Nickelodeon Taps Patrick Creadon and Christine O'Malley to Produce First-Ever SpongeBob SquarePants Documentary
PARK CITY,
"Patrick and Christine have a talent for finding a greater cultural
significance in their film subjects," said
"After spending two years examining the financial health of the
Creadon (director) and O'Malley (producer) have been twice nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for their work, including Wordplay (2006) and the recent I.O.U.S.A (2008). Wordplay, Creadon's feature-length directorial debut, is a documentary film about The New York Times crossword editor and National Public Radio personality, Will Shortz. It became only the fourth documentary ever to be awarded the "Golden Tomato" from Rottentomatoes.com for "Best Reviewed Documentary of The Year," and went on to become the second-highest grossing documentary of 2006, nominated for both a Critics' Choice Award and a National Board of Review Award for "Best Documentary of 2006." I.O.U.S.A., Creadon and O'Malley's second documentary, had its World Premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in the American Documentary Competition. The film examines America's current financial situation and explores ways to avoid a financial breakdown for the country. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it "the most unexpectedly frightening film at Sundance."
Over the last 10 years, SpongeBob SquarePants, the porous brainchild of creator Steve Hillenburg, has grown from a single Saturday morning kids' show to a certified pop culture maverick that has inspired nothing less than fun and frenzy around the world. Soaking up everything from clothing to controversy, the show has inspired people to deeply identify with the characters, to adorn themselves with SpongeBob tattoos, to use SpongeBob products to save lives and even, occasionally, to vandalize and politicize the character; but most of all, to kick back, laugh and relax. The series receives 70 million viewers monthly, and has been the number-one animated program with Kids 2-11 for more than seven consecutive years. The show is seen in 171 markets in 25 languages and is the most widely distributed property in MTV Networks' history.
Patrick Creadon began his career as one of the youngest cameramen in the
history of PBS, shooting and producing cinema-verite style stories for the
critically acclaimed series The 90's. He earned his Master's Degree in
Cinematography at the
In addition to the documentary, Nickelodeon celebrated the top-ranked
kids' show with the first-ever SpongeBob live cast performance in
SpongeBob SquarePants is executive produced by creator Stephen Hillenburg,
who previously worked as a writer, director and creative director on
Nickelodeon's animated series Rocko's Modern Life. Hillenburg graduated from
the
Paul Tibbitt served as a director and writer on SpongeBob SquarePants in its first three seasons and is currently executive producer. He wrote some of the show's most memorable episodes such as "Ripped Pants" and "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy." Tibbitt was one of the co-writers and storyboard artists on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. SpongeBob SquarePants is a Nicktoons Production and is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, Calif.
Nickelodeon, now in its 30th year, is the number-one entertainment brand
for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in
everything it does. The company includes television programming and production
in the
SOURCE: Nickelodeon
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Web Site: http://www.spongebob.com