Craig Bartlett
| Craig Bartlett | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Craig Michael Bartlett October 18, 1956 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Education | The Evergreen State College |
| Occupation | Animator |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Known for |
Rugrats (1991–1994) Hey Arnold! (1996–2004) Dinosaur Train (with The Jim Henson Company; 2009–2013) |
| Spouse(s) | Lisa Groening |
| Children |
Matt Bartlett Katie Bartlett |
Craig Michael Bartlett (born October 18, 1956) is an American animator best known for writing for Rugrats and creating the television series Hey Arnold! and Dinosaur Train. He also voiced various recurring characters in Hey Arnold!
Career
His first job, after graduating from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was at Will Vinton Studios in Portland, Oregon, where he learned the art of stop-motion animation, working on movies such as The Adventures of Mark Twain. Bartlett moved to Los Angeles in 1987 to animate the "Penny" cartoons, with assistance from Nick Park for Pee-wee's Playhouse on CBS. He later made an animated ID for NBC with Klasky Csupo.[1] He later worked at BRC Imagination Arts directing projects such as Postcards and Mystery Lodge for Knott's Berry Farm.
Bartlett met the Nickelodeon execs while story editing Rugrats in its first seasons. He pitched Hey Arnold! to them in fall of 1993, produced a pilot in spring of 1994, and the series was greenlit in January 1995. Hey Arnold! was in production continuously from 1995 to 2001, made by Bartlett's own production company, Snee-Oosh, Inc, which he founded in 1986. The series culminated in a TV movie originally titled "Arnold Saves the Neighborhood", but Nickelodeon decided to release it theatrically as Hey Arnold!: The Movie, in June 2002.
A dispute over a second planned Arnold movie then resulted in Bartlett leaving Nickelodeon to write and produce a TV movie for Cartoon Network called Party Wagon (also produced by Snee-Oosh), a story originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series. It ended up being the first Cartoon Network movie-length pilot to be broadcast, but not picked up until Underfist: Halloween Bash, which was created by Maxwell Atoms, who created The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne.
In 2005 Bartlett returned to BRC to make a multimedia simulator attraction for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, called the Shuttle Launch Experience. In the course of the 3-year project, Bartlett interviewed 26 astronauts to gather their experiences from launch to orbit. One of the astronauts Bartlett interviewed was four-time shuttle flier and commander and current NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr..
After developing various pilots and feature scripts, Bartlett moved to The Jim Henson Company, where he co-wrote the computer animated film Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby. Bartlett stayed at Henson to work as story editor on a PBS Kids preschool show called Sid the Science Kid with PBS executive Linda Simensky, whom he had worked with at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
In September 2008, a show for preschoolers called Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train was picked up by PBS Kids; produced by Brian Henson, this was the first show created by Bartlett to be picked up since Hey Arnold!.[2] The series debuted on PBS stations on September 7, 2009.[3]
In April 2015, Ready Jet Go! (formerly Jet Propulsion) was picked up by PBS Kids; produced by Wind Dancer Films, the series premiered on PBS stations on February 15, 2016.[4]
In November 2015, Viacom announced that Bartlett will be returning to Nickelodeon to write Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.[5]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | The Adventures of Mark Twain | Calaveras Miner (voice) | Claymation artist, voice actor |
| 1985 | Return to Oz | Claymation artist | |
| 1986–1990 | Pee-wee's Playhouse | Animator for Penny cartoons | |
| 1987 | A Claymation Christmas Celebration | Claymation artist | |
| 1988 | Meet the Raisins! | Writer | |
| 1988 | Arnold Escapes from Church | Producer, director, writer, animator | |
| 1990 | The Arnold Waltz | Producer, director, writer, animator | |
| 1991 | Arnold Rides His Chair | Director | |
| 1991–1994 | Rugrats | Story editor, writer, director | |
| 1995 | The Ren & Stimpy Show | Director | |
| 1996–2004 | Hey Arnold! | Brainy, Abner the Pig, Ned, Miles, others (voice) | Creator, developer, executive producer, writer, director, voice actor |
| 2002 | Hey Arnold!: The Movie | Brainy, Murray, Grubby, Monkeyman (voice) | Producer, writer, voice actor |
| 2004 | Johnny Bravo | Writer, story editor | |
| 2004 | Party Wagon | Romeo Jones, Ferryman #2, Cheyenne #1 (voice) | Creator, producer, director, voice actor |
| 2008 | Unstable Fables | Co-writer | |
| 2008–2013 | Sid the Science Kid | Story editor, writer | |
| 2009–present | Dinosaur Train | Spider (voice) | Creator, director, voice actor |
| 2016 | Ready Jet Go! | Creator, executive producer, director | |
| 2017 | Sky Rat[6] | Creator, executive producer, writer, director | |
| 2017 | Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie | Miles and Abner the Pig (voice) | Executive producer, writer, voice actor |
| TBA | Frog and Toad | Director | |
Personal life
He is married to Lisa Groening, sister of Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, after whom Lisa Simpson is named.[7] They have two children, Matt and Katie.[8]
References
- ↑ http://www.klaskycsupo.com/press/animationmagazine.html
- ↑ The Muppet Newsflash: "Henson Moving Forward with "Dinosaur Train" and "The Skumps"", 9/17/2008.
- ↑ Official site for "Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train"
- ↑ http://kidscreen.com/2015/04/10/pbs-kids-intros-ready-jet-go/
- ↑ "'Hey Arnold' TV movie in works at Nickelodeon". Chicago Tribune. November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.animationmagazine.net/events/craig-bartlett-offers-inspiring-keynote-ottawa/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080820020800/http://donthaveacowman.com/Simpsons/Cards/Inkworks2001/page2001.70.html. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2009. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Craig Bartlett, Maggie Groening, Richard Bartlett: Hey Arnold!, Simon & Schuster, 2002, p. 144
External links
- Interview with Victoria Mixon
- Craig Bartlett at the Internet Movie Database
- Craig Bartlett's Charmed Past Life