That New Show Smell

I think I can honestly say that in the over 500 pitches we’ve taken for “Random Cartoons!” this year, there hasn’t been one with more panels than Pat Ventura’s re-pitch of his short, The Dangerous Duck Brothers last Friday. We needed to use the Nickelodeon Main Conference room for this pitc, which was over 300 pages long, 2 panels per page. Pat, you’re a drawing machine!

And for those of you wondering, yes, Pat will have to kill some of his darlings. But that, as “they” say, is showbiz.

I took a horribly awful video of his pitch board as it wrapped around the entire room, and on to other mobile panels we brought in. Quite an amazing site. The pic I took is an arial shot of the pitch room. The second floor of the Nick building (where SpongeBob and Avatar are stationed), has a terrific glass wall, perfect for spying.

Today we welcomed Niki Yang back in the house with her new short called “Victor”. For those of you following the blog, Niki has just recently shipped her first show, “The Two Witch Sisters” overseas. Her new short follows Victor, a postman pug with an enormous appetite, as he attempts to deliver a persistent letter that unfortunately gets in the way of his precious meal time. The re-pitch today was excellent, and as always, Niki’s art completely “wows” me. Welcome back Niki!

Hey all! I recently did a post on Jun Falkenstein’s band, Waste of Aces, and their new CD called “Perfect Day”. With Jun’s kind permission, I wanted to share a song of theirs with you called “Power, Money and Fame”. Adam Henry, creator of Krunch and the Kid and Tiffany is credited on the HOT JAZZ HORN in the song. Check it! Great stuff.

Money Power and Fame!

On March 31, 2006 at 6:44 PM, Nickelodeon’s very own Claudia Spinelli and her husband Han Yi welcomed their daughter Leonora YeoEun Yi into the world. Weighing in at seven pounds, three ounces, and 20(!) inches long, it’s hard to believe that Leonora was once the little belly mover and shaker in the Random Cartoons pitch room (I once saw Claudia’s stomach shift visibly during a pitch. Cool!)

This little girl is ADORABLE. I mean, seriously, folks. In my newborn pics I look like a cross between a sunburnt tomato and something out of a Wes Craven film. Claudia, all those 7-11 Slurpees you drank produced a winner!

I remember back in the day, Claudia was this close to going with my suggestion to name her baby “Minnie”. This would make her Minnie Yi. Somehow, I think Leonora has a better ring to it.

Congrats Claudia and Han!!!! We can’t wait to [Read more…]

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Last night as I was leaving work, I ran into none other than Mr. Jeff DeGrandis on his way to help out with the Kid’s Choice Awards festivities at Nickelodeon Studios. Jeff (center) was helping out at the drawing station where kids can line up and request their favorite characters sketched out. To Jeff’s left is “Motorcycle” Iko (Storyboard artist, Fatherhood), and Jay Shultz (background artist on Dora and Diego).

The actual Kid’s Choice Awards (hosted this year by Jack Black) are this Saturday, but Nick likes to get the party started early (as clearly indicated by the fancy balloon hats worn by Jay and Jeff). And speaking of Kid’s Choice Awards, it was none other than our own Fred Seibert, former Nickelodeon president Albie Hecht, and Bronk and Bongo’s Alan Goodman who came up with the idea to get them started!! Why am I not surprised?

Some of you blogerinos may have read my previous post about Kyle + Rosemary creator Jun Falkenstein and her band, Waste of Aces.

After listening to her first CD called “Social Frankenstein”, I was HOOKED. Fortunately for me, Jun stopped by my office a few days ago and gave me their newest CD called “Perfect Day”. I immediately put it into Eric Homan’s CD player (which he generously lets me use in my office), and WOW. Song #2 called “Annabelle” is my favorite thus far. The entire album has the vibe of “Nickel Creek” with a hint of “Squirrel Nut Zippers”, meets something totally original. HIGHLY recommend checking them out!

Torential downpours cannot stop this duo! Jason Plapp and Angelo di Nalo have begun production on their short, “Bradwurst”, about a bitter sausage who sabotages his own birthday party. There’s lots of sausage butt in this film, so get ready!

Above is a “pic” of the two creators drawn by Jason.

Prior to “Random Cartoons”, Jason Plapp was a technical director on “The Rugrats Movie”, and currently teaches at Brooks College and Platt College. Angelo is a Sunday school teacher, and also does caricatures at Universal, the Los Angeles Zoo, and the Friars Club.

Below is Angelo’s take on their likenesses.

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Last week, Hero Heights was shipped away to Taiwan where it will be animated and turned into a full fledged Random Cartoon! Congrats are due to Bill Ho and Raul Aguirre Jr. for all of their hard work.

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Fresh off of her last short, “Yaki and Yumi”, Aliki joins us again this week to start production on her new short “Girls On The GO!”. This is an idea that she has had in the works for quite some time, and was actually pitched as an adult cartoon some years ago. The above picture features Aliki’s character design for the college aged version of Katerina “Kat” Metropolis, her lead character (modeled after Aliki herself!), and next to her is the newer, younger version of Kat who is now in 9th grade.

Randy Meyers will be directing the project. Randy’s directing credits are so awesome they pretty much make you want to buy him some bling. It’s going to be very exciting to see it all come together!