Speaker Lineup Revealed for Animation Conference

OTTAWA, July 9: Nickelodeon’s Brown Johnson and Robot
Chicken’s Seth Green and Matt Senreich will
deliver keynote speeches at the Television Animation Conference (TAC), taking
place in Ottawa, Canada, September 17 and 18.

Alongside the well-known Ottawa International Animation
Festival—set for September 17 to 21 in Ottawa—TAC targets
professionals in animation creation, production, distribution and marketing and
brings together representatives from local and international production and
distribution firms for panels and networking.

Johnson, the president of animation for Nickelodeon and MTVN
Kids and Family Group, will open the conference. She heads the development and
production for all animated programming across Nickelodeon—the largest
provider of television animation in the U.S. She also oversees the development
and production of preschool programming.

Johnson is responsible for supervising the creative
direction of contemporary classics such as SpongeBob Squarepants, The Fairly OddParents, Back At The Barnyard and The Mighty B! During her 20-year tenure at Nickelodeon, she has
overseen numerous groundbreaking properties, including the preschool hits Blue’s
Clues, Dora the Explorer, The Backyardigans, Go, Diego, Go!, Yo Gabba Gabba! and Ni
Hao, Kai-lan.

The second day starts with Green and Senreich, co-executive
producers, writers and directors of Robot Chicken, the Emmy-winning series that airs on Cartoon Network’s late-night
block Adult Swim. Green is known
for his role in all three Austin Powers films and as the voice of Chris on Family
Guy. He also has appeared in the movies Without
A Paddle, Party Monster, Can’t Hardly Wait and The Italian Job, and on TV’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Senreich has a background in comics, having worked for
Marvel Comics, Wizard and ToyFare Magazines and most recently as the editorial
director of Wizard Entertainment.

Green and Senreich are currently producing a stop-motion
animated holiday family feature, Naughty or Nice.

Azarin Sohrabkhani, the director of TAC, said: “Johnson,
Green and Senreich are leaders in the industry. We are excited and honored to
have them offering the keynote speeches this year, which will set the tone of
the conference, giving insight and inspiration on how to create a quality
product and achieve great commercial success.”

—By Jackie Stewart