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Toronto Animation Film Festival

Toronto Animation Industry Conference

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Where: Online

When: November 11-13, 2021

Previous Events:

Toronto Animation / VFX Job Fair

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sponsor

Development Deep Dive

Fri, Nov 12th

3:30PM - 5:15PM

Online

Join this group of seasoned development executives for a panel discussion on what it takes to get something made these days.

From how to pitch, to what to pitch, to where to pitch. What are people looking for? How long does the process take?

Where better to get these answers than from some of the folks who help make the great cartoons in this frosty land.

speaker

Gregory Little, SVP, Content, Mainframe Studios

Gregory R. Little is Mainframe Studios’ SVP, Content, responsible for developing and executive producing the company’s original content slate for older kids and families. His current shows in production include an unannounced animated series at Netflix and a premium animated series at YouTube Originals called The Guava Juice Show. He also developed and executive produced Mainframe’s first theatrical animated feature film, Escape from Planet Earth, and is part of the company’s senior management team. Prior to Mainframe, Greg led the U.S. office for Brown Bag Films, the Emmy-winning Dublin-based animation studio, and was VP, Development at The Gotham Group, where he managed its ‘first-look’ deal with Sony Pictures Animation. Greg’s live-action experience includes VP Development for The Mark Gordon Company and production executive on numerous independent live-action feature films. He also produced the independent feature film, The Citizen. Greg is an avid surfer and sailor and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two boys. He volunteers with the non-profit organization A Walk On Water, bringing life-changing surf stoke to kids with unique needs and their families. 

speaker

Rachel Reade Marcus, VP of Creative Development, Guru Studio

Rachel Reade Marcus is the VP of creative development at Guru Studio where she leads the company’s development of new original IP. Her passion is creating innovative, quality animated content for all ages through nurturing and mentoring new talent, and fostering long-term creative partnerships. Rachel has played a pivotal role in growing the company’s roster of Originals, including co-creating the studio’s newest preschool series Pikwik Pack which airs on Disney Junior US, Hulu and Treehouse Canada, as well as serving as executive producer on the comedy adventure series Big Blue with CBC in Canada. Previous to her time at Guru Studio, Rachel worked at Nickelodeon developing new IP across their digital platforms.

speaker

Rose Stacey, Creative Development Executive, Atomic Cartoons

Before joining the Atomic Cartoons team as a creative development executive, Rose served as coordinator of development at Nickelodeon Animation for five years. Throughout her time there, she helped develop a slate of 40+ television projects - including Star Trek, Rugrats, and SpongeBob. Prior to her time at Nickelodeon, Rose worked at NASA to develop and create video content for a variety of their social media platforms. Originally from Michigan, Rose earned her BA in Art from the University of Michigan. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her dog and partner, and she spends much of her free time painting oil portraits!

speaker

Stephanie Betts, Chief Content Officer, WildBrain

As Chief Content Officer at WildBrain, Stephanie Betts is responsible for overseeing WildBrain’s content slate, cultivating an artist-led culture of creative excellence at WildBrain Studios. Ms. Betts’ expertise lies in building and leading strong, creatively driven teams, and in producing series that kids around the world will love. Ms. Betts fosters an integrated approach across development, production and studio operations, drawing on her considerable experience and expertise in launching such notable WildBrain series as Snoopy in Space; The Snoopy Show; Strawberry Shortcake’s Berry in the Big City; Go, Dog. Go!; Chip & Potato; Degrassi and many more. Prior to joining WildBrain, Ms. Betts worked as a producer and development executive at Breakthrough Films and Television, and previously at Atomic Cartoons. 

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