News Round-Up
Since we’ve been down for several hours (changing servers), we have a lot to catch up on.• Yes it’s true. Dreamworks and Aardman have officially split up. Is there anyone, anywhere, upset by this news? I think this is a good thing for Aardman. They are free to pursue making the movies they want. I would love to see them enter into a distribution deal with Disney, however I doubt they will have any trouble finding another U.S. studio to align with.• We plugged Fred Cline’s blog last week, but it’s worth another visit. Cline is posting his color keys for the aborted 1993 BETTY BOOP movie – and he’s posted video of the animated Mary Blair/Lee Blair Meadow Gold commercials. Cool.• Jules Feiffer will recieve the Writers Guild of America’s Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement. The WGA West’s Animation Writers Caucus tapped Feiffer whom, it should be remembered, wrote Terrytoons (including Tom Teriffic) in the 1950s, as well as a recent series of animated films being directed by Gene Deitch. Feiffer also wrote the live action Popeye (1980) feature, but let’s ignore that for the moment. Feiffer will be feted at the Writers Guild Awards on Feb. 11 at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles and simultaneously at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York.
