The studio, christened Toonx Animation India Ltd, is the brainchild of Dennis Toonz. He is a veteran production executive and until recently was the chief executive officer at RM/USL studios in Mumbai and Singapore.His new venture at Technopark, of which he is president and CEO, is roping in the best talents and, he hopes to produce its first feature film in its third year of operation.

Hong Kong-based Cartoon Network has already signed up with the studio for doing a number of commercials, according to Dennis Toonz. "India has a rich treasury of folklore which will form the basis for many of our pilot shows. Our plan is to create four pilot shows during our first year of operation.

We are also actively seeking productionpartnership with American and European studios," said Toonz, who was here to oversee the implementation of the project.

Among the internationally known animation professionals in the Toonz fold are K Subra, studio manager (formerly of Animation Studios Pte Ltd, Singapore), Cathy Peza, technical director (formerly of Fil-Cartoons in Manila), Tom Tinberly (formerly of Cambridge Animation, US), Ajith Rao, Jeff Hale, Presscot Wright, among others. Toonz plans to employ 150 full-time artists by the time of its opening, Dennis said. In addition, five key animators and five department heads are being secured from other studios in East Asia.

The studio will start preliminary operations by August and full-scale operations by November. For the November opening, Toonz is hosting `A Week with the Masters' programme which will bring top names in animation to the Technopark. They include magic animation supervisor for `Star Wars Episode I:The Phantom Menace' Robert Coleman, writer and director Derek Lamb and CartoonNetwork's Ian Diamond.