South Park creators warned over Muhammad depiction

From BBC News:

Islamists have warned the creators of TV show South Park they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit.

A posting on the website of the US-based group, Revolution Muslim, told Matt Stone and Trey Parker they would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh".

The Dutch film-maker was shot and stabbed to death in 2004 by an Islamist angered by his film about Muslim women.

A subsequent episode of the cartoon bleeped out references to Muhammad.

Stone and Parker talked about the episode in a recent interview with Boing Boing. Apparently online broadcasts of the episode have been halted.

Operation Claude Robinson

In August last year we reported on this blog that Canadian animator Claude Robinson had, with the backing of the French Canadian writers' guild (Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, of which the Writers' Guild of Great Britain is a member, won a long-running $5.2 million plagiarism case.

Unfortunately the case has still not been settled, with the firm involved appealing against the court's decision.

An English language version of the website Operation Claude Robinson has now been set up to explain the case and invite support for Claude in his fight for justice.

Muddle Earth comes to CBBC

BBC children's channel, CBBC, will today broadcast its first in-house long-form animation series, an adaptation of Muddle Earth (lead writers Rob Sprackling and John Smith, based on the book by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell).

In a press release Sarah Muller, Head of CBBC Animation Development, said:

'We are thrilled to have been able to produce a world-class animated series entirely in the UK, which is testament to the extraordinary talent that we've been able to gather together.

'CBBC has a strong commitment to support the British animation industry and I hope that Muddle Earth is just the first of many great local successes for us.'

Guild backs BBC independence campaign

From the Guild office:

The Writers’ Guild is joining other entertainment and media unions in a postcard campaign to oppose 'top slicing' of the BBC licence fee. The Government proposes to take a percentage of the licence fee – which goes only to the BBC – to fund commercial broadcasters, but the unions believe this idea threatens to cut funding for BBC programmes and compromise its independence.

Included with the Autumn 2009 issue of the Guild's magazine UK Writer you will find a postcard that you can sign and send to the Culture Secretary, Ben Bradshaw. It only takes a minute of your time and a second-class stamp, so please join in the campaign. If you haven’t received your mailing yet, it should arrive in the next few days.

The other unions taking part are Equity, the Musicians Union, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the technicians’ union BECTU. The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom is also involved. For more details about the campaign or to sign up for updates please visit the NUJ website.

UK animation industry under threat

A video report for BBC News explains how tax breaks overseas are threatening the UK animation industry.

Canadian animator wins $5.2m plagiarism case

From Mike King for the Montreal Gazette:

Claude Robinson, a doggedly determined Montreal animator, has won a 13-year-long legal battle against the children's animation firm formerly known as Cinar Corp.

Robinson, who launched a $2.53-million Quebec Superior Court copyright-infringement lawsuit against Cinar and other defendants in July 1996 claiming they stole a cartoon character he created, today was awarded $5.2-million.

Robinson's case was supported by the French Canadian writers' guild (Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, of which the Writers' Guild of Great Britain is a member.

The Brothers McLeod

On the Guild website, an article by Myles McLeod (pictured above, right) about his partnership with animator (and brother, on the left) Greg which has led to success including a BAFTA nomination for their short film Codswallop.

We’ve always tried to challenge ourselves to do new types of story, or to use new techniques in our filmmaking. This is partly where Codswallop came from. It was also a very personal project. When you’re working on a lot of other people’s material there is always a level of compromise that has to come with that process. It can be fun to work with a big collaborative group and you learn so much from that interaction. But sometimes you have to go away and make something on your own, just as a kind of selfish artistic act.

(Photo: © BAFTA)

Alan Burnett on Green Lantern: First Flight

It's always interesting to see how a script got commissioned. Here's screenwriter Alan Burnett's tale of how Green Lantern: First Flight came into being:

“[Warner Bros. Animation] had been going through some ideas for Green Lantern stories and none of them were quite working out,” said screenwriter Alan Burnett. “So, I just pitched it to them in one line, ‘Have you ever done Green Lantern as Training Day?’ with the idea of the Denzel Washington role being Sinestro. They said, ‘That sounds pretty good — start writing.’ And that’s how it began.”

If only all pitch meetings were like that.

Green Lantern: First Light will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in America in July. No information about a UK release yet.

Webby honour for Brothers McLeod

Sticks, a series of animations by the Brothers McLeod (including Guild member Myles), has been named an Official Honoree of the 2009 Webby Awards to recognise its "standard of excellence".

Guild members can look forward to an article by Myles in the next issue of UK Writer.

Here's the first Sticks. The other two are also available online.