Writing for Animation

July 30, 2016

Event Date: Saturday, August 13, 2016 || Speakers: Craig Miller, Deborah Crane, Bill Freiberger, Jack Enyart & Scott Russell || Check-in: 12:30 pm ||

The panel will discuss the process of crafting stories and writing for animation. See more details below.

IMPORTANT:

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More details:

Craig Miller is a well-known and respected writer/developer/producer with over 200 credits. He has worked in live-action and animation, written scripts, developed series, pitched to studios and networks, produced, cast, approved storyboards, character designs, and animation – the entire gamut of what goes into creating, selling, and producing a TV series.

Miller has worked as an executive and consultant in publicity, marketing, and licensing for Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., Universal, Disney, Columbia, Henson Associates, and others. His work included the films Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Excalibur, Superman II, Altered States, The Dark Crystal, The Wicker Man, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Splash, My Science Project, Real Genius and many more.

But for most of his career, Miller has been writing, developing, and producing for television, films, and games. He has worked directly with George Lucas and Jim Henson on projects including a syndicated magic special and Sesame Street. The majority of Miller’s work has been for the children’s, tween, and teen/young adult market, including 104 episode TV series Pocket Dragon Adventures on the BBC and in over 125 countries around the world. He’s also written on action-adventure projects G.I. Joe and Beast Wars as well as comedy-adventure series The Real Ghostbusters and The Smurfs. He spent three years writing the multiple-Emmy-winning Curious George for PBS. His most recent work includes developing and writing for: Resistance, a live-action science fiction adventure series; Fortune Teller, a live-action fantasy adventure that’s a mixture of Vampire Diaries and Game of Thrones; Playtime Buddies, an animated pre-school series; Basketeers, an animated sports-themed adventure series; Grandpa’s Robot, a new series for Latin America; Cheddar Man & the Mysteries of Food, an animated educational series developed for a food channel; Wingin’ It, an animated comedy-music series based on a country singer’s children’s book; two series – Majid and Karamella – created and produced for airing in the Middle East, and Pet Parade, a series for the web.

Deborah Crane is a screenwriter and ADR localization expert, best known as the English script writer for “Sailor Moon Crystal” – the 20^th anniversary reboot of the popular and groundbreaking 90’s Anime series. Her first film project, “Bayonetta: Bloody Fate,” based on the hit video game franchise, premiered at San Diego Comic Con in 2014. And just recently, she had the honor of adapting the late Project Itoh’s award-winning novel Harmony for its American release in art house theaters nation-wide. Other Anime and Animation titles she’s leant her pen to include: The Netflix Original Series “Glitter Force,” “Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet,” “Dive Olly Dive and the Pirate Treasure,” “Mix Master: Final Force,” and “Skip Beat!” Not content to just put words in the mouths of the voice actors she works with, Deborah is also involved in casting direction and production management—most notably on a TBA project, still in development, with Disney China.

A California girl through and through, Deborah grew up in the OC; getting her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing at UC Irvine, before heading north to study Screenwriting at UCLA. Prior to finding her writing muse, Deborah spent twelve years as an artistic gymnast, and later taught the sport for eight more—briefly working for Olympic Gymnastics coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi in 2008 when they picked the women’s team for Beijing. She currently resides in Los Angeles, where she has been known to wear flip-flops year round.

Bill Freiberger – a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Bill has written, produced and directed for television for the past thirty years. A former stand-up comedian, Bill directed animation for the Emmy Award winning Pee-wee’s Playhouse. He has written for such diverse comedies as “The Howard Stern Show”; “Get A Life”; “The PJs” (for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award); “Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place”; “The Simpsons” (for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award); “Greg The Bunny”; and “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.” He’s been an Executive Producer and/or Showrunner for “Manhattan, AZ”; “3 South”; “Drawn Together”; “Warren The Ape”; and currently “Sonic Boom” for Cartoon Network. Bill has taught television writing at Chapman University and lectured at colleges and universities around the country. He is also a frustrated actor and often casts himself in his projects because no one else will.

Jack Enyart has been a developer and writer of animation and comic books for thirty years. He has done voiceovers, story editing and art direction as well. In recent years he has been a “consultoont” to major and independent studios, as well as numerous private clients. He teaches scriptwriting and development at colleges; and is also a fine art portraitist, exhibiting his work and sketching at exclusive events in the Los Angeles area.

Scott Russell — during his eight years as Creative Director for Fox Kids Network, and twelve years owning his own media company, Scott Russell has worked as a film director, producer, photographer, designer, art director, creative director, editor, and writer, with clients including Warner Brothers, Disney Imagineering, Buena Vista Home Video, Saban, The History Channel, Warner Interactive, Sony Pictures and many others. Scott has mentored with Group 101 Films, and the California Museum of Photography. He has written for film and television, produced over fifty short films, and his first feature film Exquisite Corpse is currently being distributed through VMI Worldwide. He lives in a mostly-empty nest in greater, greater Los Angeles. Scott has taught Film, Writing, and Media Arts classes for eleven years, including courses in photography, motion graphics, video production, digital imaging, game design and screenwriting. His award-winning films have been screened in festivals worldwide, and seen on national network television.