KIT’S BIO

Because I am both a practitioner and a teacher, my bio has a couple of unusual features. First, I provide a bit more detail than usual about the projects I have worked on and positions I have held. Often, I find, my students are curious about how my career developed: what came first, what lead to what. Sometimes, after seeing a clip from one of the projects I worked on, students want to know more about that particular production.

At age 65, I can see patterns in my own career that were invisible before. So, with the hope that some reflection will be useful to those who are still early in their professional paths, I am dividing my bio into five phases with a short summation, following each, of the skills I gained and the insights that came with them.

First Movie made at Wesleyan University (Connecticut) • I was an English major with focus on contemporary fiction & theater • first introduced to writings of Marshall McLuhan • made my first 16 mm film, a MOS adaptation of an original piece of poetry • two summers teaching filmmaking via Title I funding (disadvantaged kids).

UCLA: MA in Film (Los Angeles) • 16mm documentary about Montessori school • studied screen writing with Marvin Borowsky • major focus of coursework on ethnographic/documentary filmmaking • thesis on Teaching of Filmmaking in Secondary Education, completed under Howard Suber, a long time mentor, and subsequent Chair of the Motion Picture Division plus inventor of UCLA's renowned Producer's Program.

American Film Institute (Washington DC) • junior guy in Education Dept • developed conferences with master teachers, edited a newsletter for a national cadre of Media Studies teachers on the secondary levels • more volunte er work teaching in the inner city.

Philadelphia Public Schools • worked with a 5 person team that received Title I funding to training teacher and develop curricula • filmmaking and animation workshops with HS kids • first use of generation #1 portable video (EIAJ) portapaks for student production • did one man 16 film that employed an ethnographic viewpoint to contrast young urban filmmakers with suburban filmmakers.

Skills learned Phase One: proposal writing skills
- organizing information into curriculum/books
- self-education in animation & design.

"Media Probes" - Executive Producer & Director • a series of 8, half-hour TV programs exploring the impact of various media forms. • this $1.6 million project was independently produced for PBS's 1982 Core Schedule with funding by CPB and the PBS Network, by the Ford, Sloan and Rockefeller Foundations, and by the National Endowment for the Arts • I was Producer/Director of two shows: "Design" and "Soap Operas", proving myself a quick study by virtue of my collaboration with EP and filmmaker Mickey Lemle • our series received the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Journalism Citation and multiple Blue Ribbons at American Film Festival • undertaken in partnership Mickey Lemle via indie company, Laybourne/Lemle, Inc. • our core staff during this four year journey included Jim McGee, Jane Raab, Tony Kahn, Jeff Schon, Marty Ostrow, Adam Bernstine and Kathy Minton -- all of whom have gone on to accomplished careers.

Noyes & Laybourne Enterprises, Inc - President & Co-Owner • for a dozen years, my super-talented partner Eli Noyes and I built an independent production studio with a full time staff of 10, occupying two floors of a Tribeca loft • production activity averaged $6 million per year with half of that being television commercials and broadcast graphics • clients included MTV, General Foods, IBM, ABC Sports, Reebok, Pepsi, Xerox and many others • the second half of N&L's operations involved long-form programming for cable and broadcast television, including the productions that follow. N&L staffers included Stuart Dworeck, Kathy Minton, Brian O’Connell, ChiChi Pierce, and Marilyn Russell.

"Talking Sex with Kids" - Producer/Director Half-hour family special mixing live action and animation • for HBO • Gold Medal at International Film & Television Festival.

"Braingames" - Producer & Co-Designer with Eli Noyes. An animated 30-minute special that adapts seven games of perception, deduction and imagination • for HBO.• won ACE Award & Monitor Award.

"Eureeka's Castle" - Executive Produce & Creator with Eli Noyes. A daily series on Nickelodeon for pre-schoolers • show combined original puppet, animation and documentary segments • output of three seasons totaled 87 hour-long shows, 52 half-hr versions for international markets, 3 half-hour specials, and 4 home videos • won Ace Award, Action for Children's Television Award, Parents Choice Award. Kathy Minton and Karen Stevens were Senior Producers. RL Stine wrote all the scripts. Hugh Martin directed and Stuart Dworeck edited. Peter Lurie did the original music. Puppeteers and puppet designers included Pam Arciola, Cheryl Blayock, Jim Kroupa, Noel McNiel, John Orberg, and Matt Stoddard.

"Liquid Television" - Co-Executive Producer with Japhet Asher & Prudence Fenton • a compendium of underground animation, over the top graphics and stories from beyond the fringe • this original series for MTV premiered in June 1991 to wide critical acclaim • made for MTV, this series was a collaboration between Noyes & Laybourne (New York) and Colossal Pictures (a dynamic Animation studio in San Francisco) • three seasons were produced with two spin-off series: "Beavis & Butthead" and "Aeon Flux" (which I did not work on) • won EMMY and Graphic Designers Association awards.

Skills learned Phase Two: - managing a small company
- scheduling & budgeting
- developing and selling ideas

Insights - value of a partner: different skills & someone at your back.
- I didn't like advertising very much (felt like telling lies).
- development & management was 80% & production 20%.
- series are great: the work gets deeper and better.

Sabbatical: Eli Noyes and I closed down our independent production company one Spring after a set of pitches where not picked up • by moving quickly we were both left with enough capital to make a career transitions • Eli moved to San Francisco where he is thriving as an animator, writer and director, first with Colossal Pictures and subsequently as a founding partner in a new creative team shop, Alligator Inc. • I spent a year studying figure drawing and sculpture at the Arts Students League (afternoons) and writing a science fiction novel (mornings) • the novel did not find a publisher, and with reason.

"Gullah Gullah Island" Creative Director & Creator • a multi-cultural, pre-school program for Nickelodeon (82 half-hours plus special video compilations) • show explored music and culture of an African American family • studio sections produced at Universal Studio Florida • documentary segments taped on location in the Beaufort region of the South Carolina coast, with Kit directing.  • won Parents Choice Award. Executive Producers were Kathy Minton and Maria Perez.

NYU Tisch School of the Arts • Instructor in Film and Television (Advanced Animation Course, during Sabbatical of John Canemaker, the program's Chair • 1997-98. • this year of working with smart young animators led, later, to a revised, digitally updated version of The Animation Book. Of particular value was my subsequent collaborations with three of my students: Jen Taylor and Randy Lowenstein who formed a media design partnership based in New York, and Michael Dougherty who has gone on to write Hollywood features, including "X-Men".

NYU Tisch School of the Arts • Instructor in Film and Television (Advanced Animation Course, during Sabbatical of John Canemaker, the program's Chair • 1997-98. • this year of working with smart young animators led, later, to a revised, digitally updated version of The Animation Book. Of particular value was my subsequent collaborations with three of my students: Jen Taylor and Randy Lowenstein who formed a media design partnership based in New York, and Michael Dougherty who has gone on to write Hollywood features, including "X-Men".

"Hank the Cowdog" Producer • for approximate three years starting in 1997, I was Producer for a Animated Feature Film/TV Series based on a library of kids' books written by Texas author John Erickson, • picked up by Nickelodeon (Evan Baily & Debby Beece), where it was put into development at the Nick Features offices on the Paramount Lot in Los Angeles (Kate Sites). • this ambitious project was undertaken in collaboration with Wildbrain (Jeff Fino & John Hays), a top-notch animation studio in San Francisco and with 501 Studios, a live-action facility and advance post-production house located in Austin (Mark Welch & Richard Kouris). • development included shooting tests, developing budgets, character development, writing a very thorough Bible, and developing a feature length screenplay, which was co authored by John Erickson and Hollywood writer Tim McCandless (wrote "Iron Giant", and wrote/directed "Second Hand Lions").

Skills learned Phase Three: - new digital toolset 
- feature film development.
- screenplay structure and writing technique
- character development and art direction for an Animation feature .

Media Oxygen Media, LLC, Head of Animation & Special Projects; Exec Prod & Director. Oxygen was launched in early 2000 as "convergence" company specially designed to serve the media consumption interests of young women, 18 to 45 • Oxygen quickly built-out a full cable network and a built/acquired a collection of large web sites. • as Head of Oxygen's Animation Group, I lead four teams working in (i) Series Animation, (ii) Interactive Narratives, (iii) Broadcast Design, and (iv) Documentaries. • descriptions of the larger projects at Oxygen follow.

"X-Chromosome " - EP & Creator • a team of 6, under the leadership of Machi Tantillo and Sue Hollenberg, developed 26 half-hours featuring original segments produced by many of the country's outstanding women animators. • this project, one of Oxygen's first original programming commitments, was designed to serve as a laboratory in developing prime-time shows • two such properties, "Hey Monie" and "Bitchy Bitch" were subsequently developed by Oxygen, with the former as a co production with BET.

"Our Stories" - Executive Producer • using the "Digital Storytelling" model that was surfacing on the internet, a small team writers, animators, editors and a producer undertook 30 collaborations with Oxygen viewers and site visitors • Stuart Dworeck and Kimberly Mercado did the heavy lifting • work was mostly done in Flash animation featuring real life stories recounted in the first person.

"Ruth Truth Executive Producer & Co-Director • an interactive, on-line narrative about the adventures of a Private Investigator working in New York's Chinatown. • project took the form of four, 8 minute webisodes offered via Oxygen.com. • Julina Tatlock was line producer and director, working with Brit Payne and Sean Lightner • Shiela Head wrote and starred • produced in Flash • won Best in Show and Top Award and for Interactive Media at the 2001 World Animation Festival.

"Deep Creek" Executive Producer • an html-based soap opera that ran for 40 weeks at Oxygen.com, and received more than 15 million page views. • this comics-informed narrative featured Oxygen employees playing the characters in a deliciously salacious melodrama. • Dori Berinstein was co-EP with Julina Tatlock and her rapid prototyping team handling production.

"Women & The Badge" Co-Executive Producer with Kathy Minton • 35 half-hour, verite documentaries that follow women with careers in an wide range of law enforcement jobs • my partner in this and many other projects was Kathleen Catapano Minton • John Nealon was our Coordinating producer for the first two seasons • the series provided a laboratory for use of pro-sumer DV cameras in the context of sustained on-location videography by a single person shooter/director. • Oxygen was an Alpha site for Apple's development of broadcast protocols using Apple's non-linear desktop software, Final Cut Pro. • in its third season, the series yielded a special, feature-length episode, "Caught in the Cross Fire", that covered a homicide in Indianapolis and was co-shot by Amy Emmrick and Allison Howard and edited by Tim Dixon • won Gracie Award for the Best Reality Show (2004), Gold Recipient of the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival's Special Jury Award for the television documentary series category (2003).

"Real Weddings from The Knot" Co-Executive Producer & Director • 30 half-hour segments that follow the story lines, emotional crises and ritual moments within modern weddings • shot with mini DV gear and incorporating a hybrid, high-octane multi-image editing style that I designed with editor Geoff Richman. • this project was undertaken in collaboration with Kathleen Catapano, with important work by Shannon Clement, Pauline Mason, Dom Insognia, Paul Kovit and Joe Maidenberg.

Skills learned Phase Four: - managing multiple projects at same time
- how to give and how to take "notes"
- how a cable television network works
- learned stuff about the Internet and fell in love with interactive storytelling
- learned about a new generation of technology.

Insights - period of intensive production which reversed the ratio of development to production from Phase Two. At Oxygen it was 80% creative production, 20% management - most fulfilling phase of my career because I worked with such highly motivated and smart executives and production colleagues.

Media Studies MA program at New School • I began teaching at the New School (for the second time) in Fall of 2002 as a Core Faculty Member and Associate Professor • courses include "Foundations of Media Design" (Lead Teacher), "The Producer's Craft", and "Producing & Directing The Short" • in Spring of 2004 I gave up my producer's desk at Oxygen to focus full time on teaching • that's when my site building began • in the Fall 2005, I began team teaching with Elizabeth Ellsworth. We undertook an experimental course combining (and extending) the syllabi for Foundations of Media Theory and Foundations of Media Design (both required courses in the MA program). This initiative lead to development of a course and a web site, Extreme Media Studies.org.

Community Work • for a number of years I have been enjoying my role as a member of the Advisory Panel for the Education Department (Carolyn Payson) of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum • the Cooper-Hewitt is part of the Smithsonian Institution and runs a broad spectrum of excellent learning programs including a Summer Design Institute held each summer in New York. While at Oxygen I produced on a pro-bono basis a 3-minute short video titled "Wall Paper That Moves" that uses the Museum's resources to follow the 300-year history of Wallpaper. • In early 2005 I joined the Advisory Board of The Opportunity Agenda, a new organization that will frame public debate and shape the political environment on fundamental views of opportunity and human rights in America.

Whats ahead: I am thinking about doing some more books in a Mediapedia trademarked line of publications. I would like to do something with Short Films, with Animation, with Sound Media and with Interactive Design. All that should keep me learning and teaching for quite awhile.

I enjoy speaking to groups and I hope to undertake a range of personal media projects along the lines of those you will find in the Gallery at Mediapedia.net.

SITE COLLABORATORS

Mediapedia.net had its start as MediaChops.com. My teaching notes became on-line information with a series of very gifted students showing me the way and being my patient teachers. I want to thank Marcie Rye at Parsons School of Design, who taught me html. Eduardo Garcia helped me digitize and build out the earliest versions of Design Chops. Eddie is a first rate designer in his own right. So is Kate Garufis, who was a Parson’s undergrad when she helped be design the first iteration of Media Chops, with its colorful little interface drawings (at right). Christine Warner provided much valued copy editing at the early stages, as the lexicon in the Design Chops section began to take shape. Vanessa Pappas and Jesse Epstein helped build-out the Photography and Photoshop sections.

Jamie Kruse played a huge role in helping me work out the layout in Design Chops that would eventually inform the layout of my book, Mediapedia. Jamie made important contributions to my understanding of Illustrator. Perri Chinalai came along as I got the publishing contract for Mediapedia. She was my go-to person for the full 12 months that the book was being researched, written and designed. Perri wrangled a thousand images – and all the permissions and releases that went with them. I could not have made the book nor this newest web site without her. Finally, I owe great thanks to Karl Mendonca. who joined me as a TA in my Producer’s course at the New School (Producers Chops site). Karl did the video recordings and then designed and built the Producer’s Bytes. But more important, he introduced me to Joomla!, the web-based authoring application in which Mediapedia.net has been built. Karl constructed the page templates while Perri designed a clean, simple layout.

As for the content (and errors) within Mediapedia.net, I must take full responsibility. Many of my teaching colleagues have contributed as have many of my student. I am grateful to them all and to the fun we have had doing the media.

I anticipate that the site will continue to grow both through my teaching and through contributions from my students and from site visitors who find their way here one way or another. I welcome them and, from all, see comments and suggestions.

Kit Laybourne, November 2008