For the second year in a row, we're opening up an entire section of our publication (read by more animation decision-makers than any other) to 1/6th page advertisements that pitch new ideas. For less than the cost of a workshop on "breaking into the biz" you can get your great idea in front of our readers. [NOTE: This opportunity is only available once a year. AND! To help you out, we're offering these ads at a heavily discounted price!]

PLUS! This year we've really upped the ante! We've enlisted a panel of ten powerful development execs and producers to judge your entries. The Pitch Party winner will receive a chance to pitch to the judge of their choice.
CONTEST ENTRY DEADLINE: JUNE 13, 2003

• TODAY'S FEATURED JUDGE:
   

Kourtney Kaye
  

Kourtney Kaye is the head of Paris-based international company Kayenta Production. Best-known for its award-winning children's and family programming, Kayenta tapped the U.S.-born Kaye in 1996 to develop properties and act as liaison between France and the international community. In 1997, through its subsidiary Contre-Allee, Kayenta sold one of their first European-based series to American network television (The Legend of Calamity Jane, Kids' WB!) The company has gone on to co-produce family entertainment with partners from the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Japan and many other territories.

An alumnus of Animation Magazine, Kourtney holds an M.A. in English literature, with an emphasis on fairy tales and folklore and an art minor in her undergrad work. She former writer and editor for various magazines (Animag, Cinefantastique, Entertainment), she also worked as a writer/producer in radio (KIEV), theater and television (Warner Bros., CBS) commercials and advertising (McMann, Tate & Stevens), as a freelance development consultant and script doctor, before moving to France. She was also the co-founder of Women in Animation. She now speaks English, French and Spanish, knows how to pick a ripe cheese, and can almost tell the difference between red and white wine.

• WHO'S JUDGING THIS THING?
Wow! The call is just out and already we've got some of the most powerful people in the industry – to judge the work of our Pitch Party Participants. Check back here everyday for the next two weeks to see what doors you could open just by entering our Pitch Party!!!


Steve Galloway

With previous creative posts at children’s animation studio Nelvana and at Universal Studios, Steve Galloway is in charge of development for TOKYOPOP, the No. 1 U.S. manga publisher and a burgeoning force in youth entertainment. Galloway's expertise has been crucial in his role developing and selling the company's intellectual properties into domestic film and TV media. Within one year, Galloway sold three TOKYOPOP properties in the television arena: Reign: The Conqueror currently airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, Rave Master will debut on the Network's Toonami block in 2004, and another TOKYOPOP series Initial D is currently being piloted at MTV.

His photo the testament, Galloway has this to say to pitching hopefuls: "Simon Cowell ... eat your heart out! … and keep a sense of humor!"

   

Steve Oedekerk
  

Today’s featured Pitch Party judge is the one, the only, (the zany) Steve Oedekerk. Best known in the animation biz for co-writing the Academy Award-nominated animated feature, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Oedekerk is currently working on the Jimmy Neutron series for Nickelodeon and the second Neutron feature. Oedekerk's company, O Entertainment, also broke new CG technology ground with the first IMAX 3D animated film, Santa vs. the Snowman 3D, released last fall.

In live action, Oedekerk stole the box office from Matrix Reloaded last weekend with his Bruce Almighty script for Jim Carrey. The Oedekerk/Carrey collaboration began while Oedekerk was writing on the Fox series In Living Color (1990). This work led to the surprise hit comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. When that film became a breakout success, Oedekerk was asked to write and direct its sequel, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995).

Following the success of "Ace Ventura" franchise, Oedekerk wrote Universal's The Nutty Professor (1996). He also wrote, directed and appeared in Touchstone Pictures' Nothing to Lose (1997), starring Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. He then went on to write the box office smash and Golden Globe nominated Patch Adams (1998) starring Robin Williams. On the small screen, Oedekerk directed, wrote, and starred in his own television special for NBC, produced an animated Christmas special for ABC and created "Thumbmation," the technology behind the series of Thumb Parody projects distributed worldwide on DVD and video by Image Entertainment. Kicking off the series was "Thumb Wars", followed by "Thumbtanic," "The Blair Thumb," "Bat Thumb," "Frankenthumb" and "The Godthumb."

Oedekerk resides in Southern California with his wife, two children and a badger, pound for pound known to be the most vicious mammal on the planet.



Heather Kenyon

Heather Kenyon is the director of development of original animation at Cartoon Network, focusing on comedy series for children (6- to 11-years old). Prior to joining CN, she was editor in chief of the Animation World Network website (www.awn.com), and was responsible for managing the site's entire editorial and writing efforts.

Heather began her career in animation as manager of the production information department at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons after graduating magna cum laude with a BFA from the Filmic Writing Program at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television. In addition to working as a script consultant, she has contributed to numerous publications, including a chapter in the book, Animation in Asia. Heather is on the International board of Women In Animation and on the Board of Trustees of Trees for Life.



Kelly Calder

Kelly Calder is an agent at Natural Talent, Inc., one of the largest agencies specializing in the animation industry. Natural Talent boasts a roster of over 100 clients consisting of creators, producers, directors, writers, animators, composers, editors, and a few independent production companies.

Calder has over 16 years experience in the entertainment industry. In 1990, she was instrumental in creating the Family Entertainment Division at Universal, where she had been in the Prime Time Division for the previous three years.


   

Donna Felten
  

Donna Felten is the owner of Natural Talent, Inc., one of the largest agencies specializing in the animation industry. Natural Talent boasts a roster of over 100 clients consisting of creators, producers, directors, writers, animators, composers, editors, and a few independent production companies.

Felten began her career in the domestic distribution department at Lorimar Film Entertainment. She also worked at Norman Lear’s Act III Theatres and the business affairs department of Universal Family Entertainment. It was there she developed her working relationship with Kelly Calder, with whom she founded Natural Talent in 1998.



Suzanne Berman
  
The third featured Pitch Party judge is Suzanne Berman. She is the vice president of creative affairs, north America,TV-Loonland, one of the leading international producers and distributors of animated children's properties such as Something Else, The Cramp Twins and Pongwiffy. In her position as director of creative affairs, Suzanne scouts for acquisitions and original development properties, makes selections for the company and oversees all print production of pitch materials. Before joining TV Loonland, she held positions at Columbia TriStar Television and Nickelodeon in New York. She holds a B.F.A. in film and television from New York University.

 

Madeline Levesque

Our second featured Pitch Party judge is Madeline Levesque. With over fifteen years experience in the television production industry, Madeleine Lévesque is in charge of all Original Productions for TELETOON. She has overseen the creation of such well-known series as Angela Anaconda, BraceFace and What's with Andy?, to name a few.

Having worked in production as well as broadcasting, Mrs. Lévesque understands the complexities of both sides of that same coin. However, her goal has never changed over the years: "My sole interest lies in content and in the creative process adopted to achieve that goal. As for rules? There are none. That is what makes this business so fascinating and always new."

Our first featured Pitch Party judge is Fred Seibert, executive producer for the top-rated Nickelodeon series The Fairly Oddparents, ChalkZone, My Life as a Teenage Robot and Oh Yeah! Cartoons, as well as the Paramount/Nick Movies feature film Super Santa.


Fred Seibert
  

Fred, along with his partners, former AOL exec Emil Rensing and former Discovery exec Travis Pomposello, founded Frederator Studios in 2000 to package, build, and produce media properties. Before founding Frederator, he served as president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. Under Fred's direction the studio launched its most successful slate of hits in 15 years. The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow&Chicken, and Johnny Bravo are now the highest rated shows on the Cartoon Network

• AND WHAT DO I WIN?

For one thing, a heck of a lot of print and online coverage! Not only do you get a 1/6th page ad in our print edition, if you're a winner, you'll get additional editorial coverage and a chance to pitch your idea to the judge of your choice.

BUT WAIT! There's more… (here's a big list of what you get for entering).

  • 1/6th page in the August edition of Animation Magazine, distributed to readers in 78 countries with bonus distribution at the San Diego Comic-Con event.
  • A high-powered panel of development execs and producers will personally evaluate your pitch.
  • If you win, you get to pitch your idea to the judge of your choice. Plus! You'll get editorial coverage in our August edition.
  • If you come in second or third, you'll get editorial coverage in our August edition.
  • We also run a STAFF PICKS contest. So if our staff picks you, they'll write about why you won in our August edition.
  • Finally, we run an ONLINE READERS' POLL using your 1/6th page ad. So every day for two weeks your ad will be online and oggled by more than 100,000 unique visitors. AND! You guessed it! We also write about the winners of the online poll in our August edition. (And don't worry, we monitor our ONLINE READERS' POLL carefully. No reader can vote for their pick more than one time!)

• HOW DO I ENTER?

 1) Call 818-991-2884 or e-mail sales@animationmagazine.net to reserve your entry space. One of our great sales execs will contact you immediately.
2) What you'll need to provide via e-mail: a JPEG or TIFF image from your pitch, a thirty-word description of your pitch and your contact information as you want it listed in your ad.
3) The entry fee is $375; that's a 60% discount for a 1/6th page ad.

• FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How Do I Protect My Idea? Well, the easiest answer is "by entering the Pitch Party." If you're pitching your idea in our magazine then your idea has appeared in print with your name attached; your idea is no longer floating around out in the ether for anyone to pick up. To further protect yourself though, we suggest registering your idea with the Writers Guild. Go to www.wga.org for more info.

There are also a few books on www.amazon.com that can lend some helpful advice:
Copyright & Law for Writers: How to Protect Yourself and Your Creative Work by Helen Shay.
Virtual Monopoly: Building an Intellectual Property Strategy for Creative Advantage — From Patents to Trademarks, From Copyrights to Design Rights by Christopher G. Pike.
Everyone’s Guide to Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents: The Comprehensive Handbook for Protecting Your Writing, Inventions and Other Creative Work by Running Press.

WHEN DO YOU ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS? As soon as our August issue hits the newsstands, around July 1. We will also be hyping our winners online during the week of the San Diego Comic-Con, July 17-19 (www.comic-con.org)

WHAT SHOULD I ENTER? Anything! As long as your idea has the potential to be animated, you can enter a television series, movie, game, whatever!

Basically an idea that's different; something our judges haven't seen before. Most development folks want a show that is "character-driven" or "kid-relatable." In artist-speak that just means they're looking for a show that has a strong character at the center of the action and, if it's a TV show, a character that viewers can latch onto. Remember to pick a really strong image for your entry, one that describes your show or its main character in a striking visual manner. Concerning your 30-word description, all we can say is re-write, re-write, re-write. Don't just give us the first thing that trips off your fingertips onto the keyboard and into Microsoft word. Work it! Then read it to your friends. They'll tell you if they get it or not. (And, we know this sounds dumb, but run a spelling check.)

• LEGAL STUFF

Animation Magazine is not responsible or liable for ensuring the images used in Pitch Party Participant advertisments are the property of the advertisers/participants. It is the advertiser's responsibility to prove copyright protection for material submitted to Animation Magazine.