Viewing entries tagged
peter h. reynolds

You're Invited to FableVision's Virtual Summer Picnic

June 19, 2020

FableVision is waving hello to summer! Though summer break may look different to many students this year, FableVision has put together a list of resources and activities for your kids to enjoy and keep their minds sharp.

As more camps, schools, and families continue to be affected by the global pandemic, our studio is proud to provide resources for both you and your child in order to provide fun, exciting and new ways to take this summer to the next level! Whether you’re looking for some fun coloring pages, challenging and engaging educational games, or craft and activity-filled new shows and films to watch, we gathered our favorites to spice up this summer for you and your family.

Summer Banner

Soak in the summer fun with our new summer banner, designed by FableVision director of art and animation Bob Flynn. Celebrating the first day of summer and all the wild adventures with friends the season can bring, this banner is now also available as a printable coloring book page. Release your inner artist, and be sure to share your artwork and tag FableVision through our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram channels for a chance to be featured on our social media pages!

Click on the black and white image to your left to download and print your own FableVision summer 2020 banner coloring page.

Cyberchase Fractions Quest

Brain power to the rescue! FableVision is proud to present Cyberchase Fractions Quest, our newest game that integrates a story-based setting with a research-based approach to fractions learning! Combining research-supported teaching methods with an engaging narrative context to motivate students, players embark on a quest to save Cyberspace from the villain Hacker and his henchbots Delete and Buzz. Stepping into the role of the hero, players travel through a series of minigames to deepen their understanding of fractions and tap, jump, and solve their way to success!

Aligned with Common Core Standards for Grade 3 and 4 mathematical structure, this game grounds students' conceptual understanding of fractions and practice math while on summer break!

The public beta version is available for free for a limited time on FableVision Games.

The Paper Girls Show

Are you ready to let your imagination run wild? In partnership with Global Tinker, FableVision created a new STEAM-powered animated series that encourages girls to find innovative solutions to everyday problems. Follow best friends and makers Caily and Reese as they discover the fantastical paper world of Confetti and find inspiration to solve their real world dilemmas.

Each episode provides corresponding activities and curriculum that introduce viewers to a different type of accessible technology. From paper circuitry to 3D printing, viewers are able to learn about the world around them through relatable characters, creative storytelling, and magical art and design as they explore Confetti.

Empowering young girls to create, play, and imagine, this STEAM-based series allows for children to experience science, art, engineering, and programming in a whole new way that shows them: “If you can dream it, you can make it!”

Season one is available to stream now on YouTube.

Quandary

Planet Brazos needs your help! Playing as the captain of a new space colony, players must help their settlers solve ethical dilemmas by considering each viewpoint and making the best decision for the community as a whole. A Learning Games Network and FableVision-created game for the classroom and at home, Quandary develops and trains students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills and uses character development and story to help players understand the difference between fact and opinions, and apply the skills they gain to real world problems.

A multi-award winning ethics learning game, Quandary is available for free on the Quandary website.

Go Wild! With Ranger Rick

Learn more about your favorite animals in Go Wild! With Ranger Rick, a FableVision-created app for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF)’s Ranger Rick magazine series. Engaging kids ages 4-9, this app features three activities: Mystery Animal, That’s Wild!, and Rick’s Pix. In Mystery Animal, players are given a range of clues and prompted to guess the animal they think it is! In That’s Wild!, children read and laugh along to riddles, jokes, and fun facts based on all of their favorite animals. In Rick’s Pix, children and parents can either take or select a photo and create a whole new image to save and share using stickers, nature backgrounds, and fun frames. Designed to immerse young players in the natural world, this app leverages real wildlife information provided by the NWF.

The app is free to download with a Ranger Rick magazine subscription, providing young children a whole new digital experience of nature!

Good Thinking! The Science of Teaching Science

Debunk myths in your classroom with the Good Thinking! The Science of Teaching Science animated series. Created by FableVision for the Smithsonian Science Education Center, the series provides teachers with opportunities to learn how to best adhere to next generation science standards, perfect for summer professional development! Each episode offers insightful pedagogical ideas that educators can explore across a large range of subject-matter. From topics like natural selection to energy and gravity, Good Thinking! is a useful tool for teachers to learn how to best deliver heavy content in an approachable fashion.

With a new lesson and demonstration on how to engage with students every episode, this series is research-proven and vetted by experts, helping to deepen understanding of STEM topics for both teachers and students.

Good Thinking! is housed on the Smithsonian website, YouTube channel, and on PBS Learning Media.

The Word Collector

Discover the magic of words that can connect, transform, and empower! Written and illustrated by FableVision founder and award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, The Word Collector is an empowering book centered on celebrating the power of words. Published by Scholastic and named as a 2019 Outstanding Literary Work for Children by the NAACP, this book marks the importance and journey of finding your own unique voice in the world.

FableVision also created an accompanying animated film of The Word Collector to bring the story of a young boy who collects words that inspire and move him and the people around him to action to life.

Visit wordcollector.org to learn more about the book and purchase your own copy! And to stream and listen to Michelle and President Barack Obama read the story aloud for the Chicago Public Library’s “Live from the Library” storytime sessions, check out the Obama Foundation’s YouTube channel. To watch the animated film, visit the Scholastic website.

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FableVision Founder Peter H. Reynolds Encourages Readers to "Say Something" in New Book

February 22, 2019

In the words of FableVision founder Peter H. Reynolds, Say Something is “sequel-ish” to his 2018 tale, The Word Collector. In The Word Collector, main character Jerome found the right words to share with the world, and in Say Something, published by Scholastic, some new friends are finding the best way to speak up and speak out! If you feel in your heart something needs to be said, say it! Say something with your words, your actions, even what you wear! When you have the courage to “say something,” there’s a chance the world will listen.

Say Something is a statement, a proclamation, a call-to-action for young activists everywhere. It reinforces the important theme given to us by The Word Collector: what we say can change the world around us. For kids, it can feel like their voices don’t matter, but Say Something is here to show that they do. It is an inspirational story that brings up an important question that any young reader can ponder: “How can I make change with what I say?” Your voice has power and weight. When you speak, you are making a difference.

Here at FableVision, we tell “stories that matter, stories that move.” We believe in the power of people and storytelling, and we create positive media to help move the world to a better place. FableVision is a place where ideas grow and flourish, and we encourage each other and our clients to always “say something.” We create with our mission always in mind. Each project and idea is treated with the same care and respect, because here at FableVision, we know the importance even just one voice can have.

Say Something by Peter H. Reynolds is available February 26, 2019 through Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Books-A-Million, and Walmart. It will be available as a hardcover, audiobook, and Kindle ebook. You can also find it at a library near you! In the meantime, check out the trailer we created in advance of Say Something’s release, available to view on YouTube.

Peter H. Reynolds is a New York Times bestselling author/illustrator of dozens of books, including The Dot, Ish, and Sky Color. His books have been translated into over 25 languages around the globe and are celebrated worldwide. In 1996, he founded FableVision with his brother, Paul, and Gary Goldberger. He lives in Dedham, Massachusetts, with his family.

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FableVision and Big Picture Learning Launch Animated Film Series to Raise the Positive Profile Around Vocational Education and Career Opportunities

February 20, 2018

In an effort to raise the positive profile around vocational education and career opportunities, Big Picture Learning (BPL) and FableVision—both long-time champions of progressive, creative approaches to education—are collaborating to produce a series of short, animated films to help students, educators, and caregivers understand and appreciate successful career paths that extend beyond the four-year college experience. Navigating Our Way is the first film project in BPL’s initiatives (including the Harbor Freight Fellows Initiative), aimed at providing new forms of apprenticeship and mentoring for youths exploring career pathways in trades and crafts.

Navigating Our Way follows the story of best friends Seymour and Sylvie, who grow up near the busy shipyards of New Orleans and share a similar set of lofty dreams which include building, ships, and the harbor itself. Following their high school graduation, Seymour parts ways with Sylvie to go to college. Sylvie surprises Seymour by rejecting her many college acceptance invitations in favor of apprenticing and learning from her family’s shipyard workshop. Eventually, fate brings the two back together with an opportunity that requires both of their unique and important skills, and one that affirms that their different choices and journeys were equally valid.

Navigating Our Way, produced by FableVision Studios, is narrated by award-winning film and television actor and New Orleans native Wendell Pierce. The film was written by Elliot Washor (Big Picture Learning) and Paul Reynolds (FableVision), with character design by New York Times best-selling picture book author Peter H. Reynolds. The film’s original music score was composed by New Orleans native and BPL student, Brian Richburg Jr., in collaboration with composer Tony Lechner.

Along with tackling the stigma around the trades, Big Picture Learning co-founder Elliot Washor hopes this film will work to evolve society’s understanding of learning as a solely cognitive activity. “We are forgetting how to work with our hands, and how to create things.” says Washor. “You can’t talk about human intelligence without also talking about hands. Our nation’s CTE (Career Technical Education) programs need a creative rethink to offer a blend of head-heart-hands learning.” Of course, shifting social-cultural perceptions around the trades is an enormous challenge. That’s why the BPL and FableVision teams are leveraging the power of narrative storytelling to foster attitudinal change.

“We hope, over time, our work with Big Picture Learning will help shift the perception and value of all learning paths, including trades and highly skilled vocational and technical careers,” FableVision Co-founder and CEO Paul Reynolds shares, adding, “Navigating Our Way marks the launch of a national initiative, and will be followed by many other tools, including films, books, and educational resources that will help communities across the U.S. advocate and implement best-in-class CTE education and fill the trade pipeline with creative, talented, and passionate contributors.”

Don't Miss Big Picture Learning at SXSW EDU!

Big Picture Learning is heading to Austin, Texas to take the annual SXSW EDU conference by storm. Click on the images for more information about their upcoming sessions and be sure to add them to your schedule!

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Thanksgiving Traditions: A Peace of the Pie

November 13, 2017

Thanksgiving traditions are as colorful as the falling leaves. Every kitchen has its own rules and recipes, but on each set table, memories are the main ingredient. The spirit of Thanksgiving is often characterized by the company we find ourselves in. However, there is something to be said for the quieter moments in which we reflect and discover what we are truly thankful for.

Founder Peter H. Reynolds shares one of these moments, “I remember taking a walk after Thanksgiving dinner with a family friend when I was about 11. We walked to the center of our town of Chelmsford, MA. That was my first experience and sensation of having the world come to a slow stop. No cars. We walked in the center of the road downtown. It was very peaceful. Years later, our friend became an abbot for a Trappist monastery in the Amazon. It seems his way to find peace here on Earth was with him early on.”

Peace of mind is a theme that goes hand in hand with the holiday. We stop and consider what we are grateful for, and what brings out the season’s serenity for each of us. We find peace in our families and friends, and we honor that peace in traditions new and old, planned and impromptu, hectic and hilarious.

Here at FableVision, we are an eclectic cornucopia of individuals with roots reaching far and wide. This holiday season, we asked some festive FableVisionaries to share the roots we’ve built in memories by telling a story about their own Thanksgiving routines—from food, to family, to furry football stars.

Sarah Ditkoff, Communications Director
Every Thanksgiving, my Pop-Pop is responsible for setting the table. When I was little, while my grandmother's kitchen was a hot clatter of pots and pans, he slipped into the quiet(er) dining room, took out the nice china, and arranged the place settings. I joined him when I was small and followed instructions, "knife faces inwards towards the plate, glasses on the right side." Now that I am older, I love setting the table. It is a calming exercise of preparing our home—a ritual for making loved ones feel comfortable and welcome.

Brian Grossman, Technical Director
I love food. Anyone that knows me knows this is true. So, it’s a pretty big deal when you learn that the thing I like most about Thanksgiving, the foodiest of all holidays, is actually my family. With busy lives, it’s hard to make time to see the extended family. But every Thanksgiving, I can count on seeing the aunts, uncles, and cousins I love. It’s always comforting to be seated around a table with a couple dozen people just as crazy as me.

Our extended family has been consistently getting together for Thanksgiving since 2014, which you can read more about here.

David Welsh , Marketing Intern
My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the turkey. Even when traditions fade away or new ones don't stick, there will always be turkey. When the shape of the table changes or when different people are around the table, there will always be turkey. When you have to run between houses trying to make it to separate family Thanksgivings, well, in that case there will probably be MORE turkey. And even when I was a vegetarian for a couple of years, I still had the turkey. I really, really like turkey.

Samantha Bissonnette, Producer
Football has always somehow been a part of my family's Thanksgiving traditions. Whether it was playing football in the yard with my cousins or watching my brother's game for our local high school, we always found a way to get outside and play. Now our Thanksgivings change every year—last year my now-husband's family came to visit my parent's house, this year we'll be in Chicago but we still find a way to throw the ball around and play keep-away from our star running back, Kovu.

Didi Hatcher, Lead Animator

I didn’t grow up in the US, so I don’t have fond childhood memories of Thanksgiving. However, I have plenty of memories from my early years here. My college would shut down for Thanksgiving break, as all the students would go to their homes, and I had nowhere to stay. However, friends would always invite me to spend the holiday with their families, and share their meals and homes with me. Some of them were immigrant families themselves, and I always enjoyed seeing the cultural blend that Thanksgiving was at their houses—turkeys and pies next to dumplings, durian, kugel, blinchiki. It was the quintessential American experience!

Mitul Daiyan, Communications Strategist
I come from an immigrant home so Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated with the usual western fanfare of pies, cranberry sauces, or even turkey. My siblings and I longed for the Norman Rockwell version of roast turkey we saw on television but during high school, when my family finally made the splurge on 15 pounds of poultry, they turned it into what they knew best—curry! We didn’t quite appreciate it back then, but now turkey curry has become a special delicacy as part of the Thanksgiving dinners I host, and sits proudly alongside those Rockwell-esque traditional pies and sauces.

Olivia Jones , Marketing Intern
Every other Thanksgiving, my family heads down to south Texas for a feasting extravaganza of epic proportions at my grandparents house. My mom's four other siblings and their families in tow, it's quite the social exercise as well. When "the younger cousins" want to get a break from small talk, a tradition we have is to head up to the attic and play the 1993 Aladdin game start to finish on the old Super Nintendo. Once Jafar's been taken down a notch—and hunger has kicked UP a notch—we follow the wafting scent of homemade rolls down the spiral staircase, and make a *beeline* for the honey jar (filled from the hive in my grandma’s backyard!)

Christina Kelly, Production Designer
Many major life events have caused my traditions and life routines to fall out of any kind of normalcy, but one thing that has never changed is getting to share Thanksgiving with my mom. Every year, my mom puts together an elaborate feast of some of my favorites: mashed potatoes, homemade chunky cranberry sauce, and stuffing with turkey liver chopped into it. My mom and her partner Bill always open their doors to neighbors, friends, family, and whichever loved one we can think of that might need a special dinner that day. It might be her grandmother's recipes that make me hungry the day before, but it's the company and the feeling of home my mom provides—no matter where each November has taken us—that make the holiday special.

Jordan Bach , Senior Developer
While I have fond memories of spending Thanksgiving with my immediate family when I was young, I've loved the years spent with friends and their families. Meeting your friend's friend's aunt over stuffing and pie and finding a way to connect is what it's about.

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November FableFriday: Peter H. Reynolds, FableVision Founder

November 4, 2016

How FableVision Began

The Secret to Surviving & Thriving for 20 Years as a Creative Studio

This special-edition FableFriday features an interview with FableVision founder Peter H. Reynolds. This is a special year for FableVision. We’re celebrating 20 years of designing and developing a wide array of engaging media that have inspired, taught, and moved people to action.

FableVision operates under the “it takes a village” mentality. Everyone contributes to our mission-driven work, but it’s impossible to ignore Peter’s insatiable appetite for quality media for learners of all ages and his unending optimism, positivity, and innovative leadership. An international advocate for creativity, his vision led to FableVision. We sat down with Peter to hear the story of FableVision, a story that begins with a talented crop of characters, innovative fledgling ideas, and the power of teamwork to create a brick and mortar safe harbor for the Boston creative community to flourish.

Read up on all our anniversary celebrations on our website here and save the date for our anniversary party on November 18!

Twenty years! What a journey! How does that feel?
It’s an extraordinary milestone. It’s hard to believe all those years have flown by. In some ways it feels like yesterday, but I look at everything we have done and it also feels like a lifetime. I’m really proud that for the past two decades, FableVision has been a safe harbor for creative people, looking for that dream job and having found it. We have gathered some really extraordinary talent all dedicated to making really great media. The story of FableVision is really a story about everyone who has ever worked with us.

Tell us about that extraordinary talent.
Do you have a few weeks? There’s a lot to tell! There are all the employees we’ve had, all the freelancers—New England has an incredible pool of talent to draw upon—all the interns—and all the amazing clients we have collaborated with. That’s the great part of a true studio. It’s not been successful because of one person. It’s all of us together.

Among the legion of talent, it was the talent and dedication of the FableVision “Founding Fathers” who really got the ship built and out to sea for its remarkable two-decade voyage. Gary, John, and Paul. Sounds like the Beatles, right? It was more than talent though. It was commitment to the vision and a sense that we were building something really special.

How did you and Gary Goldberger connect?
I tapped Gary on the shoulder for a 3D animated sequence, which I storyboarded on a napkin. He said he could do it, but first had to a) find a machine capable (which in 1996 was no easy task!) and b) tear through a thick manual and teach himself HOW to animate in 3D. In a matter of weeks, I was watching a spectacular 3D opening sequence and my jaw dropped. The camera flew through the stars, through clouds, to a planet and a fantastic world… the City of Imagination, The City of Discovery, and the City of Sharing… and the elevated high-speed train that connected all the cities in an inviting loop. It was my theory of learning come to life. Gary had not only brought it to life, but he had fallen in love with this metaphor for learning. It sparked some great conversations that went way beyond animation and technology.

Gary was immediately drawn to the core mission. I remember us coining the mission as “PEL: The Positive Evolution of Life.” We wanted to use stories, technology and media to spark thinking about big ideas—and igniting action to make the world a better place. That eventually evolved into our tagline: “Stories that Matter, Stories That Move” and our mantra that we had embarked on the “200 year mission”—recognizing that true and lasting change take patience and perseverance.

For a guy who rode a motorcycle to work and had magenta hair, I think I was surprised—delightfully so—that he also had a natural sense for business. Gary became a dear friend, but also a stalwart captain of the ship. I saw him grow from a young man into a studio elder—steady and kind—but still relentless in his commitment to the team and the growth of the studio.

John Lechner has been by your side from day one. How’d you “connect the dots” with him?
John was freelancing back in the early nineties and had landed a job designing local telephone book “yellow pages” ads. (True story!) There was one particular image he showed me from his portfolio when visiting me trying to land some freelance work. It was a wonderfully elaborate forest; I was stunned by the detail and the overall spirit of the piece. It was then that I committed myself to tap into John’s talents for something special. I knew this special talent was destined to be used for meaningful work. He joined the studio, and among hundreds of projects, he helped direct and produce several of my stories into animated films—including The Dot, Ish, Sky Color and The North Star. I’ll be forever indebted to John Lechner’s tireless efforts to do whatever it took to build the studio. His comfort with technology at a time when the internet was in its infancy and we were still copying files to disks, was a boon. His sense of humor helped define the whimsy of FableVision and kept our mission grounded and accessible.

So when did you meet Paul? Just kidding, but seriously what brought you two together professionally?
Teaming up with my twin brother Paul was a dream come true. Besides the obvious fact that twins are often in sync in mysterious ways, he also had logged in a decade plus building a studio with his business partner, and early believer in the FableVision mission, Bill Churchill. It set the stage for the aligning of stars to start the new studio.

In the mid-nineties, Paul and I worked a mile apart from each other. I would meet Paul at the Taco Bell at the Watertown Mall situated precisely halfway in between his company and Tom Snyder Productions. Eventually at one of those lunches, over a bean burrito, we realized that we really should be working together. So we did. Twenty years later, Paul is as committed as ever. He is a visionary, a storyteller, a creative problem solver, and an amazing human being. He also has an amazing sense for finding partners to help drive the mission forward. Paul always refers to our clients as partners because he really believes that we are equally committed to getting great media made to make the world a better place. Paul’s indefatigable drive, compassion, and optimism allowed him to guide the studio through very tough times. His vision for “what’s next” is inspiring. He’s far from finished. In some ways, I feel he has just begun.

You dreamed up with the name “FableVision.” Where did that come from?
I knew our studio needed a good name to describe what we were setting out to do—and I knew that story was the center of all the spokes in the creative wheel. Stories to inform, enlighten, inspire. Teaching stories. Fables. That was it—FABLE. I toggled through some words to weld to Fable. FableFarm. FableStable. FableVille. I came across the word VISION. The ability to see, but also the ability to see something that does not yet exist. FABLEVISION. That was it. Done.

You not only came up with the name but you designed the logo, true?
True—though I didn’t do much thinking about it. It just poured out the first time I gave it a shot. I dashed out the words “FableVision” using my digital pen and tablet and Autodesk Animator while at our historic “Let’s Build A Studio” retreat in Portsmouth, NH. (I got to the retreat, by the way, riding on the back of Gary Goldberger’s motorcycle.) I selected the “star tool,” made an orange star and then squashed it, and popped it behind the black lettering. When I showed my rendition of the studio name, the group all exclaimed, “That’s it! That’s our logo!” Bedsides a bit of tightening up in Illustrator, the logo remained the same for 20 years, even after a few attempts to rethink it.

(For the record that gathering consisted of Bill Churchill, Geraldine Churchill, Julie Ogles, Paul Reynolds, Gary Goldberger, John Lechner, Donna Meguire, and Bob Keough.)

Was there a precise moment where the concept for FableVision began?
The seed of FableVision was planted a good year before we officially opened the studio. I was at Tom Snyder Productions (which I joined back 1982) as VP/Creative Director, and I was charged with getting two educational products created and shipping in a year. I created an in-house studio to get it done. Inspired by my mentor, Tom Snyder (teacher extraordinaire and media pioneer), who had created his own studio within his own company called the RetroRanch. He shared his philosophy that for an artist to create something truly authentic, they had to have their own studio. He even had a song back in the early ‘80s called “My Room Is A Studio”—packaged with a music-making product we created titled “Rock N’ Rhythm.” This belief that a creative sanctuary was key to crafting, experimenting, collaborating, making, producing had a huge impact on me.

Ironic that it was a yet another teacher who inspired you?
Right? It was my 7th grade math teacher, Richard Matson, who “connected the dots” with the media teacher, James K. Morrow who—nine years later— “connected the dots” with Tom who was teaching at Shady Hill and bicycling to his educational software company he had just launched and then asked me to join. I owe HUGE thanks to Tom who truly changed my life and allowed me to grow and learn beside him. He taught me so much in those formative years. He was a master teacher with a rock and roll spirit. I do think that rebel soul rubbed off on me. He inspired me to take chances and push back on what didn’t make sense in the world.

So back in 1996, you put the FableVision name on the door. What were you working on in those early days?
My little fledgling studio created Pip & Zena’s Science Voyage and Tri-City Science Club. Annette Donnolly, John Lechner, Kathy Venske, Julia Papps, and Bob Keough all worked hard to produce two laserdisc packages to introduce kids to science and the scientific method. I personally think these two kits were some of the best work of my career, but sadly Tom Snyder Productions was sold shortly after they were created and were discontinued by TSP’s eventual owner, Scholastic. It was 1996 when the company was sold and I had a big choice to make. Stay with Tom Snyder Productions under new ownership or to set up my own shop.

You were lucky with finding people who believed in you. That seems to be a big theme in your books.
I am incredibly lucky. My history of FableVision’s origination would not be complete with out a special shout out to Bill Churchill whose company, CF Video/Cosmic Blender made room for FableVision in a small office he rented to us. He was so encouraging. He and my twin brother Paul, who was a partner at CF/CB both welcomed FableVision and brought a big animation gig to our group. It was an animated soap opera to teach Sheraton Hotel employees how to wow the customer. While it might seem a slightly odd choice for a young studio out to change the world, it taught us a fundamental truth. That adults needed to learn in creative ways too, that the learning journey never ends, and that we were in fact, interested in learning whenever and where ever it happens. We were not a children’s media company. We were a learning company. A human development company. A community development company.

Was FableVision technically a part of Cosmic Blender?
Well, it was. Bill Churchill originally had envisioned FableVision becoming the animation division of his media company, but he needed cash to invest in the burgeoning interactive arm of Cosmic Blender which was a very expensive endeavor back in the day when a 2GB video storage drive cost $6K. I bought the company and FableVision was officially an independent company.

That must have been a bit scary to go out on your own, no?
Actually, it was exhilarating. Anyone who dives off a cliff has to think it’s going to be an awesome trip or else fear takes over and the landing is anything but fun. Fortunately for me, my team added one extraordinary person from the Cosmic Blender staff: Karen Bresnahan. As Executive Producer, she calmly took the reins of ALL projects—finding producers and staff to get them all over the finish line. Without Karen by our side for both of these amazing decades, we couldn’t have made all the extraordinary FableVision milestones.

Was it difficult to build a creative studio but also build a sustainable business?
Paul and I were blessed to have been born with DNA from our parents who were both business people. Mum was a bookkeeper and Dad was a treasurer. Paul and I discovered that the right and the left side of our brains were both firing nicely, but we also knew that we needed a dedicated person to making the business run well. We added Adam Landry as our “profit engineer.” I credit his drive and creative maneuvering for keeping the FableVision ship afloat and moving forward all these years and as we sail by this 20-year milestone. Adam has also become a trusted friend and an enthusiastic builder of all things FableVision. He was equally excited to help set up and guide our not-for-profit Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning, and Creativity.

Bill Churchill must be pleased to see what he helped incubate all those years ago.
He is proud of us—cheering us on continually. I’m glad he kept a little slice ofownership of FableVision—just big enough a token to say he’s still on board which makes me happy. He happily attends our yearly shareholders’ meeting and toasts to our success and we toast to him—thanking him for believing in us in the early days and making it possible.

There’s another Bill to thank, yes?
Another nod goes to Bill Norris who I met when he was at MCET (Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Technology) which funded those first two projects. Bill, an educator for many years in the Watertown Public Schools, had appreciated my design philosophy and later helped fund BrainCogs and EssayExpress—both projects designed to help struggling students learn executive functioning skills. Bill would join us a few years after as part of the core team. His hard work, his humor, but above all—his caring of others—has inspired all of us on the team. Though the good times and the lean times, Bill has always said, “It’s all about the mission.”

You often refer to the early days as “The ‘Dawn’ of FableVision.”
Yes! Dawn Haley Morton! Dawn joined our growing team shortly after we launched. She was “den mother” to the crew. Talented, funny, and ready to do whatever it took to tend the growing studio, she saw us through the early years and into our new home at the Boston Children’s Museum. Her quirky sense of humor and her above and beyond TLC for clients set the standard for FableVision.

What’s your final thought on the magic recipe of FableVision?
My recipe is simple. Gather amazing people, stand back and let them amaze you, and they’ll amaze the world. Everything else falls into place when you believe in people potential and provide them a safe, creative place to make it happen.

The FableVision team at their 2015 holiday party.

Anything else you’d like to add?
The task to recognize all the contributions to our 20 years is next to impossible. From my brother, Andrew who guided the finances in our early days and helped project manage the build out of the new FableVision home at the Children’s Museum to my sister, Jane who invested her time, talent, business acumen into the growth of our spin-off educational company, FableVision Learning—the list is impossibly long.

The list would include Kathy Loukos: who oversees the entire financial operation, Tone Thyne: who is building out our television division, Terry Shay: who is our Lead Ambassador of our 200-strong cadre of FableVision Learning Ambassadors, as well as superstar creative director: Leigh Hallisey, techno-whizzes Brian Grossman, Jordan Bach, Matt Brelsford, and Margarita Dekoli, marketing mavens: Sarah Ditkoff and Mitul Daiyan, renaissance woman: Andrea Calvin, creative wunderkind: Patrick Condon, solutions architect: Shelby Marshall, strategic visioneer: Cecilia Lenk, power-producers: Polly Searles, Peter Stidwill, Michael Fogarasi, and Sam Zollman, animator-extraordinaires: Didi Hatcher, Sonnye Lim, and Hannah O’Neal, artistic design squad: Bob Flynn, Keith Zulawnik, Loren Lee-Flynn, and Christina Kelly, as well as recent partners: Geoff Wood and Rich Lanchantin, who are expanding our educational products spin-off, FableVision Learning. I told you the list would be long!

So, what can we expect in the next 20 years?
It’s fun to think about. When I drive by a pre-school, I look at those kids running around wildly and think: “They are the future staff at FableVision! Our next generation animators, programmers, writers, and producers—who will hopefully keep all that great kid-energy and bring it to our studio!”

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