Fred Seibert
Encyclopedia
Frederick "Fred" Seibert (born September 15, 1951, in Manhattan, New York) is a television and film producer and entertainment entrepreneur who owns Frederator Studios
Frederator Studios
Frederator Studios is an independent American production company founded by Fred Seibert in 1997, with its first series launching in 1998. The studio focuses primarily on artists who write their own shorts, series, and movies...

, and who has held leading positions with MTV Networks
MTV Networks
MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...

, Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...

, and Next New Networks; he owns Frederator Studios
Frederator Studios
Frederator Studios is an independent American production company founded by Fred Seibert in 1997, with its first series launching in 1998. The studio focuses primarily on artists who write their own shorts, series, and movies...

. Working in media innovation for thirty years (his official biography says he's had "five lives,") he has directed breakthroughs in cable television, animation, and the internet.

Cable Television

Seibert was MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's first creative director
Creative Director
A creative director is a position often found within the graphic design, film, music, fashion, advertising, media or entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organizations such as web development and software development firms as well....

 and guided its original voice and visual identity, creating hundreds of promotions, advertisements, and station IDs for the channel, and responsible for a rethinking of how television channels promoted themselves as "brands." He also commissioned and approved the mutating MTV logo, despite network executives objections to a logo that did not remain constant. He led the team that developed one of the most famous advertising campaigns of the late 20th century, "I Want My MTV!"

In 1985, with partner Alan Goodman
Alan Goodman
Alan Goodman has played a key role in creating and launching many media brands since 1981, first in cable television and now for the internet and other platforms....

 at Fred/Alan Inc., Seibert successfully overhauled the then-floundering children's cable channel Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

, moving it from worst to first in the ratings in six months; and conceived and executed the Nick-at-Nite concept. Fred/Alan became the first branding company in television, working closely with Showtime, The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel is an American premium channel owned by Showtime Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, which shows mostly movies, as well as special behind-the-scenes features, softcore adult erotica and movie trivia....

, VH-1, Lifetime
Lifetime
Lifetime may refer to:*Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive*Mean lifetime, a certain number that characterizes the rate of reduction of a particle of an assembly...

, and Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

. They are also credited with inventing the television marathon
Marathon (television)
In television, a marathon is typically the sequential broadcast of a single or a number of related television programs, most notably reflecting a theme....

.

Animation & Cartoons

Seibert became president of Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...

 Cartoons, Inc., in 1992, and turned around the struggling animation studio by revamping its production and development process. He created Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

's What A Cartoon!, a showcase for new animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 shorts which spun off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 several series including Cow and Chicken
Cow and Chicken
Cow and Chicken is an American animated series, created by David Feiss. The series shows the surreal adventures of a cow, named Cow, and her chicken brother, named Chicken. They are often antagonized by "The Red Guy", who poses as various characters to scam or hurt them...

, Dexter's Laboratory
Dexter's Laboratory
Dexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios . The show is about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions...

, Johnny Bravo
Johnny Bravo
Johnny Bravo is an American animated television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network. The series stars a muscular beefcake young man named Johnny Bravo who dons a pompadour hairstyle and an Elvis Presley-like voice and has a forward, woman-chasing personality...

, The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera for Cartoon Network...

, and Courage The Cowardly Dog
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Courage the Cowardly Dog is an American animated television series created by John R. Dilworth for Cartoon Network. Its central plot revolves around a somewhat anthropomorphic dog named Courage who lives with his owners, Muriel and Eustace Bagge, an elderly, married farming couple in the "Middle of...

. He remained at Hanna-Barbera until 1996, when H-B's parent company, Turner Broadcasting, merged with Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

.

Seibert founded animation production company Frederator Studios
Frederator Studios
Frederator Studios is an independent American production company founded by Fred Seibert in 1997, with its first series launching in 1998. The studio focuses primarily on artists who write their own shorts, series, and movies...

 in 1997. Frederator currently has a first look production deal with Nickelodeon, and its productions include The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...

, ChalkZone
ChalkZone
ChalkZone is an American animated television series that aired on Nickelodeon. It was created by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber, and produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon TV channel...

, My Life as a Teenage Robot
My Life as a Teenage Robot
My Life as a Teenage Robot is an American animated television series, created by Rob Renzetti for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of XJ-9, better known as Jenny Wakeman, a female robot designed to protect Earth, who is excessively addicted to teen-related activities, which are almost...

, Nicktoons Film Festival
Nicktoons Film Festival
The Nicktoons Animation Festival is an annual event that was created by producer Fred Seibert and produced for its first three years by his Frederator Studios. Founded in 2004 to showcase the diversity of worldwide animation filmmaking, it is the largest multiplatform animation festival in North...

, Oh Yeah! Cartoons
Oh Yeah! Cartoons
Oh Yeah! Cartoons is an American animation showcase that appeared on the Nickelodeon cable channel. Oh Yeah! was an animation project guided by Fred Seibert, former Creative Director of MTV Networks and President of Hanna-Barbera...

, Random! Cartoons, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is an American animated television series created by Bob Boyle. The series is animated in Toon Boom and Adobe Flash software, produced by Bolder Media, and Starz Media...

. In 2009 he launched Frederator's (and Nickelodeon's) first original television CG comedy, Fanboy and Chum Chum
Fanboy and Chum Chum
Fanboy and Chum Chum is an American CGI animated television series produced by Frederator Studios. It is based on a first episode/short from Frederator's Random! Cartoons called Fanboy...

to record ratings; and in early 2010 he produced his company's first Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 series, Adventure Time with Finn and Jake, had the highest rated comedy premiere in the network's history.

Internet Television & Video

In addition to his Frederator duties, Seibert returned to MTV Networks
MTV Networks
MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...

 in 1999, and was president of MTV Networks Online, president of the MTVi Group, and president of Nickelodeon Online. After the dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...

 burst, he returned to Frederator full-time in 2001.

In November 2005 Seibert launched his innovative online network, the world's first cartoon video podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

, which he calls Channel Frederator. Filmmakers submit animated films for weekly exhibition. In quick succession was 'The Wubbcast' for pre-schoolers (with Bolder Media, in January 2006) and 'ReFrederator' with vintage cartoons (April 2006).

Building on this new media success, in 2007 Seibert conceived and founded Next New Networks (with Emil Rensing, Herb Scannell
Herb Scannell
Herb Scannell, is the president of BBC Worldwide America.-Early years:Scannell was born in Long Island, New York to an Irish father and Puerto Rican mother as the youngest of four. He received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. His mother taught him Spanish at home helping him to...

, Tim Shey, and Jed Simmons), the leading online television company, with over 2 billion all time video views and over 200 million views every month (as of 2010). Along with their affiliated Indy Mogul
Indy Mogul
Indy Mogul is an Internet-based video webcast geared towards amateur film-makers and film enthusiasts. Indy Mogul is part of Next New Networks programming.-Awards:...

, Barely Political (home of Obama Girl), Channel Frederator and several other networks, the company's superdistribution has allowed it to become among the most widely-distributed video in the world, and to become YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

's top professional content provider. By the end of 2010, Next New Networks had the globe's top two videos viewed on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

. In March 2011, Next New Networks was acquired by YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

.

Movies

In June 2007, Fred Seibert founded Frederator Films
Frederator Films
Frederator Films is an animation studio founded by Fred Seibert as part of Frederator Studios, with producers Kevin Kolde and Eric Gardner on June 25, 2007. The studio's goal is to create animated genre features...

 to produced animated feature films. They are currently in pre-production on Genndy Tartakovsky
Genndy Tartakovsky
Genndy Borisovich Tartakovsky is a Russian-American television animator, director and producer. His best-known creations are Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Sym-Bionic Titan...

's Samurai Jack
Samurai Jack
Samurai Jack is an American animated television series created by animator Genndy Tartakovsky that aired on both Cartoon Network and Toonami from 2001 to 2004. It is noted for its highly detailed, outline-free, masking-based animation, as well as for its cinematic style and pacing...

with co-producer J.J. Abrams, and have set up their first two animated features in a first look production arrangement for Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation is an American computer-animated film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded in May 2002. It is working closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which takes care of the digital production...

.

Early career

Seibert began his media career at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

's WKCR-FM in 1969 as a board engineer and producer/host of world music, jazz and pop shows. He recorded the majority of the station's live jazz broadcasts which led to the formation of his independent blues and jazz label. Roots musician and producer Tom Pomposello and Seibert formed Oblivion Records
Oblivion Records
Oblivion Records was an American independent record label that focused on under recorded blues and jazz musicians. The company was based in Huntington, New York and New York City and a post office box in Roslyn Heights, New York from 1972–1976....

 in 1972 (with third partner Dick Pennington), producing releases by blues musicians Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:...

 (Live in New York
Live In New York
Live in New York may refer to:*Live in New York City, by John Lennon*Hot Swing Trio: Live in New York, by Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio*Live in New York , 2002...

), Johnny Woods
Johnny Woods
Johnny Woods was an American blues singer and harmonica player in the North Mississippi style.Woods was born in a small Mississippi town called Looxahoma, just west of Mississippi Highway 35. His harmonica playing first gained notoriety in the 1960s as a duet partner with fellow blues revival...

, and Charles Walker (Blues from the Apple
Blues from the Apple
Blues from the Apple, released in 1974 by Oblivion Records, is the only album under the leadership of guitarist and vocalist Charles Walker. Featured players include New York City based musicians Lee Roy Little , Bill Dicey , 'Foxy' Ann Yancey , Larry Johnson , Tom Pomposello , Bobby King , and Ola...

); and jazz musicians Joe Lee Wilson
Joe Lee Wilson
Joe Lee Wilson was an American gospel-influenced jazz singer, originally from Bristow, Oklahoma. His voice is best recognized from several Archie Shepp albums recorded for Impulse! Records.-Biography:...

 and Marc Cohen (now known as Marc Copland
Marc Copland
Marc Copland is an American jazz pianist and composer.Copland became part of the jazz scene in Philadelphia in the early 1960s as a saxophonist, and later moved to New York where he experimented with electric alto saxophone...

). He was a producer (and/or engineer) of over 30 jazz records (for independent labels like Muse Records
Muse Records
Muse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...

 and the Jazz Composer's Orchestra
Jazz Composer's Orchestra
Jazz Composer's Orchestra was an American jazz group founded in 1965, to further avant-garde jazz in New York. Carla Bley and Michael Mantler were important in its organization and style....

) between 1971 and 1978 by artists as diverse as Hank Jones
Hank Jones
Henry "Hank" Jones was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award...

, Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...

, Dom Salvador
Dom Salvador
Dom Salvador, born 1938 Salvador da Silva Filho, is a Brazilian jazz / Música Popular Brasileira pianist most notable for his Rio 65 Trio that featured the Brazilian jazz drummer Edison Machado and bassist Sérgio Barroso. He also did tours of Europe with musicians like Sylvia Telles...

 and Willis Jackson
Willis Jackson
Willis "Gator" Jackson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Born in Miami, Florida, Jackson joined Duke Ellington alumnus Cootie Williams's band in 1949 as a teenager, after being discovered by Eddie Vinson. During the 1950s he participated in R&B and jazz recordings, primarily as a session...

.

In 1977 and 1978 he was the road manager and sound engineer for tours with pianist/composer Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...

, before joining the innovative media executive Dale Pon at New York's WHN
WHN
WHN was a radio station in New York City located at 1050 kHz. Its best known format was country music, which the station played from 1972 to 1987...

 radio. Pon introduced Seibert to his WNBC Radio colleague Robert Pittman
Robert Pittman
Robert Pittman or Bob Pittman may refer to:*Bob Pittman , American college sports supervisor who, during its 1945 season, served as head coach for University of Florida's baseball team *Robert C...

 as Pittman was becoming an early cable television pioneer at the Warner Amex Satellite Company (WASEC), now named MTV Networks
MTV Networks
MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...

; Seibert subsequently became Pittman's first executive hire.

Seibert was born in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, raised in Halesite, New York
Halesite, New York
Halesite is a hamlet in Huntington on the North Shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Named after Nathan Hale, a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War who was captured at a tavern in Halesite. There is a rock with a tribute to him at the...

. He initially studied at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

's College of Pharmaceutical Sciences 1969-1971, then minored in History at Columbia College, Columbia University, 1971-1973.

External links

  • Official site
  • Frederator Studios
  • Channel Frederator
  • Next New Networks
  • Animation World News interview (2003)
  • Essay by Steven Heller
    Steven Heller (graphic design)
    Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....

     at AIGA.org (American Institute of Graphic Arts
    American Institute of Graphic Arts
    AIGA is an American professional organization for design. Organized in 1914, AIGA currently has more than 22,000 members throughout 66 chapters and more than 200 student groups nationwide...

    ) (PDF
    Portable Document Format
    Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....

    )
  • The MTV Logo
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