Butch Hartman

Elmer Earl "Butch" Hartman IV (born January 10, 1965) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, illustrator and voice actor, best known for creating the Emmy-winning animated series The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, and T.U.F.F. Puppy. Hartman also provided the voice for the character of Dr. Rip Studwell in The Fairly OddParents, and serves as the founder of Billionfold, Inc., which produces those programs. He has been the executive producer of The Fairly OddParents since its debut in 2001.

Childhood

Hartman was born in Highland Park, Michigan to Elmer Earl Hartman III and Carol Davis. He received the nickname "Butch" as a youth and continues to use the name professionally as an adult. Hartman spent his childhood in Roseville, Michigan and his teen years in New Baltimore, Michigan. He graduated from Anchor Bay High School in New Baltimore in 1983. He subsequently attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.^[1]

Career

Early career

While still attending the California Institute of the Arts, Hartman received the chance to intern as an in-between animator on the Don Bluth film, An American Tail. Shortly after graduating for the California Institute of the Arts Hartman was hired as a character designer for an unidentified My Little Pony animated series. Instead, they had him working on storyboards (which he had not done before) and as quickly as he was hired, he was fired.^[2] Soon after Hartman found work with Ruby-Spears, where he worked on It's Punky Brewster and Dink, the Little Dinosaur. He was also a video reference crew for the movie, Pocahontas.

In the early 1990s he got hired as an artist in the model department at Hanna-Barbera and was eventually tapped by studio president Fred Seibert to create the shorts Pfish and Chip and Gramps for the What a Cartoon! Show. Eventually he became a writer, director and storyboard artist for several of the "What a Cartoon!" shorts that got turned into series, including Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and I Am Weasel. After his contract with Hanna-Barbera finished up (as a writer/director on Johnny Bravo) he went to work with former co-worker Seibert on the Oh Yeah! Cartoons show.

While working at Hanna-Barbera, he became friends with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Hartman later designed and directed MacFarlane's 1998 animated short "Zoomates", for Oh Yeah! Cartoons. MacFarlane also has a character on Family Guy named after him: Dr. Elmer Hartman. Hartman currently lives in Bell Canyon, California, with his wife, Julieann, and daughters, Carly and Sophia.

The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy

His biggest success came in 1997, when he created The Fairly OddParents. (The idea came to him during the drive from Hanna-Barbara to Nickelodeon to pitch an idea to Fred Seibert.) It was originally a series of made for TV shorts on the anthology show, Oh Yeah! Cartoons. In 2001, Nickelodeon picked it up as a full series. The Fairly OddParents became a huge hit, second only in the ratings to SpongeBob SquarePants, and the second (also to SpongeBob) most long lived cartoon show currently on kids television. Due to the success of "OddParents", Hartman was asked to create another cartoon for Nickelodeon, (Hartman says the President of Nickelodeon asked him if he had an idea, and before he could say the title he was given a contract.) which would later become Danny Phantom.^[3] To produce that show, in 2004, Hartman created Billionfold Studios. Billionfold produced another Hartman cartoon for Nickelodeon, T.U.F.F. Puppy, which premiered on October 2, 2010, the same day that Planet Sheen premiered.^[4]

The Fairly OddParents ceased production in 2006, but it was announced on Hartman's website on February 2, 2007 that 20 more episodes would be produced; new episodes continue to be in production as of 2016 (a 10th season was announced in August 2015).^[5] Danny Phantom ended production on August 24, 2007. The 6th season of The Fairly OddParents aired on February 18, 2008, starting with the 1-hour special Fairly OddBaby. On May 1, 2009 to May 3, 2009, the brand new special "Wishology" aired. iCarly star Jerry Trainor voiced Dudley Puppy in T.U.F.F. Puppy.^[2]

Doogal

Hartman was asked to serve as executive producer and screenwriter of Doogal, the Americanized dub of the British/French animated film The Magic Roundabout. Under his own assumption that the movie itself was lacking, Hartman proposed that in addition to dubbing, extra scenes be filmed in live action to fill up empty spaces in the story. While the idea was originally received with praise and was essentially given the okay, budgeting was pulled from it at the last minute and the only changes made were in the dubbing.

The film was then dubbed by The Weinstein Company, and was released on February 24, 2006. Doogal was poorly received by critics, and did poorly in the box-office, grossing $7 million and getting 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[6]

Other works

His other TV work includes voicing various characters on the animated series Family Guy and playing the character Sean Masters on the short-lived series Generations in 1991. He also appeared on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives during the late 1980s. In 2012, it was announced that Hartman was set to serve as the director on the film adaptation of ALF.

Hartman House

Hartman also founded a non-profit organization in 2005, Hartman House, along with his wife, Julieann Hartman, who is the co-founder of the organization. Hartman House travels to developing nations and some of the most poverty stricken areas in the United States.^[7]

Hartman House has built two homes for families in Guatemala, fed nearly 7200 families with Thanksgiving meals in the U.S., and is in the midst of funding a school in Africa. Hartman uses his talent to draw and autograph pictures of his animated shows for hundreds of children at these events.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

• Butch Hartman on Facebook
• Butch Hartman at the Internet Movie Database
• Hartman House Foundation