With natpe opening in New Orleans Jan. 25, pages 33-35 look at some of the new projects coming from Cuppa Coffee Animation, Evening Sky Entertainment, Catalyst Entertainment and Calibre Digital Pictures.

Versions of these stories also appear in the Winter 1999 edition of Playback International.

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A year and a half ago, Atlantis Communications purchased a 50% stake in Toronto animation and special effects company Calibre Digital Pictures, owned by Neil Williamson.

Up until that time, Calibre’s main line of work was servicing the commercial production sector, providing animation as well as visual effects for live-action projects. At least 70% of the company’s clients were international, says Williamson.

After the deal with Atlantis came into play, Calibre spent the following year and a half servicing Atlantis’ tv series, such as two seasons of creature work and f/x on The Adventures of Sinbad and Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict.

As well, Calibre committed a great deal of its time and money to developing its own proprietary projects.

The company’s three-year plan involves initiating several projects with international coproducers and completing production of its projects currently in development.

Calibre’s first proprietary projects are The Beezers and Party at Damien’s.

A half-hour program for a four- to eight-year-old demographic, The Beezers is set in an underground society of furry creatures and centers on the relationship between two Beezer kids and their mentor Geazer Beezer. The two youngsters stumble upon Geazer Beezer’s secret – he is the guardian of the boiler room, which is, in fact, the center of the earth.

The mixed-media approach involves 3D animation and multiplane 2D backgrounds highly rendered beyond the standard norm for 2D animation.

The series is being developed as 26 half-hours, budgeted at $385,000.

Alliance Atlantis is distributing the series internationally and Williamson is seeking Canadian, u.s. and foreign partners.

Party At Damien’s is a primetime comedy property aimed at the youth/young adult market.

The series’ premise begins when Damien graduates from college and invites his friends over for a party to celebrate. The only snag in the plan. . . three years later his friends still haven’t left.

Each half-hour will open with an eight-minute story involving Damien, his dog Reckless and the cast of characters stranded at the party, then move into 12 to 15 minutes of animated shorts. Some will be one-off gags, others will play off themes from the original storyline.

The shorts will feature an array of animation styles – 2D, 3D, cutouts, stop motion – some produced in-house at Calibre while others will be acquired from outside animators.

Sunbow in New York is the international and American distributor. The budget is $385,000 per half-hour episode. Broadcast deals have not been closed.