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Friday, March 12, 1999 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Devine to Expand Film Production by Adapting Popular Young Adult Novels Devine Entertainment Corp. has announced that it has optioned two popular and award-winning young adult novels as initial steps in the company's commitment to expand production via the development of a new genre of television series and movies of the week for the children's and teen markets. "These books have strong family themes and a certain charm that we believe will translate extremely well to the screen," said Company President and CEO, David Devine. "They should be valuable additions to the library of historical dramas we have succeeded with to date." Hero of Lesser Causes by Julie Johnston, published by Stoddart, is the winner of the prestigious Governor General's Award for Children's Literature and has been published in several countries around the world. The Prince of Tarn by Hazel Hutchins, published by Annick Press, is the winner of the R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature from the Writers' Guild of Alberta and has received rave reviews from across North America. Devine Entertainment is a fully integrated developer and producer of award-winning films designed for for family viewing. The company specializes in educational children's films based on historical and timeless stories for television and home video markets. Devine Entertainment will continue to work with its roster of screenwriters to develop the new films. Co-production with Canadian and American partners is anticipated. BookScan and Ingram Book Company to Provide Sell-Through and Inventory Data to Publishing Industry BookScan, an Entertainment Marketing Information Services (EMIS) Company, has announced a strategic alliance with Ingram Book Company, the leading wholesaler of books, to provide online point-of-sale data information to the publishing industry. Under terms of the agreement, BookScan will assume responsibility for collecting point-of-sale data from all independent bookstore clients previously polled by Ingram's RSVP system. The data will be incorporated into BookScan's online data information system and provided to BookScan subscribers and existing publisher clients of Ingram's RSVP service. Ingram Book Company's inventory data information will also be incorporated into and disseminated by the BookScan Management Information System, enabling the publishing industry to access on-hand inventory and distribution information as well as sales data for their titles. Ingram is encouraging all bookseller participants to convert to BookScan polling. "We're excited to be working with Ingram to bring timely sales and inventory information to the publishing industry," said Tom Fogarty, Vice President, Sales & Service, BookScan. "The inclusion of Ingram's data into the BookScan system is another step in our mandate of aiding publishers in their quest to increase effective marketing to consumers and to efficiently lower industry return rates." BookScan tracks retail book sales via point-of-sale data and provides online subscribers with sales information on specific titles along with reports on national and regional consumer purchases; weekly and year-to-date market share of book publishers; genre analysis; historical sales; and other data. Among the other entities that, together with BookScan, form the Entertainment Marketing Information Services, are SoundScan and VideoScan, which provide point-of-sale information to the music and home video industries, and the Entertainment Information Group, which provides marketing tools to the entertainment industry. New Digital Age Online Web Site Launches DigitalAgeOnline, the publishers of Digital Age Magazine, aim to make web technology easier to understand with the launch today of its new website. The new site is available online at http://www.DigitalAgeOnline.com. "We created DigitalAgeOnline as a way to cut through the confusion online," said Michael Kelly, TLS Media's chairman a nd CEO. "Regular people have gotten lost between the 'geek-speak' of web programmers and the overkill of so-called web portals. Our site streamlines the online experience, providing help for everything from searching for web sites to learning about computers and even buying products online." Billed as "the home page for people who weren't born yesterday," DigitalAgeOnline.com plans to eliminates endless searching with its "EasyLinks" to pre-screened sites on topics from adventure to women's interest. It also features a search function using the popular "Ask Jeeves" utility, which lets users ask about areas of interest in plain English. Infinite Ventures Unveils Raven Comic This weekend Infinite Ventures, Inc. will launch its Raven comic featuring new characters from the world of Shadowgate. The first pages will appear on the Shadowgate website at www.shadowgate.com. "We're very excited about the Raven comic based on the upcoming computer and video game Shadowgate Rising. This is a key step in our efforts to broaden the appeal, interest and following for the Shadowgate license," explains Eugene Evans of Infinite Ventures. "We put together a strong production team. People are going to be blown away by the quality of the artwork. Our new red headed heroine, Raven, is going to have them coming back for more." Elaborating on the strategy Evans went on to say. "Comics have always been a major influence on video games, many successful games have been based on comic characters. Comics are the perfect media to get video game fans interested in Shadowgate and the web is proving to be the perfect medium for the launch of the new comic and look for Shadowgate. We will go to print and traditional distribution later this year. The web gives us an efficient means of generating buzz and a following for the comic." Around the Web Dreaded 'Blue Books' May Go The Way Of Quill Pens L.A. Times Eight Authors Line Up For Hefty Irish Book Prize BookWire Irish Times Launch Web Portal Editor & Publisher Lewinsky Book Not The Last On Scandal Media Central Newsweek, Wkly. Reader To Do Teen Newsweek Media Central NCAA Madness Tips fff On The Web Editor & Publisher Tom Wolfe Talks To Journalism Students Nando.net Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
