to the vest, be cautious about how you spend your money, and make sure you do a killer job on the orders you do have because that is how you will be judged.

—

Sjoerd Raemakers, Director of Commercial Affairs, Telescreen

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Frog & Friends stands out from other series because of both its quality and philosophical content, based on successful books. The jazzy music adds unique flavor to the total atmosphere. In our eyes, the series is a must-have for every broadcaster as it looks nice and is very entertaining, yet with good values and philosophy.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

In first place, the total philosophy inspired us. Plus Frog is considered as a strong international publishing based brand. In addition it follows our ideas that beautiful Dutch publishing properties such as Frog should have a chance in animation and we would love to bring them to a wider, international audience.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Do what we have always done: Find decent partners, do not overspend and as a company do not take too high risks. Every project should be a valuable addition and should have a positive influence on the company’s performance as such, but not key to the existence of the company.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Work with people and organizations that are established. Think in the same line and do not try to invent the wheel again. Be willing to share. And don’t trust anyone who tells you … that he/she is the best.

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Stay within your own scope of how to do business and always believe in your properties and clients.

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

Be straight and honest. Though at given times, it is better not to stress this too much.

—

Kanji Kazahaya, Director of Int’l Department, Toei Animation Co. Ltd.

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

It is Fresh Pretty Cure, the new and the 6th season of the Pretty Cure series.

Fresh Pretty Cure aims at a wider audience than the previous seasons, from preschool to upper grade school, girls as well as boys.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

We believe that our animated series are world-class.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

We believe that it is a good chance to exert our strength as the animation studio with more than 50 years history.

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

I would like to present our animation to more TV channels or buyers.

Moreover, I would like to create more occasions to show our animation to more children in the world.

—

Joseph Walker, Co-Founder/Associate Producer, Lincoln Butterfield

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

All of our shows have a core of optimism. On N.I.T.: Neighborhood Investigation Team, for example, the characters’ unbridled optimism gets them into trouble, and it’s that same optimism that gets them OUT of trouble.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Our shows draw a great deal of inspiration from our personal experiences. Venture Probe draws from many unfortunate customer-service incidents we’ve encountered over the years, N.I.T.: Neighborhood Investigation Team was inspired by Robert Hughes’ experiences growing up in Northern Michigan, and RIP, M.D. comes straight out of Mitch Schauer’s love of old-time movie monsters.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Keeping our operating overhead as low as possible. This has been our strategy since we founded the business. Low overhead provides us with a flexibility which will allow us to explore creative and adaptive financing techniques.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

If there is any doubt you need it ‘ there is no doubt ‘you don’t need it.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ….

Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

I look around and realize, “Hey! I’m on the French Riviera!”

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

Sushi in all shapes, forms and sizes.

—

Chloe Van den Berg, Executive Director ‘ International, Entertainment Rights Plc

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Tinga Tinga Tales is a brand that connects’it connects generations, people, traditions and ambitions. It connects the past with the present, the funny with the wise, the traditional with the modern and the young with the old. No other brand will so uniquely connect with so many audiences.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Tinga Tinga Tales is an animated preschool series that tells the tales of how your favourite animals came to be, such as ‘Why does Giraffe have a long neck?’ The series is inspired by traditional African folktales and delivers these stories with a contemporary twist. The show’s beautifully produced imagery is hand-painted by local artists and is inspired by and based on the famous Tinga Tinga art of Tanzania.

—

Deborah Forte, Executive Vice President, Scholastic & President, Scholastic Media

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

At Scholastic Media, we are inspired by our audiences and their needs. We develop shows that fill a variety of educational, social, emotional and developmental needs for kids from many different backgrounds. Whether it’s addressing vocabulary paucity with WordGirl, modeling the skills of teamwork and good sportsmanship with TurboDogs or fulfilling a child’s innate curiosity about how things work with Chicken Socks, we’re focused on what will ignite the minds of young viewers.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are your survival strategies for the near future?

Even in tough economic times, I remain very optimistic about the short-term (and the long-term) prospects for our business. In keeping with Scholastic’s promise to bring high quality entertainment for children and parents, the value served with consistently promising educational content will last through the ups and downs of the economy. We will continue to work closely with our development team to make sure the Scholastic product offers value through long lasting, dependable educational entertainment.

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Scholastic’s WordGirl provides quality entertainment while feeding a child’s need to learn literacy and vocabulary during a key developmental phase of their life. It’s now in its second full season, so the great ideas keep rolling in and great episodes keep rolling out. This creative mix of education and entertainment has proven to be a successful way to engage children in the learning process while continuing to be uniquely engaging. The Emmy Award-winning writing, the hilariously talented cast of comedians and the trendy animation ‘that’s what keeps WordGirl unique and fresh.

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Caterina Vacchi, Senior Manager / Executive Producer, Atlantyca Entertainment

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

The magic, in the production of [Geronimo Stilton], has resulted from combining the mix of the strong classic appeal (classic fashion, etc.) of “trusted” characters while at the same time incorporating some of today’s ‘cool,’ all wrapped in modern charm. And of course, the stories’you have to love Geronimo’s stories! They are simply hilarious.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

For us obviously, Geronimo Stilton is based on the award-winning, multi-million selling international series of kids’ chapter books of the same name. Our challenge in developing Geronimo into a new ‘television star’ was to maintain some of the cherished characteristics our readers have grown to love (and expect) while adding a slightly “fresher,” new style to Geronimo, suitable for TV and ready to capture the hearts of young audiences everywhere.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Really great properties and really strong concepts always survive in different financial environments. This is a motivating time for all of us; a time to get back to basics, a time to pursue and develop new potential partnerships, to deliver on quality and content.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

We are small, so, maintain perseverance and seek nothing but top quality. Consistently do your best.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ….

That they are always right.

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Laugh’lot’s of laughter, whenever possible.

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

Since it’s a personal guilty pleasure’I prefer to not reveal to anyone :)))

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Christophe Goldberger, Head of Distribution and Marketing, Imira Entertainment

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Sandra the Fairytale Detective is a unique twist on two classic genres: fairy-tales and detective stories. The series is full of adventure and fun but also combines magic and popular characters and stories that children know and love. Each episode is like going on an exciting new journey with some of your favourite friends!

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Jo Daris, General Manager, Studio100 Animation

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Kerwhizz is a unique mix between live action and animation, offering an interactive experience for kids and their parents. The world’s first preschool quiz, excels in quality of storytelling and animation. The vibrant colours give the show a very distinct look and feel and the merchandising range stands out in packaging and product innovation.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

When our production partners first showed us the concept, we bought into it straight away. We have always wanted to make a mixed show (live action / animation) and Kerwhizz was the perfect property for it. Looking at my family I noticed how vividly children are involved in simple quiz questions and how much satisfaction they get out of that. This led me to believe that filling this gap in the market was a sure winner, and it turns out to be true.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business’what are you survival strategies for the near future?

In all honesty we were one of the lucky ones not to be affected so much by this and the reason is our diversification strategy. Although it is hard to find investment partners in the current climate and although merchandising revenues are under pressure, we found that people are still very much prepared to invest in content through DVD/VOD sales, through live entertainment and through theme parks.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Find a strong partner and make sure you have all the elements in place to support the show once it’s on air. Making a show is one thing, building a brand is another.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ‘.

‘ They are not affected by the financial climate.

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Adam Shaheen, President/Executive Producer, Cuppa Coffee Studios

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Reality TV deserves to be punched in the face and served a dose of its own medicine! Life’s a Zoo humorously serves up just that. It’s an adult animated reality format with great writing, cool music and excellent production values’not something usually associated with reality TV.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

With 200+ reality shows out there, there’s room for a funny one, we thought! Besides, who doesn’t want to see what happens when you lock a panda, a monkey, a pig, an alcoholic bear and a gay crocodile in a luxury mansion?

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

We find that doing good work with sound budgets helps us flourish, not just “survive”.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Think about the work and the idea first, not your checking account.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you …

Broadcasters are looking for “x”‘they change their minds like people change underwear!

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Business as usual. There’s money out there, but people are using the climate to spin their wheels. You have to be persistent and trust your gut.

—

Jane Wu, Executive Producer, ZN Animation

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

[Zeng He’s Voyages to the West Seas] is about the famous Chinese explorer Zheng He and his adventures out at sea. We believe it’s the first time that this important part of Chinese history has been captured and made into an animation series. Throughout the storyline, realistic values in life such as camaraderie, team-spirit, self sacrifice, friendships, etc. are presented … entertaining and yet educational.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

To share with the world a part of our Chinese history and culture.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…What are you survival strategies for the near future?

To be more selective on the projects that we embark on, and work only on themes that have a strong appeal, locally and globally.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Everyone has to start somewhere … don’t lose sight nor hope. The main thing is to be driven by your passion and commitment.

—

Tim Bryans, Studio Manager, Straandlooper Animation Ltd.

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Small Tragedies is unique in that it is a series of individual shorts packaged together as a series. Each individual Small Tragedy has its own design and animation style and each short tackles a very different issue in its own indomitable fashion. The shorts will be created using a variety of animation tools and techniques and utilizing designers from all over the world who will bring their own distinct design influence to bear on the project. It promises to be an extremely entertaining and visually striking series.

Hector is an interesting property in that each individual feature length mystery can be packaged as a series of shorter pieces building to the complete set, so that the series is more flexible and therefore accessible to broadcasters with schedule restrictions. Beyond broadcast however, Hector will be rolled out across multiple platforms, with a comprehensive online and mobile presence that will feed into the animated mysteries to create an extremely compelling property. Alongside the online presence that accompanies the mysteries there will also be a series of ‘Making of’ and ‘Behind the Scenes’ shorts and blogs that will document the fictional highs and lows of filming the series.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Small Tragedies was born out of our the very real humor and tragedy that you can view on TV every day in programmes such as Celebrity Fat Club, 10 Years Younger, You Are What You Eat, Big Brother and X Factor. Small Tragedies puts a subverted comic spin on issues such as obesity, vanity and celebrity in a new and entertaining way that will appeal to people aged between 18 and 80 with a dark sense of humor.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business’what are your survival strategies for the near future?

Our company strategy has been in response to the changing television market as well as the global financial downturn. Financing animated content is more difficult than ever, so producers are having to look at business models that minimize risk and create returns on investment at any earlier stage. Straandlooper is looking to adopt a more direct-to-consumer approach, prioritising the emergent and more democratic markets, while at the same time backing this up with solid packaged publication of DVDs and other ancillary products. We must now regard TV as a licensing opportunity rather than as the grand arbiter for the content we make.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

I have heard this over used, but it still rings true: Content is King. Content producers are indeed facing hard times, but if your focus remains on creating high quality content cost effectively and distributing it to as wide an audience as possible through the more democratic online and mobile platforms that have become prevalent of late, then you are always going to remain competitive in the market place. At least that is what I keep telling myself!

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Stephanie Betts, Director of Development and Licensing’Animation, Breakthrough Entertainment

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

Producing Parker is driven from the female perspective, which separates it from other animated adult series. When developing the style of show, we decided it needed to have a very sophisticated and urban look to appeal to a female audience, who may have never watched animation before. In our storytelling process, we drew upon topics that all women could relate to and laugh at, which developed the fresh look and feel of Producing Parker.

Kim Cattrall, one of the stars in our series, portrays an out-of-control (and sexually charged!) talk show host with the kind of energy and comedic delivery that will entertain both men and women week after week. She embodies the word ‘fresh.’

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

Producing Parker is inspired by every young working woman out there who is trying to have it all, but takes themselves a bit too seriously. The series is meant to relate to all kinds of women and the absurdities we face in this modern world (do I buy the $300 pair of jeans or eat this week?!).

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Kraft Dinner, for the entire crew! Just kidding. On future projects, we’re trying to find solutions to bring costs down by partnering with other production companies to share in the costs. We’ve always been involved in co-productions, but they’re becoming more and more crucial in order to complete the financing. Finding companies with strong international and creative sensibilities to partner with is key.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

It will never get easier, it will always be tough, but don’t give up! There’s nothing else like this industry and we’re all lucky to be a part of it. Focus on making great work that’s creatively driven and it will happen! OR run the other way, as fast as you can.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ….

‘We’ll only stay for one drink,’ or ‘It writes itself.’

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Isn’t that why they serve ros’ with every meal?!

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

Sour candies and Red Bull, I’m addicted.

—

Gregory Payne, Chairman, Foothill Entertainment

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

The creator of Boy and the Dinosaur is a young new U.K. artist who brings a fresh and creative ‘voice’ to the project. Being from the North of England, his take on things is just a little bit different.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

The creator’s inspiration for this project came from watching his young son play with a favorite toy dinosaur.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

My biggest suggestion is to ‘conserve cash and cut costs.’

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Since we are one of the smaller, independent companies I should definitely take my own advice and ‘conserve cash and cut costs.’

Don’t trust anyone who tells you…

‘That they can get your show on the air.

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Drink better wine.

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

Traveling with my wife Jo.

—

Daniela Flower, VP International Sales, Ludorum

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

The new series of Dennis and Gnasher, based on the iconic characters from The Beano comic, published in the U.K. by D.C. Thomson & Co., is fast-paced, action-packed and humor-driven with specific appeal to children aged five to 10.

This is the first new series of Dennis and Gnasher in over 12 years. It combines a bold graphic approach using outlines drawn in black to give strong definition, dynamic perspectives and solid construction, drawing on the best traditions of the comic strips from which Dennis and Gnasher are taken.

Today, in many of the series targeting this demographic, content is centred on a struggle between good and evil. By contrast, Dennis and Gnasher tells funny stories’the scripts, written for an international audience, ensure the high octane humor is driven by strong narrative rather than slapstick and springs from the irrepressible nature of two best friends.

The series presents a new take on old-fashioned fun. We live in a world where children are increasingly wrapped in cotton wool, and hemmed in by political correctness. Dennis and Gnasher is a refreshing celebration of childhood, as adults experienced it; boys just being boys, inventing, building and getting up to mischief in a cheeky and charming way. Our heroes are active, not sedentary, creative, not uninspired; they take whatever the world throws at them and turn it to their advantage.

The theme tune and musical score, majoring on guitar, bass and drums, positions the series apart from the more classic cartoon genre, tuning in to the indie and grunge pop influences popular with the target audience.

The overall effect is to deliver action and fun in a contemporary, urban setting recognisable to today’s audiences the world over.

—

Jyotirmoy Saha, Co-CEO, Sparky Animation

Which aspects of your show make it unique and creatively fresh?

From the looks of it, Jack is another complete adventure and fun show for 6-9ers. But the unique thing about it is that, without being “in-your-face” the show teaches kids a lot of interesting facts and concepts. Whenever we talk educational shows we always think of a student-teacher kind of interaction (where someone talks and viewer listens) or a preschool education show with song and dance. Jack is very different. It educates without being an educational show. And the great thing is that the characters have their own online site that is a user generated bank of information for kids.

What was the inspiration for your animated series?

The reason why I first became interested in Jack is that I spent hours with my kids every week on the Internet helping them find interesting facts about everything under the sun. One of the biggest problems I find is that there is almost no place on the web where you can get interesting information in a kid-friendly manner. When the project was brought to me, I thought this was the perfect way to reach kids with cool facts. We developed the idea further to make it a strong online proposition as well. So now we are going to launch the broadcast of the show and the online component together. Even before the show is ready for delivery we are getting very strong interest from broadcasters.

Everyone is aware of how the financial climate is affecting our business…what are you survival strategies for the near future?

Irrespective of the climate, there will never be a substitute for the freshest ideas. At Sparky Animation we are looking out for good projects even more agressively. Even at the cost of indefinitely deferring our personal upsides, we are taking bolder steps towards growing our business and investing in better shows. Our thinking is that this financial climate will probably last for about two years or a bit more. IF we are careful and judicious about our investments now, when all of this comes back to normal again, we will emerge as an animation business that is much stronger than many of our bigger counterparts today.

What is the soundest advice you can give smaller, independent companies and animation producers?

Don’t sell the shirt off your back just to get involved with a co-production partner. Your money is just as important as anybody else’s. If the commercial deal is not equitable, then you need a new partner.

Don’t trust anyone who tells you ….

‘I can sell that show for you in a minute.’

What are your personal strategies for dealing with the stress of the market?

Work harder… you won’t find the time to get stressed!! But seriously… I treat stress by spending time with my family or on the tennis court. It has always been the same, tough market or not.

What is the personal guilty pleasure you’re not willing to go without no matter what!?

Long drives in my BMW and good Scotch Whiskey. Never together though…

The talk is all about 3-D at ShoWest, the annual confab for film exhibitors going on currently in Las Vegas.

Driving the discussion is the success of DreamWorks Animation’s Monsters vs. Aliens, which in the final tally took in $59.3 million in its opening weekend. Variety reports praise for the format from Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman Jim Gianopulos, who urged theater owners not to delay the installation of 3-D ready screens.

DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, the most prominent proponent of 3-D, said the demand was there for more 3-D screens. He cited reports from the past weekend saying some 38 percent of people who saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 2D would have preferred to see it in 3-D but could not due to sellouts.

While the success of Monsters‘and moviegoers’ apparent willingness to pay extra for 3-D films’gives the format momentum, who will pay for it remains an issue for both studios and exhibitors.

The Hollywood Reporter relays that Fox is notifying exhibitors not to expect payment for the costs associated with the use of special 3-D glasses.

Several more highly anticipated 3-D releases’most of them animated’are due out this year, including Fox’s Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Disney/Pixar’s Up and James Cameron’s virtual reality saga Avatar.

Video game maker Electronic Arts and Starz Media are prepping the animated feature Dante’s Inferno, based on a forthcoming game.

The film will be produced by Film Roman, which worked on the company’s first animated video game adaptation, Dead Space: Downfall, released last year, Variety reports. Joe Goyette will produce, with Victor Cook directing and Brandon Auman writing.

Several anime studios are being commissioned to create the nine circles of hell in the story, following the plot of the game and the classic poem from which the project derives its name.

The winner in the battle known as Monsters vs. Aliens is DreamWorks Animation, who scored a hit with the film and pulled in an estimated $58.2 million in its opening weekend.

The 3-D aspect of the film played a big part in the large gross, with Variety reporting that 58 percent of the film’s business came from the 28 percent of theaters showing the film in 3-D ‘ and charging a few extra dollars for the experience.

The film struggled, however, with critics. The ratings site Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a positive rating of 69 percent based on 122 reviews and garnering an average rating of 6.4 out of 10. Metacritic similarly rated the film at 56 percent positive, which they classify as mixed or average. And Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein calls the critical reception ‘lukewarm at best.’ (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/03/the-critics-on.html)

Coming in a distant second was another newcomer The Haunting in Connecticut, which took in $23 million. The only other major new release, the action-adventure film 12 Rounds, took in $5.3 million ‘ good for seventh place.

Of the VFX-heavy films in release, Knowing came in third with a decent $14 million in its second weekend, while Race to Witch Mountain came in sixth with $5.6 million and Watchmen took eighth place with $2.7 million for a cumulative domestic gross of $103 million after its fourth weekend in release.

Monsters vs. Aliens‘ 3-D dominance finally seems to have knocked stop-motion animated feature Coraline out of the top ten. The film fell from 10th place last weekend to 20th place this weekend, taking in $301,000 for an eight-week domestic cumulative gross of $73.9 million.

MTV’s Movie Blog is reporting that the popular rap group Public Enemy may be coming to the big screen in animated form.

The post, which cites anonymous sources, says the group’s top names such as Chuck D and Flavor Flav are in talks with a major animation studio to produce the film and base it on a recent comic book series featuring the group.

The site quotes a second source that confirms the tip, saying with the Public Enemy graphic novel and a new album due out that there is a lot of interest in the group and that a script is in the works.

Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy is taking the Oscar he won for penning Slumdog Millionaire and heading over to DreamWorks Animation to write a script called Truckers.

Aside from confirming Beaufoy is working on a script, no other information about the film, including its storyline, is known, states The Hollywood Reporter.

The official word on the move does debunk a popular rumor that began with a post on Ain’t It Cool News that Beaufoy was set to write a sequel to the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine, due out May 1.