HRTS eNews - 05/09/2007 (Plain Text Version)
In this issue:
News & Announcements
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HRTS Announces "State of the Industry" Luncheon
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HRTS TV Beta Site is up and running
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HRTS Member News
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From The Executive Director
Newsmaker Luncheons
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HRTS Cable Chiefs 2007
Membership
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Welcome new HRTS Members
HRTS Member Profiles
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Deborah Bothun
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Ellen Goldsmith-Vein
Jr. HRTS
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Viewpoint from the next gen...
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein
The Gotham Group
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein
Founder, CEO, The Gotham Group...
By Chris Davison davison@intellcap.com
Gotham Group's credits include live action and animated feature films and television, children’s programming and prime time television series. The Gotham Group represents more source material from major publishers and comics companies than any other entity in the family sector.
Views: What sort of work does the Gotham Group do?
The Gotham Group is a creator-driven management/production firm that represents more than 250 top directors, writers, producers, illustrators, artists, book and comic book publishers, animation studios, and produces feature films and television.
Currently we are co-producing the upcoming features The Spiderwick Chronicles, (Paramount/Nickelodeon Movies), based on the best-selling series of fantasy books written by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, and Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper (Universal) with Larger Than Life partners Gary Ross and Allison Thomas, based on the upcoming Penguin novel. For television, Gotham is an executive producer on the American version of Aardman Animations’ acclaimed UK series, “Creature Comforts,” which will premiere on the CBS network in spring 2007.
In addition, we’ve recently signed a first-look deal with Yahoo! Studios to produce and distribute original animated content on the Internet to complement our existing direct-to-DVD deals with Lionsgate and IDT Entertainment.
Views: What are your thoughts on mash-up applications like TurboNick 2.0 and others that allow kids to create and distribute their own content?
We love anything that empowers kids and the new mash-up applications – Nickelodeon’s broadband hub TurboNick 2.0 has an excellent one – which allows kids to combine video, photos, music, and sound to create their own content, are terrific learning tools. With mash-ups kids can make, star in and distribute video clips – all in a kid-safe way – how cool is that? We’ve come a long way since my mother and I made collages with scissors and glue!
Views: Sex or violence is often the subject for censorship by political interests; are they acting solely in the interests of children?
Reasonable people can disagree about what constitutes censorship and how, when, and where restrictions on television programming are enacted - but one thing both sides can and must agree on is that our kids have to be protected. Too much, too soon of anything is to be avoided. I have two young kids, Jack and Caroline, so this debate is far from academic for me. All we have to do is keep talking to one another. Communication is the key.
Views: Are today's kids programming their own viewing schedules? if so, then will Thursday at 9 p.m. ever mean anything to them?
I think that into the foreseeable future, Thursday at 9 p.m. will continue to be relevant to kids. Yes, today they can begin to program their “viewing schedules,” but I believe that family viewing – and I mean the whole family – is invaluable and will continue for years to come. There’s nothing like togetherness to nurture family intimacy – when we’re together we bond and learn and grow together. My memories of watching television with my parents (The Wizard of Oz, Meet The Press and The Smothers Brothers) are forever etched in my mind; we laughed, we cried, we disagreed together. I’m making sure my kids, and my husband and I will have the same experience.
Views: Any thoughts on the HRTS during its historic 60th Anniversary year?
The HRTS luncheons are practically iconic in their own right. I can’t think of another place where more executives regularly convene in the same physical space. My colleagues and I at The Gotham Group want to simply say, “Thank you HRTS for all you’ve done and all that you will do in the years ahead.”
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein can be reached at The Gotham Group......