PRESS RELEASE
International guests confirmed to speak at the Screen Forever Conference 2013 being held at Melbourne’s Crown Conference Centre from 18 to 21 November include a producer with the acclaimed Sesame Workshop, the three creators behind the global children’s animation franchise Ben 10, one of Israel’s leading film and television producers and the man responsible for managing Merchant Ivory’s projects.
Kim Wright, joined the non-profit Sesame Workshop as a film producer almost three years ago commissioning live action, animated and mixed media short films for their flagship project Sesame Street, a program that has influenced generations of kids since it began 40 years ago. Prior to joining the Workshop, Wright was an experienced daytime television producer working on talk shows such as Queen Latifah and Montel.
In the session Open Sesame: Don’t Be Fooled By the Fluff! – Tuesday, 19 November at 4:30 pm Wright will talk about how the Workshop continues to come up with fresh ideas while sticking to their mission.
Comic book luminaries Steven T Seagle, Duncan Rouleau and Joe Kelly are co-creators of the Emmy Award-winning children’s animated franchise Ben 10 about a boy who acquires a watch-like device that enables him to turn into ten alien creatures. Grossing over $2 billion in global retail sales, Ben 10 has been made into television series, films and video games, and sold 100 million merchandising toys.
The three creators will speak in conversation about the evolution of the franchise in the session Man of Action Studios, Creators of Ben Ten: Building Universes for Global Audiences – Wednesday, 20 November at 9:15 am.
Wright and Seagle will also appear in a panel session about the process of writing for children – from commissioning, to the writing team, to dealing with multiple languages and multiple formats: Story is King But Who Rules the Process? – Tuesday, 19 November at 2:30 pm.
Avi Armoza has been in the film and television business for more than 18 years. He joined the Jerusalem Capital Studios (JCS), Israel’s leading media company, in 1993 founding JCS Productions, which has become the country’s largest independent production house. In 2005 he founded Armoza Formats specialising in innovative content with cross-platform application for the international market. He is also a founder of Chooz, Israel’s first mobile content creator and has previously served on the board of Israel’s Channel 10.
Armoza will be on the panel for the session Crossing Borders with Original TV Formats – Wednesday, 20 November at 10:30 am as well as giving a Masterclass entitled Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: The Business of TV Formats – Thursday, 21 November at 9:30 am.
Paul Bradley joined Merchant Ivory, a production company that created its own niche in elegant, literary adaptations, in 1981. From development through to delivery he has been involved as a co-producer or executive producer on most of their films alongside Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. Bradley will talk about the experience of working with one of the world’s great independent studios in an in-conversation lunchtime session on Wednesday, 20 November at 1:20 pm.