Multimedia Industry

BEYOND VIDEO: The multimedia industry--which produces computer programs for products like games that combine video, sound, graphics and text--gathers steam in Orange County. A decade ago, there were just a few one-person firms; now there are more than a dozen companies with hundreds of employees. . . . Enter Jon Sidoli, a UC Irvine fine arts graduate, who started Digital Artists Agency in Irvine to supply multimedia companies with performers. "We're the talent scouts," Sidoli says.

Court TV Chairman Henry Schleiff recently spoke to a gathering of independent producers and told them three little words they long to hear. We need you. "There is a clear need on our part to keep you people in business," Schleiff said during a panel of cable executives cobbled together by the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors. "We need you as our partners. ... We need you to survive." Mind you, these weren't A-list writer-producers, those in the David E.

Despite the many segments of California that continue to go through restructuring and job loss, a new and highly competitive economy is emerging, built on an innovative mix of high technology, entertainment and design. New and innovative local development programs are essential to safeguard this encouraging trend. One of the most remarkable success stories of the new California economy is the multimedia industry that has emerged in the Silicon Valley and Hollywood.

Photojournalists toting wireless cameras chased after professional surfer Corey Lopez as he squeezed through the crowd at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic surf competition. Revelers thronged around several digital broadcast cameras, which were being used to film a quick comment from the 22-year-old San Clemente athlete. In the water, Lopez faced even more digital cameras--this time strapped to the back and head of a fellow surfer ready to ride along at the edge of the action.

In response to "Granting of Broad Patent Stuns Multimedia Industry," Nov. 17: As an attorney with a patent law firm, I was amused with Stan Cornyn's comment regarding the multimedia patent awarded to Compton's New Media. Cornyn was credited with implying that patenting multimedia was as fruitless (my pun) an endeavor as "trying to patent a watermelon." Dear Mr. Cornyn, you can patent a watermelon (provided it was produced asexually)! Indeed, subject matter much more complex than watermelons can be, and is, patented every day. Although it is always a shock to realize that one's technology has progressed to the point where it can be monopolized by others through a patent, I agree with Norman Bastins, Compton's general manager, that "it's time for the (multimedia)

The North Orange County Community College District is accepting applications for a federally funded program designed to train dislocated workers for jobs to enter the multimedia industry. The district will select 20 people for the 19-week program, which requires some basic experience using computer graphics software, preferably on an Apple Macintosh computer. The program is free to participants because it is being underwritten by a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

There is intense industry and media interest ("Government to Re-Examine Patent Award to Compton's," Dec. 17) in my decision to order a re-examination of a patent awarded to Compton's New Media in August, and I would like to make sure everyone is clear about why my decision was made. The multimedia industry's reaction to Compton's multimedia patent did not spur re-examination of the patent. Rather, the industry reaction led to a review of the patent. During the review, prior art (any invention or publicly available information in the field of the invention)

It's been a while since Los Angeles and San Francisco had a hot new issue to feed their simmering rivalry. The water wars have receded, Southern California's political dominance is firmly established, and Angelenos cheerfully acknowledge that San Francisco is a terrific place to visit--even though few northerners return the compliment. But there's a new tug of war going on now, a geographic struggle over the heart and the soul and the dollars of the emerging multimedia industry.

The buzzwords are everywhere: "interactive multimedia," "online computer networks," "the World Wide Web." Hitching one's wagon to these booming fields seems to be a wise career move. But how, exactly, should that be done? To help answer that question, The Times surveyed career experts, headhunters and people who have already embarked on careers in the uncharted and fast-changing parts of the technology sector. They identified 10 of the hottest tech jobs and offered hints about how to land them.

Court TV Chairman Henry Schleiff recently spoke to a gathering of independent producers and told them three little words they long to hear. We need you. "There is a clear need on our part to keep you people in business," Schleiff said during a panel of cable executives cobbled together by the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors. "We need you as our partners. ... We need you to survive." Mind you, these weren't A-list writer-producers, those in the David E.

Another conference for those interested in the convergence of music, new media and the Internet is Webnoize '99, which happens in Century City through Wednesday at the Century Plaza Hotel & Towers. Among those attending are Rob Glaser, chief executive of Real Networks; Anthony Bay, Microsoft's vice president for streaming media; and Jay Samit, senior vice president of new media for EMI Recorded Music. All three executives will give keynote speeches during the three-day event.

Walt Disney Co. is reorganizing its struggling home video and digital videodisc unit under veteran film executive Richard Cook as part of a larger effort to combine operations to cut overhead in its film group by as much as $30 million, executives said Friday. The cost cutting is part of an ongoing retrenchment at Disney and other Hollywood studios as they seek to improve their thin profit margins. Disney has been eliminating overlapping operations and trimming its once-bloated movie slate.

Striving to keep pace with the rapid evolution of Internet technology, Walt Disney Co. on Monday launched a dramatically redesigned entertainment Web site that offers users an unusually broad range of animations, games and other multimedia experiences. The site also provides vastly expanded e-commerce opportunities, including the ability to book vacations at Disney resorts and to purchase Disney videos, clothing and other merchandise.

Bob Blinick and Judy Parks explored the idea of selling their Santa Monica house in 1995 but discovered an anemic real estate market and depressed property values. They decided to stay put. This summer, however, Blinick and Parks found a far different market when they put their four-bedroom home up for sale at $599,000. The house sold within five days at $21,000 more than the asking price, after a bidding battle in which several rival buyers submitted all-cash proposals.

Since 1888, National Geographic Society has undertaken some of the most daunting journalistic missions imaginable, sending writers and photographers to retrieve captivating images and stories from the most remote corners of the globe. Now the society's multimedia division is in the midst of a breathtaking mission of its own: cramming 108 years' worth of magazines into a boxed collection of CD-ROMs.

The North Orange County Community College District is accepting applications for a federally funded program designed to train dislocated workers for jobs to enter the multimedia industry. The district will select 20 people for the 19-week program, which requires some basic experience using computer graphics software, preferably on an Apple Macintosh computer. The program is free to participants because it is being underwritten by a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Walt Disney Co. is reorganizing its struggling home video and digital videodisc unit under veteran film executive Richard Cook as part of a larger effort to combine operations to cut overhead in its film group by as much as $30 million, executives said Friday. The cost cutting is part of an ongoing retrenchment at Disney and other Hollywood studios as they seek to improve their thin profit margins. Disney has been eliminating overlapping operations and trimming its once-bloated movie slate.

Since 1888, National Geographic Society has undertaken some of the most daunting journalistic missions imaginable, sending writers and photographers to retrieve captivating images and stories from the most remote corners of the globe. Now the society's multimedia division is in the midst of a breathtaking mission of its own: cramming 108 years' worth of magazines into a boxed collection of CD-ROMs.

Louis Rodriguez and his friends at KidShows.Com hope to be part of the next big thing on the Internet's World Wide Web. They're developing "shows" for kids who might prefer an interactive story that can be delivered over the Web to a passive afternoon of watching cartoons on television.

"Hi. Want a job?" That's how Nick Rothenberg, co-founder of a digital design studio in Culver City, answers his phone nowadays. His firm, which creates sites on the Internet's World Wide Web for clients such as Paramount Studios and KCRW-FM (89.9), has quadrupled to a dozen full-time staff members in just over a year, and he is always on the prowl for computer programmers and graphic artists to conscript into a growing army of freelancers.