Former Nickelodeon Chief Has a New Plan for the iPhone
By BROOKS BARNES

Can the iPhone begin a new children’s entertainment franchise? One of Hollywood’s leading character architects is banking on it.

Albie Hecht, the former president of Nickelodeon Entertainment who helped develop such stalwarts as “SpongeBob SquarePants,” will introduce an iPhone game app in January built around his latest creation: Bigby, an 8-year-old crime-fighting genius who believes his job is to stop dragons and pirates from ruining the world (…)

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NEW YORK (Fortune) — At first glance, Albie Hecht’s office is cluttered with toys — a plush gorilla from the Mario Bros. video game, vinyl figurines from the toy line Kidrobot, to name a few. But in fact, they’re all relics of the animation industry, where Hecht, 56, made his name launching such mega-hit children’s shows such as Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Dora the Explorer,” and “Blue’s Clues.” (…)

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The movie follows NASA astronaut Captain Charles “Chuck” Baker who lands on Planet 51 and discovers that it is inhabited by little green people who think that HE is an alien invader. Hilarity ensues in this fun family feature.

Visit Planet 51 today!

Compete for high scores and advance through dozens of Levels in games that are easy to start, addictive to play and challenging to master.

- Episode 1 As You Wish
- Episode 2 Battle Of The Wits
- Episode 3 The Fire Swamp
- Episode 4 Miracle Max
- Episode 5 Storming The Castle

Gather valuable items to add to your Inventory while watching over 15 minutes of spectacular animation connecting levels and episodes.

Experience true love and high adventure! The Official Princess Bride Game combines the best of animation with the best of casual and adventure games – all based on the classic hit movie.

Features and Highlights:
- Help Buttercup and Westley in True Love and High Adventure
- 5 Episodes / Game Types in One Download
- Play as and Interact with a Cast of Your Favorite Characters
- Dozens of Levels with Hours of Gameplay
- Casual & Narrative Play Modes
- Over 15 Minutes of Movie-Quality Animation
- Unique Inventory Collection System
- Try Before You Buy

PrincessBrideGame.com
Platforms: Mac OS X / Windows XP and Vista / Linux
Available: June 11, 2008

www.mocapllc.com

In each webisode a documentary crew follows the eccentric staff of Mo-Cap, LLC as they struggle for a foothold in the world of game development. There we meet Frank, Jeff and Claire — three outrageous Mo-Cap employees — and get a glimpse into their unglamorous and unintentionally hilarious world of motion capture game development. Mo-Cap, LLC takes on the projects no one else would in ways no one else could.

MoCap, LLC webisodes can be found at Spike TV’s Game Head and Gametrailers, an interactive companion game is available for pummeling at www.mocapllc.com.

April 30, 2009

By Scott Thill

A raunchy web comedy about an indie motion-capture studio? Wait, this show got sold to a TV network? In this economy?

“Hell yeah,” said Chris DeLuca, co-executive producer, co-creator and co-star of MoCap, LLC, an online spoof that got picked up by Spike for a run of six half-hour segments.

“That’s why we’re enjoying this experience as much as we can right now,” he told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. “Any minute some kid will graduate from the 8th grade, get a phone with a cool camera in it, upload a video he made to his Mac and in a week, he’ll either be my boss or my replacement.”

DeLuca is less worried about MoCap, LLC, a mockumentary about workplace shenanigans at a low-rent mo-cap company that produces action footage for videogames. There’s plenty of gutter humor and scenes of “motion-capture artists” in tight-fitting blue suits covered in white balls, filming stunts in front of a green screen.

The show, which started out online, made its cable debut on Spike last week, providing yet another illustration of the internet’s power to level the playing field in the entertainment industry.

“In theory, the web-to-TV model can totally revolutionize the system by which TV shows are developed,” he said. “If you can make what amounts to a mini-pilot, put it on the web, and see if people like it, then you can avoid things like Cop Rock <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Rock> and a Knight Rider remake. Mankind will benefit.”

DeLuca talked about MoCap, LLC’s inspiration, its gamer roots and the internet-to-web model for peddling cheap laughs in a struggling economic environment.

Wired.com: A comedy about motion-capture drones trying to get ahead <http://mocapllc.com/about> in casual gaming? That’s nerdy.

Frank DeLuca: Don’t tell these guys they’re nerdy. These dudes are artists, the bridge between gamer and game!

Wired.com: Duly noted. What’s the history?

DeLuca: MoCap was really born at the 2006 Spike Video Game Awards, where, while playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Saint’s Row, we asked the simple question: “Who the hell does the mo-cap for the guy who’s hit in the head with a tire iron?” It can’t be Peyton Manning, right? There’s gotta be some poor son-of-a-bitch who must record the delicate ballet that is being carjacked.

Wired.com: How did you make the jump from the web to Spike?

DeLuca: Spike was a no-brainer. They do the Video Game Awards, so we knew that gamers are an audience they were interested in. But they also had a relaxed atmosphere where we could do silly, stupid stuff. I mean, we pitched the show to PBS — they were not into it.

Wired.com: The show’s introduction is a casual game from hell.

DeLuca: You’re referring to our animated open, created by Mark Salisbury, who’s a great animator. That open actually refers to the game the MoCap guys are creating themselves, called “Drunk Bunnies,” which tells the story of a group of bunnies who get a hold of some alcohol and then wreak havoc. Because of the alcohol, they reproduce even faster than usual and overwhelm the planet, so it’s up to you to defeat them. The MoCap guys work on this game from time to time, and they’re convinced it will make them rich. I won’t give away what happens, but they don’t get rich.

Wired.com: You also goof on the economy in the show. Are you worried about this for your own show? What kind of deal is Spike offering?

DeLuca: We poured every penny into the production of the show: All 175 of them. Actually, the budget for the show was insanely low. It was the type of show that, if it was outsourced it, it would have been sent it back with a note reading, “Don’t insult us! This is a sweatshop, not a charity!”

But obviously the economy right now is just an awful mess. We make jokes about it through the run of the show because the firm is always on the brink of bankruptcy due to how bad they are at mo-cap. Plus, it’s something that people like me are dealing with in their lives. Yes, my show has a fat dude in a tight blue suit and a hot intern who’s often in a bikini for no good reason, but also we manage to make some smart, somewhat topical jokes here and there.