Todd Kessler

Todd Kessler is an award winning American film and television writer, producer and director. Among his credits are show runner and co-creator of Nickelodeon's preschool series Blue's Clues and director and producer of the feature film "Keith."

Contents

Career

Following a stint writing and directing shorts for Sesame Workshop's Sesame Street,[1] Kessler assembled the team that developed Blue's Clues in 1996,[1][2][3] a rival educational series aimed at preschoolers. Kessler produced Blue's Clues in New York City on Macintosh computers,[2][4] combining live action and animation in a continuous storyline, and engaging the audience in a virtual conversation.[5][6] In four years, Blue's Clues established itself as a classic of children's programming and rivaled Sesame Street with an audience of 14 million viewers.[2] It is estimated to have brought in over $3.6 billion in merchandising as of 2006.[7] A chapter in Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point," The Stickiness Factor: Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues, and the Educational Virus, details the evolution of children's television from the 1960s to the 2000s, and quotes Kessler on the evolution of Blue's Clues.[8]

Kessler moved on from Blue's Clues in 2000, The New York Times comparing him to television producer David E. Kelley for his contributions to children's television. Kessler is credited as executive producer for the seven season, 142 episode run of the series.[2]

His next project was "Keith," an independent feature film based on the short story by Ron Carlson. Kessler optioned the short story, co-wrote, produced and directed the 2008 film of the same name.[9][10] "Keith" tells the story of the meticulously planned out life of a high school senior Natalie (Elisabeth Harnois) which is disrupted by Keith (Jesse McCartney), a manipulative student who is assigned as her lab partner

Awards and Nominations

"Keith" won first place in the teenage sections of five international film festivals: Italy's Giffoni Film Festival,[11] Sprockets (The Toronto International Film Festival for Children and Youth),[12] Sweden's BUFF International Film Festival for Youth and Children,[13] Germany's SCHLINGEL International Film Festival[14] and Quebec's Carrousel international du film de Rimouski.[15][16]

Kessler has been also been awarded with a Peabody Award in 2001 for Blue’s Clues [17] in addition to two Television Critics Association Awards in 1997-98 and 1998-99,[18] five Parents' Choice Awards,[19] and a New York Film Festival CINE Golden Eagle.[20] He has also been nominated for six Emmys.[21][22][23][24][25][26]

References

  1. ^ a b "Todd Kessler". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/todd-kessler/person/119385/summary.html. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d Carter, Bill (2000-06-21). "TV NOTES; 'Blue's' Creator Wouldn't Stay". NYtimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/21/arts/tv-notes-blue-s-creator-wouldn-t-stay.html?scp=1&sq=the%20David%20E.%20Kelley%20of%20children's%20television%20Todd%20Kessler&st=cse. Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  3. ^ "Biography for Todd Kessler". IMDB.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1383079/bio. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  4. ^ "Dig This! Using computers to simulate cut-out animation techniques on South Park and Blue's Clues". Animation World Magazine. http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.6/3.6pages/3.6digthis.html. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  5. ^ Schmelzer, Randi (2006-08-02). "Tales of the Pup". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117947887?refCatId=2271. Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  6. ^ Weisman, Jon (2006-08-02). "Interactive innovator draws raves". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117947877?refCatId=2271. Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  7. ^ "U.S., Japan cartoon icons in product deal". The Japan Times Online. 2006-10-19. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20061019a4.html. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  8. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (2000). The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference. Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 89–133. ISBN 0-316-34662-4. 
  9. ^ Fleming, Michael (2004-02-23). "Rewrite right for Miramax: Mini major falls in love with Kessler's reconstructed 'Keith'". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117900627?refCatId=1237. Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  10. ^ Fleming, Michael (2000-03-28). "Kessler snags Miramax deal: 'Blue's' creator has chemistry with 'Keith'". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117780004?refCatId=13. Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  11. ^ "2007 Edition: Award winners of 37th edition of the Giffoni Film Festival". GiffoniFilmFestival.it. http://www.giffonifilmfestival.it/en/award-winners-gff-2007. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  12. ^ "Sprockets Concludes Successful 11th Year With Awards". tiff.net. http://tiff.net/press/pressreleases/2008/sprockets-concludes-successful-11th-year-with-awards. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  13. ^ Pham, Annika (2008-03-18). "Titanic the Cat top dog at BUFF". cineuropa.mobi. http://cineuropa.mobi/newsdetail.aspx?lang=en&documentID=83079. Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  14. ^ "Keith". ff-schlingel.de. http://archiv.ff-schlingel.de/filmarchiv-details/2007/0-ALL-1/2007/keith.html. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  15. ^ "The winners of the Carrousel". ledevoir.com. 2008-10-07. http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/actualites-culturelles/209478/les-laureats-du-carrousel. Retrieved July 9, 2011. 
  16. ^ "Winners of the Youth International Film Festival of Rimouski". bas-saint-laurent.org. http://www.bas-saint-laurent.org/texte.asp?id=7614. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  17. ^ "BLUE'S CLUES2001". Peabody.uga.edu. http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/details.php?id=1300. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  18. ^ "TCA Award Winners: Complete List". TVCritics.org. http://tvcritics.org/tca-award-winners-complete-list/. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  19. ^ "Nickelodia". Parents-Choice.org. http://www.parents-choice.org/company.cfm?the_co=1542&from=Blue's%20Clues%3A%20Shapes%20and%20Colors. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  20. ^ "CINE GOLDEN EAGLE FILM & VIDEO COMPETITION 1996 WINNER DIRECTORY". cine.org. http://www.cine.org/archives/winner-archives/pdfs/1996-CINE-Winner-Directory.pdf. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  21. ^ "Daytime Emmy Nominees List 1". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117492245.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  22. ^ "ABC tops Emmy noms". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117468677.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  23. ^ "A Daytime drama". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117779508?refCatId=14. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  24. ^ "Regis tracks two Emmys". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117795353?refCatId=1044. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  25. ^ "Daytime Emmy noms announced". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117863876?refCatId=1201. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 
  26. ^ "All my Emmy noms". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=features&articleid=VR1117918778. Retrieved July 10, 2011. 

External links