Fred Seibert produces cartoons and creates television networks.
He’s the founder of Channel Frederator, the first online cartoon channel. Which led to the creation of Next New Networks, home of the top two YouTube videos of 2010, including Key of Awesome, Obama Girl, Auto-Tune the News, Indy Mogul, and more than 50 other distributed channels. Next New Networks was acquired by YouTube in 2011.
As a leading independent animation producer, he’s made over 200 cartoon shorts and 15 series. He’s the executive producer of The Fairly OddParents and Fanboy & Chum Chum on Nickelodeon, and Adventure Time on Cartoon Network. His Frederator Studios is developing feature films at Sony Pictures Animation.
Fred Seibert was the original creative director of MTV, the president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, and has produced over 50 jazz albums. His work has honored by every major award possible, including the Grammys, the Emmys, the Webbys, and the Academy Awards.
FREDERATOR
Frederator Studios was founded by Fred Seibert in 1998. Since then the company has produced 16 series & over 200 short films including The Fairly OddParents,Fanboy & Chum Chum, and Adventure Time. Our shows are on Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Cartoon Network, and Channel Frederator. Frederator is in producing partnership with Sony Pictures Animation and YouTube.
Cartoon Hangover launched as a show on Channel Frederator in 2009, and will relaunch as it’s own channel in 2012. The first series will be Pendleton Ward’sBravest Warriors, James Kochalka’s SuperF*ckers, and the Cartoon Hangover Show, the fourth of our innovative big idea cartoon laboratories.
Frederator Networks’ pioneering Internet animation channels began in 2005 withChannel Frederator, and has expanded to include The Wubbcast, ReFrederator andCartoon Hangover
--- CTAN 522: Animation Dept. Seminar --- Spring 2012 
Having Fred in was the best seminar we’ve had because of how relevant it was to what I want to do. The way he describes it, throughout his career Fred’s ideas about animation are very similar to my own. I loved his comment about Gumby being the future. Gumby and Tom & Jerry are big influences for me: they’re both very limited in different ways, yet they’re among the most beloved animated series. Gumby was made very cheaply, but people fell in love with the character. Tom & Jerry is without dialogue as Fred mentioned, yet it was entertaining for hundreds of episodes. Neither was Disney, the supposed pinnacle of the art, but they worked better.
Fred gave a very good response to the question I asked. I always think of limited series in relation to anime, which was popular 10 years ago and would often be just 26 or 52 episodes per show; shows had a beginning, middle, and end. Anime, though, would mostly come from comics that had already proven their popularity, and even then, it was mostly the nearly-infinite series (Pokemon, Naruto, Dragon Ball, etc) that made it to US TV. Such limited shows often not comedies, which is true for live-action, too (Lost, Battlestar Galactica, etc). I know just what Fred meant when he said pitches that are for limited series, especially ones that aren’t comedies, are harder to understand. I think it’s easier to pitch a concept for a comedy — a concept that can be stretched to infinite episodes — than to get someone invested in a concrete storyline.
I’m also glad Fred mentioned in his response that a pitch needs to get people to fall in love with your characters — that is exactly what I want to do with my thesis. I’m more excited about my work, and his visit gave me even more of that necessary confidence that Fred talked about.
Often times people as successful as Fred Seibert come off a bit arrogant to me. I don’t know, maybe that is what proven success does to a person. But Fred wasn’t. Particularly, I found him to be quite humble when he said that MTV would have probably been a hit with or without him. But I think what he did at Nickelodeon is something that he can certainly take credit for. I also really appreciated that he said he would rather work with decent people than amazing prodigies. Often I feel like around this industry you have to be a snake in the grass to get ahead, but when he said that he prefers to surround himself with people who make his day easier it gave me a bit of hope.
He made a strong point about our generation having such an open outlet with the internet and all but he also talked about that you have to break through all the noise online. This is a good point but I think every generation has this kind of phenomena. That’s how we evolve, opposable thumbs and such. I am sure the generation before Fred made the same point about cable TV and the generation before that had radio and before that they had cave paintings.
But the point that I took home the most was that the industry needs good ideas and characters and only the people with infinite confidence get the deals. So I suppose the thing to do now is start writing some ideas and get bicep implants.
From what we’ve heard the last two semesters about cartoon television, it sounds like no one really knows what’s going on. By that I mean that there is no set structure or model to reap rewards, and networks don’t know whether their product will fail or not. Like any startup business I guess you have to fail quick and fail often, until you hit on something that works.
I think what makes it really confusing for animators and developers is that the cartoon as a commercial product is successful only when it hits a sweet spot with the audience. Not when it is impecably drawn and animated and designed. Not when it makes you laugh or cry or when your friends get it and tell you how great it is, but only when a huge mass of people get it and love it. That kind of requires flexing a different muscle, but I think we all have it and can develop it.
Or get bicep implants, either way.
I really do think that any one of us could pitch a hit cartoon show. Sorry if that’s overly optimistic. I just think what gets in the way is a lot of bullshit about what’s good and what’s bad and always trying to replicate success by copying a model. If you’re making a funny cartoon for television, you’re just charming people you don’t know once a week with your characters and drawings. You just have to be able to make people feel good. Other than that, it seems like a lottery to get the spotlight on your work. I think approaching guys like Fred as well as using Youtube and other ways of self promotion is the way to go.
That said, I really don’t think I could run a hit cartoon show. Or well I know I couldn’t. I would probably try to escape out the back window and run away, that’s my general practice. So it’s sound advice to work a couple shows before running one, I would think. I think this also would give me the opportunity to meet even more people in animation outside of school and find some that I get along with well and can collaborate with on future projects.
Super Fuckers! Yes! With a film project title like that, Fred is what he said is not, thinking about yesterday he thinking about tomorrow. I was talking to someone about being Cutting Edge, cutting edge that’s Lame, become the person(s) that make’s the cut to make the Edge, defined it. I enjoyed what he said about having a how that crosses all levels of class, gender and ethnicity, appealing to the masses. Too much focus on the idea and poorly developed characters that no one could fall in love with, that’s going into my memory banks.
I really appreciated Fred Seibert sharing his story with us. I thought about how it is wise to know that life takes you to unpredictable places and if you set your mind to only one thing you may not discover what you really shine at. He took his experience in the music world and was able to apply it to something else and bring a new and fresh perspective. I like this interdisciplinary approach towards life. As animators who draw from everything and all aspects of life, this is a good model to look towards.
I appreciated Fred’s advice about making a pitch for a series. Particularly, his comment about being confident in your work. I found it interesting how he said this doesn’t mean you are a confident person. It’s the difference of being confident in your own creativity rather than fussing over being nervous before an audience. A lot of people have told me that getting nervous/being shy will make you fail, but I do believe that if you truly love your work you can get strength from that.
I also appreciated learning the difference between how one’s idea is normally changed and how it isn’t changed as much under him. I like his philosophy of letting people do as they like will make them to better work because they are happier. Also I agree that a storyboard will really help you know if this idea will work as a film. You can see the characters personalities and concepts more clearly.
When the anime/Japanese aesthetic was brought up, I found it interesting to think about how in American series of long continuation we admire unique characters and use them to hold the series together, but how in many Japanese series of great length, the actual main characters aren’t too interesting. For example, in Pokemon, the main human characters while once possessing personalities, flattened out as the series went on, and this problem is probably why so many replacement female leads have been introduced. After the first season or two of the series it quickly became a plot formula, and maybe the only real interest is in the creatures now.
Thinking about that, I do agree that do matter how great the idea is, no matter how wonderful the world is, if you aren’t intrigued or in love with the characters, no episodic story can maintain an audience. For my senior film I’m going to think really hard about making unique characters.
I also think it’s very important that he said that before making your own series, you need to work on other shows. I definitely believe that the experience will help you be a better film maker. I hope one day I’ll have the experience to pitch something to him.
Jazz Cat Fred Seibert unveiled five* intertwining life stories which gave insight into the pitfalls and rewards inherent in entertainment success. Filled with valuable advice and practical anecdotes, garnered from experiences in different facets of the entertainment industry, Seibert did a particularly great job chronicling his life and career atop some of the world’s best known companies and television networks. Progressive, forward-thinking ideals are distilling qualities that have separated him from other top executive producers. Giving him a cutting edge in sharply scaved occupational turf. Intuitive decisions that handed creative license back to artists brought Seibert deservingly high accolades from the animation community. His high accessibility and open-door procedural codes are not to be overlooked and are equally as impressive.
But.
Someone in the audience asked Mr. Seibert to shed light on how he felt about determining the content to which young people and adults are exposed. When screening/choosing work it seems an important point to realize the significance such decisions have in a world where television has become the command center of culture. It’s too easy to dismiss social responsibility by a “laughter and entertainment is enough for me” write off. Acquisition of power comes with a heightened level of responsibility. This is not to say that Seibert alone must be held responsible for the cultural direction of society. This would neither be fair nor reasonable. Besides, what television program gets picked up doesn’t really matter in the larger scheme of things.
But.
What really matters, or at least what really mattered to me, was that Mr. Seibert takes his influence over the industry seriously. His response to the question posited his job as merely making “laughter and entertainment.” This for me was for me a dishonor to his achievements. If anything, people of his stature need to be the most conscious of the power of television, not for society at large, but for everyone that works for and around him. If he isn’t concerned or at least conscious of this reality, than who is? People like Fred Seibert need to bridge the spell of disconnect that artists and executives have with the work they produce and the direct effect it has on society. And really, I could care less if his network produces cartoons that are “morally meaningful” or evoke some kind of higher educational purpose. No. This is beyond my point. I just wanted to know that he is a man, a boss, that is conscious of his responsibility and because of that is not only an awesome person/boss, but is also one that can lead by example.
*http://frederator.com/fred-seibert/
I loved how Fred was so frank with us. He didn’t try to paint us a lovely picture of his career or gave a speech on how he always knew he wanted to be in the animation business. In fact, he admitted that he can’t draw, write, direct, animate or produce…and had no interest in doing so. It was through working different jobs and failing that allowed him to find what he was good at. I personally really appreciate these facts of life since I was brought up with the mentality that we should know what we want to do and do it for a really long time. My career path experience has been very much like Fred’s: Trial and Error but I always felt like I was doing something wrong and that I should have this figured out by now. Truth is we won’t know until we try. Actually Mike Fink made a really good point on a Q and A article I read where he states that we shouldn’t know what we want to do until we’ve actually done it. It’s so important to hear this stuff because it reminds us that we’re human and it makes sense that we naturally have to learn our way through life.
A lot of good information came out in Seminar and a really good career story. I enjoyed the details about how he was involved in the early stages of MTV and how that man’s tenacity allowed him and his company to the be the first to do animation on the network. I also was thrilled hearing about how he helped turn around Nick. I definitely remembered the bebop on the bumps and how Nick really was just the most awesome place for kids to be when watching tv. A lot of what he did seemed to make so much sense, and it’s makes it clearer why some things are working and some aren’t now. I definitely appreciated his perspective on pitching, coming up with new projects and what it takes to run your own show. These are things I really had not considered before, but it makes so much sense. I can also appreciate a little better why certain shows get picked to be made, and others don’t. Knowing that people with similar backgrounds are more likely to have similar tastes also seems obvious, but sometimes the obvious isn’t as obvious as we’d all like it to be. Yet still, I feel I’ve never had a problem relating to or appreciating material that comes from backgrounds that aren’t identical to mine. It seems like if I want to enjoy entertainment in the world, I HAVE to be able consume media made people of different races, genders, cultures, ect from my owna. I find it strange that the gate keepers have trouble doing the same thing. But, it is what it is. The best bet is to understand the system so that we can take full advantage of it. Thanks, Fred, for giving us such a solid glimpse into it.
It’s hard to write about Fred Seibert without sounding like a fanboy (and chum chum*), but I’ve been following the channel Frederator for many years and I’ve always been an admirer of the window this website represented for showcasing new, diverse and risky animation. My admiration only grew when I came across his Flickr account years later, which may seem like a ridiculous thing at first, except for the fact that once again he was providing free resources (in beautiful 8000 px) for creators to take as inspiration. When you are learning by empiric means and every corporation is so protective over their properties, there’s no greater gift than this.
Before the seminar, I didn’t know about Freb Seibert’s extended career. When I watched Channel Frederator, I thought he was just a regular internet guy broadcasting from his basement. The energy of the show felt very edgy and fresh with that nothing-to-lose spirit podcasters tend to have. So It was surprising to learn that he was this entertainment entity responsible for 80’s MTV, 90’s Nickelodeon and 2000’s Cartoon Network.
Now it makes sense, because that same edge of Frederator is the same one that made each of those networks great at their time. I think the possibilities that Mr. Seibert has opened for animators in kids television are invaluable. I appreciate the fact that even at the top, he is still taking risks when he chooses the content he produces for T.V, a medium usually defined by happy meals and lunchboxes. This for me, is example enough to follow.
*you see?
As a leading independent animation producer, Fred Seibert’s made over 200 cartoon shorts and 15 series. It is such a successful life..
Fred made it all sound so easy, but it obviously took a lot of work to get to where he is today. I’m glad he took the time to take us through his life story, I think it’s important to have a face to identify with the great pop-culture icons of the past 20 years, and Fred was there for and helped start a lot of it. As a kid who grew up without cable, I remember being super envious of anyone who had Nickelodeon at their house and remember plotting to steal my neighbor’s giant satellite dish so I could tune into these awesome and edgy shows. Maybe Fred’s attitude of not ‘being an artist’ or ‘into cartoon’s’ or kids is partly the reason why these shows were so appealing to me. Like Fred said, they weren’t for babies, they were for everyone. I remember him mentioning that he wasn’t really trying to make the world a better place or educate anyone with cartoons, but if people laughed, that was doing pretty good. This is good to remember. Cartoons should be cartoons. While they can educate and provoke, they are really good at pure entertainment and enjoyment, and sometimes I forget about that. Thank you Fred for sharing your life story and for making me want to commit grand theft to see the coolest cartoons as a kid. (Oh and I also want to give a shout-out to Simon for mentioning the Flickr pool, now a new favorite of mine!)
Shout out received!
I appreciate that Mr. Seibert has the courage of abandoning his music dream and dedicating himself to the world of animation. Right now his dream is to make a hit in the field of cartoon. I think the cartoon is the influential medium which always reflects the native culture and the thought of the generation. Mr. Seibert is running the business of cartoons, and then the “target of the audience” may be his high-mattered business. That is to say, whether the cartoon will be an American hit or a world hit? Though it is a world of globalization, the native culture often roots people’s perspective or the sense of humor deeply. It’s a challenge to attract people’s attention and make them willingly sit and response to what you want to convey. I think Mr. Seibert is finding a way out to make this successfully. Hope his works can be a great hit, not only in America, but also in the world.
Oh, Fred.
His experiences in the industry are definitely educational, and I’m pleased that he shared so much with us without sugarcoating anything. Especially the “dipshits” that he had to work with. Kudos to him for making the choice between money and enjoying the company of his coworkers. It’s definitely one of those difficult decisions, and I applaud him for choosing happiness.
His account of how letting the animators create what they wanted create just goes to show how crazy the entertainment industry has become. I mean, we students are (supposed to be) fostered for creativity and then next thing we know, we’re just being told what to do and how to do it at a job that supposedly requires imagination and creativity. And by people who more than often have no background in this, no less. (This is probably an exaggeration, but I think my emotional feelings about how Fred described the current studio situation have been made clear enough.) Frankly, I think that hindering the people who are supposed to be the creative ones actually hurts the show (and thus the ratings or whatever the heck producers care about these days and now I’m just rambling again). The point is: Go, Fred. And I agree with him.
Now that I’ve had some time to let the lecture sink in (and to actually think about it), I’d say that one of the main things that I took away from it would be that, “it’s what you do with the idea, not the idea itself.” This couldn’t be more true, and I’ve definitely had moments where I’ve made choices that weren’t exactly the strongest or the most active for my work. I find that in my stage-work, I have some ideas about where I want to go, but it’s really the choice to how to propel off of some of those ideas that take the work to a place of actual significance. (And, once again, I talk about theatre. But I swear it all translates back to animation and storytelling in general.) I’ve only rarely thought about specific choices in my work, so it was nice to have Fred bring it up.
Listening to Fred was incredibly fascinating. He is massively important in the animation business, yet is very different from the regular speakers and guests we get. It’s rare that we get a to listen to someone who is not that involved in the creative aspect of animation. I suppose it is because Fred himself is sort of rare. He’s like a unique mythical beast, a man on the business side of things who is very intelligent and who actually cares a lot about animation. I’m not actually in the industry yet so I can’t say, but from what I can gather, such a man is rarer than a unicorn.
I guess my ultimate point is that Fred is cooler than unicorns.
Sorry for my lateness, I’m trying not to collapse under my own stupidity, but enough about that. I loved Fred’s attitude, and energy, and kind of general urge to enable others at the core of his drive. I think the most important lesson I extrapolated from his talk though was this: your pitch, your stories, your art, your career, they live and die by character, but that’s both the character of your protagonists and yours. You want to be and make the kind of people that are worth investing time in, taking time with, and suffering through, with, and for.
Second top lesson: cartoon network should play cartoons, and MTv should play music.
During the first part of his talk, Fred really freaked me out. Every story he told about his wild success ended with him hating his job and all of the people he worked with. It made me really anxious to think that I would have to appeal to this type of person to get work. He was making a lot of jokes about how little he knew about animation and how untalented he was, but his self-awareness didn’t remove any of my anxiety that people like this are in control of what gets made and what doesn’t get made.
But the more Fred talked the When he started mentioning the people he LIKED working with, it humanized him for me, made him seem less like a business-machine that chews people up and spits them out.
I feel like several speakers so far have been very candid with their responses, but I don’t think any seminar has been quite as pragmatic as Fred Seibert’s.
I was pretty much transcribing all of his answers. I feel much more confident about pitching and much less naive about the business side of this industry.
I especially enjoyed Fred’s presentation because his focus centers on the business side of the animation industry, rather than hearing about the artistic process of animation. Something that I kept thinking about after this seminar was what Fred said about confidence and arrogance. “The thing that stands out is the infinite confidence (about his or her work)…which is incredibly damn rare!” This is an extremely valuable message to think about regarding showing off what kind of attitude you reveal to the world.
“It’s what you do with it (the idea), not what the idea was. Fred makes it clear to me that no matter how great of an idea you have, you need to do SOMETHING with it that make it stand out from the rest of the other ideas laying around – another important piece of advice to hold on to for the rest of humanity!
“You don’t NEED anybody if you don’t want anybody!” I found this interesting and eventually agreed with Fred. He’s right.
“Don’t complain, you wanted the money!” This is another interesting concept Fred brought up – about complainers who end up not enjoying their work while having a boss and being directed.
I found it interesting how Fred said that there are a lot of talented people who tend to only do tasks once they’re directed to, otherwise if they are on their own they do not do anything.
To be able to make someone pay attention is the biggest challenge, Fred said. I am able to relate to Fred when he said that his bag is not about dramatic storytelling and dramatic/serious genre ideas, which is similar to my own preferences.
Lastly, it’s great how Fred does not sugarcoat the truth of the business.
I learned a lot from Fred’s presentation. Not only the animation (I think he does make fun of himself that he doesn’t know a lot about the animation.) but also about the life. Start with meeting a scary boss, but it become the important people from his successful career. His dream was about music but he ends up with the animation. How he and his partner make a Nickelodeon become the one of the popular channels in America. However, he still hates his partner and job. I guess that’s what life is.
Fred Siebert’s presentation was extremely useful for understanding how the cartoon television business works. What is really nice to know is that as far as Fred is concerned, good work speaks for itself and having faith in the artist will ultimately make for the best possible product. This is the kind of philosophy that I can really respect and I think this fact will become even more true with increased internet distribution.
That being said I think Fred’s job is a little more complicated than he makes it sound, being able to recognize what millions of people will all like is both a skill and probably highly instinctual. I appreciated Fred’s anecdote about recognizing Nickelodeon’s early marketing problems and how it was dumbed down for kids and supposed to be “fun.” It is this kind of perception that got Fred to where he is and could be very useful when dreaming up the next smash hit for animation.
It is very interesting to be able to hear about the business side of animation. But even though Fred is more of a businessman, he is very passionate and knowledgeable about animation; and has an eye for talents. There are also a couple of interesting things he pointed out that I would never have thought of. For example, he mentioned during focus group for testing the Powerpuff girls show, all the kids from different age groups and cities hated it – who would know how successful it could turn out. Sometimes life is about taking risks and going for what you believe. Also, I love how Fred talked about his initial ambition to devote to music, but now turned out to be working in a totally different industry.
– Margaret
It was truly a pleasure to hear about the life and work of Fred, of Frederator Studios!
I think the best things about this presentation included Fred’s frank approach to life and work. He seems incredibly transparent and honest with himself and others, and he applies this approach to design and work structure. There is a special brilliance involved in recognizing the immense talent of others and then creating an environment where they can thrive in pursuing the passion of their work. I was inspired by Fred’s approach and his talk. I think he is someone I would truly enjoy working for!
I think for people who work with and manage artists, whether as Producers, Agents, or Directors, one of the crucial elements is to find people you truly believe in and then support them toward success. I mentioned to Fred that I learned this valuable lesson from a Director I have worked with, Florina Titz, who always makes her live action film sets incredibly vibrant places. Her electric enthusiasm includes a well placed confidence in both herself and the people she choses to work with. It seems like the lesson is that you should chose your compatriots with pleasure and confidence, and then create a world that is positive for all of you to coexist, collaborate, create, and facilitate each other’s work. (To the best of our human, and rather imperfect, ability.)
Best seminar yet, I did not know people like Fred existed. He is a producer that understands how quality work gets made and flaunts his lack of understanding of the medium rather than try to cover up. His approach to life was inspirational and his blunt manner of speaking was awesome.
I honestly believe his bluntness and bravado is backed by a true and deep admiration of the artists. I personally find this dynamic empowering from a producer.
I never connected the dots between fan and producer, but Fred makes it sound like the perfect career trajectory. From an artists standpoint, he sounds like the best friend a person can have; personal investment is not made lightly, but when it is it is thorough and uncompromising.
I agree with Einar, that one of Fred’s greatest strengths is his disavowal of any knowledge of what he is doing. It is not only humble, but it seems to open more doors for innovation on the producer’s side of things than someone who thinks they’ve got everything pretty well figured out.
At the end of the presentation I really wanted to pitch something – how’s that for a motivational speaker? Great job Fred!
Fred Seibert’s honesty and candor made for a really entertaining seminar and one of the more helpfully informative ones we’ve had in a long time. I could’ve listened to him speak for even longer actually- his experience and sense of humor was great.
I was dreading initially the idea of hearing a producer for animation for seminar, even though I loved Dexters, Powerpuff, Adventure Time, etc. But it turns out the reason why I loved those shows was that they were so artist-driven, with unique sensibilities that were let run free. And this is exactly what a great producer should do, just as Fred says: stand back, and let talented people do their thing. To Fred’s great credit and humility, he recognizes his greatest talent as exactly this. The eye to recognize quality, and the ability to encourage and grow vision. It’s not a surprise why these shows are both successful and admired by artists.
It is an eye opening experience to hear from high level players that control the industry. Many of the things Fred said are things that I keep in mind all the time. In pitches, Fred spoke about the importance of confidence in work. It really is a great tool to stand by your work and love it. I never get results being apologetic- on the other hand, loving my work tends to rub off on others.
I am a big fan of Gendy and I was grateful to hear about his work ethics. It is rare to find people who ask “why don’t people work hard?”. This is definitely the type of work ethic I want to reach- I love Gendy even more now.
The legacy of Fred Seibert is, in the context of everything he’s accomplished, is incredible. Incredible isn’t even an appropriate moniker for just what an impact he’s made by being a creative force behind the channels he’s been a part of. If there were any three channels that you would consider the most influential to children and teenagers who grew up during the eighties and nineties, they would bring up MTV, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network and Fred was a major and critical reason for those being what they are.
Even if you were to just boil down his accomplishments to animation, those three channels were a major contributor to the cartoon renaissance. What’s great though is that the philosophy Fred employed, just leaving the artists to their devices, is the best way to go with animation and creative projects in general.
The unfortunate thing though is that Fred’s approach to creators is something that’s unusual, especially in light of the fact that many producers and executive producers in animation aren’t even that compassionate for the medium.
I want to thank the man for pretty much creating my childhood; in particular with Cartoon Network. Just…astounding.
Cartnoon Network, is the first TV channel I kept watching for a while when I first came to America. Adventure Time is a series I watched a few times..
I love the series so much because I think it is the best to watch when I eat my dinner since I think the main idea of that series is entertaining, not the way like a commercial film, but like the way you suddenly find something dumb, which makes me feel like to smile. It makes me relaxed a lot.
Also, most of the series Fred worked on make me feel very relax.
It is very interesting to see Fred Seibert came to our seminar. He is the one really contributed to Cartnoon Network a lot.
Fred Seibert’s seminar presentation was an exciting insight into the world of animated television development. Fred introduced himself by describing his early interest in punk music before starting in the media business. A talented speaker, I found his early experiences in the industry to be wonderfully entertaining: moving from music, to radio, to television, to trans-media to be an exciting story.
Today, Fred is known for his accomplishments with MTV and Nickelodeon. He has produced hit shows like Pen Ward’s Adventure Time, giving helpful tips for development and pitches for animated television. He’s currently developing projects outside of classical television outlets.
I’m sorry I missed this seminar. Many of my classmates said it was one of their favorite seminar speakers ever.
I’m sorry Cec missed this seminar also. It was definitely an eye opening look at the industry of television and the concept of show creation. I’ve always seen the words, ” Created by” accompany may show intros, but I never really understood the process. It wasn’t that you just needed a producer to fall in love with your idea, but there was a whole building process that could take up to years to complete, if it was completed at all. What was positive about the lecture, is that he conveyed all of this information with a frankness that informed without discouraging us from entering the process. If anything, I’m now more inspired to start working out my own ideas since the seminar. I’m really happy he was able to attend.
This man have balls I got to say. It is must be tough to be so straight and so honest in the movie industrial. I mean, any industrial, Mr. Fred give me the feeling is that he really respect artist and he give confidence and faith to artist, he wouldn’t judge people just for one time, which I think it is really rare for people like him to give people another chance. I really appreciate that as an artist. Also his life story bring me a lots of thinking, to be the position like he achieve now, he knows what he is god at and when he should step away for the part he can’t but the other people can, He knows how to use the right the person for the right position, which I think it is one of the most important quality for a leader. After the seminar I had a strong feeling that I would like to with with people like Mr. Fred. I have no doubt about that.
Mr. Frederator gave one of the most direct, honest, and useful presentations we have had in seminar. At first I was highly skeptical of what the presentation would be like because I always think the “business” side of animation translates into a lot of animator bashing… but that wasn’t the case at all with Fred.
I really appreciate the fact that he spends the time getting to understand the artform, and uses relevant artistic items as part of his screening process (storyboards etc). I think that we should have more classes with people like him, because it really enriches our knowledge of what the “money people” are looking for when we are ready to go through the pitching and recruitment process.
Listen to Fred is a important lesson for life planning. He talked a lot about how to be an artist. I think what he is doing right now is perfect for us graduate student who has ambition to be the toppest artist in the world. What I learned from Fred’s word is being confidence. We must willing to show our work, being proud of it. And also the skill of storyboard is very important. It is the basic way to show the idea.
Mr. Frederator is really a good speaker with his strong self introduce and an inspring poducer. Even though he said he is not a talent, but I do think he is a super talent to use the talented artists to do great works as a producer, He knows how to respect artists by encourage them and gave them enough space and trust them to develope their potencial ability, that’s a wise way. I also remembered he mentioned that talents sometimes just like to follow others commands instead of break their own way with their talents. which is interesting for me to think again.