Mitchell Kriegman

Mitchell Kriegman
Born (1952-06-04) June 4, 1952
Richmond, Virginia
Other names Mitch Kriegman
Alma mater Bennington College
Occupation T.V. show maker, writer, director, producer, author
Known for

Mitchell Kriegman (born June 4, 1952) is a three-time Emmy Award winning American director, writer, producer and author. He is the creator of Clarissa Explains It All (1991) for Nickelodeon, Bear in the Big Blue House (1997), The Book of Pooh (2001) for the Disney Channel and It's a Big Big World (2006) for PBS.[1]

Kriegman's first novel was Being Audrey Hepburn (2014). A second novel, Things I Can't Explain, is a reimagining of the protagonist in the Clarissa Explains It All television series, in her twenties, published in November 2015.

Kriegman holds patents for a method of hybrid animation, known as Shadowmation, which combines high-definition virtual-environments with puppets and animatronics, composited and rendered in real time. The production technique was implemented in The Book of Pooh and It's a Big Big World.[2]

Career and Education

Kriegman attended Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, earning a BA in Literature in 1974.[3]

He began his career as a writer, video-artist and performance-artist, under the pseudonym Marshall Klugman. An Evening of Stories and Tricks You Won’t See Anywhere, was performed at Dance Theater Workshop in New York City and surrounding venues. His video work of this period includes, The Marshall Klugman Show (1975) which aired on WNET television.[4] As a short story writer, his work has been published in The New Yorker, Between C & D, the National Lampoon, Glamour, George Meyer's Army Man magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.[5][1][6]

The Telephone Stories (1979) is Kriegman's series of audio-plays for the telephone, one of the first installations of dial-in art.[7] In addition to being available on a special phone-line,The Telephone Stories toured museums and galleries around the country, including the High Museum and The Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, after premiering at the Whitney Museum, as the department's first audio-only offering.[8][9][10][11][7] Kriegman wrote and acted in Operation X segments for the PBS Series Alive from Off Center, which have been featured in the Walker Art Center and The Paley Center exhibits.[12] During this period Kriegman collaborated with Bart Friedman and Nancy Cain of Videofreex on several pieces including "Turkey Dinner" (1982),[13] a precursor to his full length My Neighborhood, funded by the American Film Institute,[14] which aired on WNET/13, and featured a sad sack Kriegman gleefully greeting everyone in his neighborhood, who all ignore him.[15]

Kriegman joined Saturday Night Live(SNL) in 1980 (season 6), as a performer, writer and filmmaker. During his time there, he made three films:The Dancing Man,Heart to Heart, and Someone is Hiding in My Apartment.[10][16][17] He appeared in the sketches "Blame The Kids" and "Virgin Search".[18] He was also a contributor to Michael O'Donohue's, Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979), which included Kriegman's shorts, "Cleavage" and "This is a Man in a Dog Suit".[18] A third piece, "The Dancing Belly Button", was not televised but was included in the Anthology Film Archives collection.[19] After leaving Saturday Night Live his work turned markedly toward children's and young adult television programming.

Mouseterpiece Theater (1983), hosted by George Plimpton, was directed by Kriegman and co-written with Robert Cunniff for The Disney Channel; the show was a spoof on Masterpiece Theatre, but instead of presenting serious works in film, Plimpton would introduce Disney cartoons.[20] Further immersion into writing for children's television programming came from HBO's Encyclopedia (1988),[21] and ALF Tales in 1988.[22]

Kriegman produced The Sweet Life (1989),[23] and a sketch-comedy program called Higgins Boys and Gruber (1989) for The Comedy Channel.[24]

Moving to Nickelodeon, Kriegman became involved in the writing and development of Nicktoons in 1991, including Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Kriegman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for The Ren & Stimpy Show in 1992.[25]Rocko's Modern Life was added to the animated programming in 1993.[24]

Kriegman was the creator and executive producer of Clarissa Explains It All starring Melissa Joan Hart. The series ran for four seasons and Kriegman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1994, for Outstanding Children's Program.[25] CBS commissioned a pilot for a Clarissa sequel, continuing her story as a young working age adult, but the pilot was not picked up.[26]

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (1995), narrated by Kermit the Frog,[27] and Twisted Puppet Theater (1996), had Kriegman writing for puppet characters.[28] Kriegman created the Emmy Award-winning television series, Bear in the Big Blue House (1997), and created and directed, The Book of Pooh (2001), based on the Milne books, both in association with the Disney Channel.[29] Cast with bunraku puppets, both series employed Kriegman's shadowmation technique.[30] Kriegman also wrote for Sesame Street characters in the feature film, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999), co-written with Joey Mazzarino, and produced by The Jim Henson Company.[28]

Kriegman is the creator, executive producer and co-director of It's a Big Big World which aired on PBS Kids from 2006- 2010.

As of 2015, Kriegman is a novelist, instructor, and guest-lecturer, living in the Southern California area,[14][31] and an adjunct professor at the University College Dublin.[5] Kriegman has taught webseries development and production and sitcom writing at Stony Brook Southampton,[14] lectures at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).[32][31] Kriegman's second novel, Things I Can't Explain, based on the central character in Clarissa Explains it All, was published in 2015.[33]

Filmography

Kriegman’s video-art works are in the Castelli-Sonnebend collection,[34] as well as the Paley Center,[35][36][37][38] Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),[39][40] The Kitchen Center,[10] and the London Institute of Contemporary Arts among others.[34]

Television credits

Feature film credits

Awards

Kriegman has won three Daytime Emmy Awards and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards,[25] he is the winner of the Directors Guild of America Award (1999),[47] and has been nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award.[48] Bear in the Big Blue House (1997) garnered him two Emmys for Best Direction (in 2000 and 2002), as well as the Directors Guild Award in 1999, and an additional nomination in 2000.[47] His work on The Book of Pooh (2001) was recognized with a Best Direction Emmy in 2002. Other awards include three Parents Choice awards for Clarissa Explains It All (1991),[49] "Clarissa and Peter and the Wolf", and the UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence for Bear in the Big Blue House, and for The Book of Pooh.[50] It's a Big Big World (2006) received a Webby award,[51] two Emmy Nominations and two Environmental Media Award nominations.[52]

Books

Music

Kriegman is credited on, Peter and the Wolf (1994), a Clarissa narrated version of the Sergei Prokofiev classic, featuring Clarissa & The Straightjackets. His additional songwriting credits are included in the collections: Songs from the Book of Pooh (2002) with Disney, including the closing theme with Brian Woodbury. For the Bear in the Big Blue House series, Kriegman's music credits include: Songs from Jim Henson's Bear in the Big Blue House (2000), More Songs from Bear in the Big Blue House (2002), Bear's Holiday Celebration (2002) and Greatest Hits (2005).[58]

Innovation

Further information: Shadowmation

Kriegman is credited with the patented design of the hybrid special-effects technique called Shadowmation, that combines live action puppets, animatronics, and computer animation utilizing video game engines and virtual environments.[2][42][43][59] He holds a variety of patents for hybrid animation technologies.[60]

References

  1. 1 2 Stuart, R. B. (14 August 2007). "The Big Big World of Mitchell Kriegman". Hamptons.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 Baisley, Sarah (27 December 2005). "Shadowmation Technology Launches New Big Big World Series on PBS". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Pallidino, D.J. (16 September 2014). "Mitchell Kriegman's Journey of Words". Santa Barbara Independent. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 "The Marshall Klugman Show". LIMA. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Mitchell Kriegman". SMARTlab. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Kriegman, Mitchell. "Stuff by Mitchell Kriegman". Army Man (magazine) (2). Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  7. 1 2 "The University of Toledo Department of Theatre and the Toledo Media Project Present". The Telephone Stories. The Toledo Blade. 5 December 1982. p. 12. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Sturken, Marita. "THE WHITNEY MUSEUM AND THE SHAPING OF VIDEO ART: AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HANHARDT". Experimental TV Center. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015. Afterimage, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY (1983)
  9. ↑ "Content: Kriegman". Experimental Television Center. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 ""Video/TV:Humor/Comedy," and "The Telephone Stories" are presented at the Mandeville Art Gallery" (PDF). UCSD. 21 December 1982. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "Video/TV: Humor/Comedy". Experimental Television Center. 1982. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  12. 1 2 Van Gelder, Lawrence (22 August 1987). "TV: 'Operation X,' Comedy Sketches". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Friday Night on Channel 6 – Night Owl Show". Media Burn Independent Video Archive. 1982. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015. produced by Media Bus ; produced by Nancy Cain, Bart Friedman, and Tobe Carey. Additional Credits edited by Nancy Cain
  14. 1 2 3 "About the 20/20/20 Film Program". Stony Brook Southampton. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015. In 2011 and 2012 we offered courses in DIY digital filmmaking, led by Emmy Award winning writer director Mitchell Kriegman.
  15. ↑ Rabinowitz, Ellen (9 September 1983). "Ninth Season of "Video/Film Review" Experimental Works" (PDF). WNET 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  16. 1 2 Kurp, Joshua (29 July 2011). "Checking In with…the Creators of Nickelodeon's Golden-Era Shows". splitsider.com. Splitsider. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015. Things only got better from there, because not only did Kriegman create Clarissa, and therefore create a pre-teen show with a female protagonist who both girls and guys could enjoy (a rarity at the time), he also worked on Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Rocko’s Modern Life.
  17. 1 2 "The Dancing Man". http://snltranscripts.jt.org/. JT.org. 20 December 1980. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  18. 1 2 3 "Mitchell Kriegman". SNL Archives. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  19. ↑ "Video Art Nov. - Dec. 77" (PDF). Anthology Film Archives. 1977. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "Mouseterpiece Theater (1984)". SynopsiTV. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Terry, Clifford (19 September 1988). "In A Word, Hbo Series Offers Children A Chance". The Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  22. 1 2 3 HINMAN, CATHERINE (6 July 1991). "Such A Darling Clarissa Darling Has Helped Nickelodeon Win Over A Large Number Of Red-blooded, Tv-watching, Teen-age Boys.". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015. Kriegman, a former video artist, is a writer and producer of varied experience. He has written short stories for The New Yorker and material for Saturday Night Live, the animated series Alf Tales and the Disney Channel series Mouseterpiece Theater.
  23. 1 2 David, Mark (8 July 2009). "The Sweet Casa of Rachel Sweet". Variety (magazine). Archived from the original on 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  24. 1 2 3 Klickstein, Mathew (27 February 2012). "Inside Clarissa Explains It All with Creator Mitchell Kriegman". Splitsider. Archived from the original on 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 "MITCHELL KRIEGMAN". Television Academy. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  26. ↑ Etkin, Jaimie (21 August 2013). "'Clarissa Explains It All' Creator Talks New Book, Failed Pilot, That Ladder, Those Clothes And More". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  27. 1 2 HEFFLEY, LYNNE (6 December 1995). "Muppets and Friends Search for Perfect 'Christmas Tree'". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  28. 1 2 3 STRUGATCH, WARREN (28 March 2004). "Making the Puppets Dance Far From Their Stomping Ground". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Mitchell Kriegman: Filmography". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  30. ↑ Fries, Laura (21 January 2001). "Review: 'The Book of Pooh'". Variety (magazine). Archived from the original on 14 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  31. 1 2 Lee, Erika (7 November 2014). "Mitchell Kriegman to Come to Discuss "Finding Your Voice in TV"". Daily Nexus. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015. To sum it all up, it’s going to be a four-part event at I.V. Theater: a screening, talk, book signing and Q&A session — a recipe for an awesome night. Whether you’re a young college student who dreams of making it big in Hollywood, but doesn’t know where to start or just somebody curious about the dazzling and mysterious world of showbusiness, you will definitely be in for an intriguing night with the jack-of-all-trades, Mitchell Kriegman.
  32. ↑ Lee, Erika (11 November 2014). "Mitchell Kriegman Explains It All: Eight Rules for a Creative Person to Live By". Daily Nexus. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015. After showing offbeat, nostalgia-invoking clips from his extensive career, he gave valuable advice for young people interested in breaking into the industry and shared his important eight rules to live by.
  33. ↑ Lee, Stephan (22 March 2013). "'Clarissa' meets 'Girls'? 'Clarissa Explains It All' continues with 'Things I Can't Explain' -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  34. 1 2 "Leo Castelli Gallery records, circa 1880-2000, bulk, 1957-1999". Archives of American Art. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  35. 1 2 "ALIVE FROM OFF CENTER: OPERATION X (TV)". The Payley Center for Media. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015. (Series title varies; as above, 1985-1991; as "Alive TV," 1991 onward.)
  36. ↑ "CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL: EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (TV)". The Payley Center for Media. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  37. ↑ "BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE: LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED (TV)". The Payley Center for Media. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  38. ↑ "GOOD MORNING, MR. ORWELL (TV)". The Payley Center for Media. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  39. ↑ "MoMA PS1 ARTISTS: Kriegman, Mitchell". Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  40. ↑ "MoMA PS1 EXHIBITION HISTORY". Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  41. ↑ "Alive From Off Center". Walker Art Center. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015. This event has passed. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, July 1, 2014 – February 7, 2015
  42. 1 2 Lloyd, Robert (3 January 2006). "To see a world in a tree puppet". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  43. 1 2 SQUIRES, CHASE (2 January 2006). "Welcome to a brave new world". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015. Kriegman, a parent and a veteran of children's television (he produced Bear in the Big Blue House), said he takes his responsibility to children and parents seriously. Each show, he said, is something he hopes will encourage families to watch together and then talk about afterward.
  44. ↑ Maslin, Janet (9 October 1982). "Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema Of Edwin S. Porter (1982)". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  45. ↑ Gates, Anita (1 October 1999). "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2014. Alternate title: Elmo in Grouchland
  46. ↑ Jacobson, Colin. "The Book of Pooh: Stories From the Heart (2001)". Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  47. 1 2 3 4 "Directors Guild of America, USA". Directors Guild of America. 16 February 2000. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015. This is Kriegman’s second DGA Award nomination. He won the Award in this category last year for his direction of the "Love is All You Need" episode of Bear in the Big Blue House.
  48. ↑ "THE JIM HENSON COMPANY AWARDS AND HONORS ARCHIVE MASTER LIST" (PDF). The Jim Henson Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  49. ↑ Lechner, Ernesto (5 March 1999). "Bear in Mind". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  50. ↑ "Citations of Excellence Recipients (2001) RECORDED MEDIA CATEGORY". UNIMA_USA. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  51. ↑ Fitzgerald, Toni (11 April 2006). "'Hmmm. I wonder why they're staring.'". Media Life Magazine. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  52. 1 2 3 4 5 "Awards: It's a Big Big World". TV Tango. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  53. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Mitchell Kriegman: Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  54. ↑ "Being Audrey Hepburn". GoodReads. Retrieved 17 December 2014. A Novel by Mitchell Kriegman
  55. ↑ Eakin, Marah (24 October 2015). "Clarissa Explains It All creator Mitchell Kriegman explains his new Clarissa book". A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  56. ↑ Alex Rees (9 November 2015). "Are You Ready for a Clarissa Explains It All Sex Scene?". Cosmopolitan (magazine). Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  57. ↑ Robert Lloyd (11 December 2017). "Q&A 'Clarissa Explains It All' creator Mitchell Kriegman talks old show and new novel". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015. Reading the book, it's easy to hear it spoken in Melissa Hart's voice. [Kriegman] Well, that's the voice I write; I probably hear it too.
  58. ↑ "Mitchell Kriegman: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  59. ↑ Lloyd, Robert (4 January 2006). "PBS takes preschoolers into a `Big, Big World'". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  60. ↑ "Invenor: Mitchell Kriegman". Google. Retrieved 2 April 2015. US 10/215,622. Publication date, Mar 22, 2005.
    US 09/782,329. Publication date, Apr 24, 2007.
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