Women In Animation

Toronto, Canada — Oct.1, 2008 — Animax Entertainment is celebrating the opening of their new studio in Toronto with a script-writing contest for Canadians. The Animax Canucks Cartoon Script Contest is open to all Canadian citizens (living in Canada or elsewhere) and is accepting 7-minute cartoon script entries now through Nov. 31, 2008. Contestants can enter by going to www.animaxinteractive.com/canuck.

Judges for the contest will include members of the Animax team as well as noted agents, producers, writers and artists from both Canada and the U.S. Prizes will include “The Top Banana,” a development option with Animax Entertainment worth (Canadian) $2,500 and a beer as well as $1,500 and $1,000 for second- and third-place winners

The Animax Canucks Cartoon Script Contest is open to all styles of writing, but particular interest to the judges are scripts suitable for the tween, preschool and adult demographics. Scripts must be original and no longer than 10-pages in length.

WIA’s Writer’s Roundtable hosted by Bret Wilson will be on Monday, October 6th at the Animation Guild from 7-9pm.  Special guest: Greg Weisman, Story Editor and Supervisor for The Spectacular Spider Man TV.  Please contact her at wiawritersrt@gmail.com to RSVP.

Next Pitch Night will be on Thursday, October 30th at the Animation Guild.  Guest artist and additional info TBA.

WIA- Los Angeles is holding their next General Meeting on “Adult Animation” at Dreamworks Campus on October 22nd.  More info TBA shortly including panelists, and RSVP information.

Rita Street, founder of WIA and current board member, is proud to announce that “Ruby Gloom” is nominated for four Gemini Awards. The series, which Street exec produces for Nelvana, Mighty Fine, Inc. and YTV Canada, tells the story of a girl who always sees the “bright side of the dark side.” Ruby’s unusual adventures in the world of Gloomsville involve a sweet and silly cast of characters like Skull Boy (a boy who dresses up as a skeleton), Scaredy Bat  (a bat who’s afraid of the dark) and Iris (a cyclops girl). The Geminis are the Canadian equivalent of the American Emmys and will be announced on Oct. 21. Among other categories, “Ruby Gloom” is up for “Best Animated Program or Series.” Street is president of the producers’ rep firm Radar Cartoons.

In a show of compassion and dedication, Dina Sherman, a seasoned professional voice over actor, with more than 18 years of experience, will donate 50% of her net earnings for the next 12 months to the Alzheimer’s Association.  Her generous contribution will help the Association provide care and support to families affected by this devastating disease.

Over five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death and every 71 seconds another diagnosis is made.  As the huge “baby boomer” generation reaches its 60s and 70s, the number of people living with Alzheimer’s will dramatically increase.

Dina strongly feels that we all need to do our part to help those who are living with Alzheimer’s and to help fund research to protect the future.

Join Women In Animation at our

“Birds of a Feather” event

Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Los Angeles Convention Center - Room 501A 8 - 10 am

Entrance to “Birds of a Feather” is free.

Also, Pamela Thompson, founding member of Women in Animation, Recruiter and Career Coach will be giving a class at SIGGRAPH on August 12 from 8:30-12:15 in Room 406AB called “Get the Job You Want in Computer Graphics.” Presenting with her are Fran Zandonella of Rhythm and Hues and Stan Szymanski, of Sony Imageworks.

For tickets and registration to the Conference - www.siggraph.org/s2008

Animation writers can get pitch materials without losing ownership

Ft. Lauderdale, FL — July 23, 2008–

Writers with great concepts and limited time or resources can turn their ideas into on-screen reality by partnering with ShanghaiPop, a leading animation studio that is now offering creator ownership to professional animation series writers with a proven track record in the broadcast industry.

This collaborative opportunity enables writers to export the strains of producing an animated series – from character design, pitch bible and a quick animation trailer to marketing– without losing all ownership in the process.

As leaders in the deadline-driven industry of broadcast and advertising, ShanghaiPop artists will quickly turn concepts into pitch material in time for upcoming pitch opportunities at MIPCOM and MIPCOM Junior.

Writers interested in collaborating with ShanghaiPop can contact Eve Chang at (818)842-0864 x.114 or send submissions, scripts and resumes via email to evec@shanghaipop.tv.

About ShanghaiPop
ShanghaiPop is the newest addition to Interactive Art Services’ vault of around-the-clock animation, storyboard, illustration and virtual world creation studios.  Established in 2007, ShanghaiPop combines the best animation artists the U.S., Asia and Europe via an interactive, online collaborative platform.

About Interactive Art Services
Interactive Art Services is an innovative company that combines exceptional talent with web-enabled technologies to produce interactive, story-based presentation artwork.  Founded in 1998 by CEO Scott Ownbey, IAS currently has over 100 artists working worldwide in the following five locations: London, UK, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Burbank, California, Shanghai, China and Manila, Philippines

While this is not a WIA event, it is something that we thought would interest some of our members:

The BODY WORLDS 3 exhibit at the California Science Center is hosting an Artist Night this Thursday, 7/31, 5:00-9:00 p.m.

During this session, artists and students (age 18+) are invited to sketch the exhibition’s human anatomy specimens alongside live figure drawing models. There’s a $2-off discount, making admission $16.95. Tickets must be purchased from the Science Center box office the day of the event. The discount coupon and more info is here: www.SoCal-GNSI.org.

Women In Animation will gather at the Marriott “Lobby Bar” on Thursday July 24th, 5:00 pm for an Official Meet-And-Greet. Join us ~ and for the first 50 people who sign in on our contact sheet at the bar, you will get a drink ticket worth $2.50 towards any drink.

Also –

Women In Animation will be hosting “Birds of a Feather Breakfast” meeting at Siggraph on Wednesday, August 13th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Look for more information on the website!

We love computer games. Hundreds of man-hours are wasted every day playing them. Our children no longer hold boring ol’ storybooks in their imaginations; they dream of virtual one-on-one warfare with grumpy space aliens or demons from the Pit. The gaming industry is BIGGER THAN MOVIES. And most of them require animation. How do we break off a piece of that pie?

To RSVP, please call the Hotline at (310) 535-3838 or email LAchapterrsvps@aol.com before Tuesday, July 15th. Non-members are asked for a $10.00 donation: members are free. We look forward to seeing you!

Please note this month we will NOT be holding pitch night due to some scheduling conflicts. However, we WILL be back for July. Our next meeting will be on July 31st with special guest Jill Gilbert, founder and President of One Plus Productions as well as creator of the One Plus Hub events. She is an outstanding pitching coach, and will present and discuss ways to perfect your pitching style. I’ll have more details later, but save the date for this very special night- it is not to be missed! Also, I just received word that the Animation Army is holding a special event on July 15th for their Writer’s Boot Camp. Check out their website for details: http://animationarmy.com/

~Jessica Kreig