Michael Sporn

Michael Sporn (born 23 April 1946) is an American animator who founded his New York-based company, Michael Sporn Animation in 1980, and has produced and directed numerous animated TV specials and short spots.

Career

Sporn has produced and directed more than 30 half-hour specials for broadcast outlets HBO, PBS, Showtime and CBS. He's created spots & shorts for Sesame Street, PBS stations such as WGBH, Scholastic, syndicated public service announcements such as those featuring Sport Billy and for UNICEF, and also music videos, documentary and film titles and inserts, commercial logos for Random House, industrial spots for companies like Goodyear.

He has produced and directed more than 15 short films including many for Weston Woods, a company that faithfully animates children's books. Most famous of these was adapted from the William Steig children's book, the Oscar nominated, Doctor DeSoto which in 1984 received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Also in 1984, Sporn received the CINE Golden Eagle Award in Education for directing the film adaptation of this book. ^[1]

Sporn has worked with many celebrities including Madonna, Christopher Reeve, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Plummer, Billy Crystal, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Eli Wallach and many others.

Many of the films Sporn has produced, directed or animated contain socially committed TV messages. Films such as Whitewash, short films like "Champagne" and HBO Musical Storybooks such as The Marzipan Pig, The Red Shoes fall into this category. Others such as Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel and Santa Bear's First Christmas are pure entertainment.

He recently completed a new show for HBO entitled, "I Can Be President." It focuses on the dreams and aspirations of children who want to be the President of the United States.

Sporn is currently working on Poe, an animated feature film based on the life of Edgar Allan Poe. [1] It is due for release in 2012.

Awards and honors

The company's productions have received many and various awards, including a few Emmy Awards, and even one Academy Award nomination, as well as several Cable ACE Awards among others. One such winner was the short film The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. (Heartland Film Festival 2005, "Crystal Heart Award"; Ottawa International Animation Festival, 2006, "Best Short Animation Made for Children").

Splog

His Blog [2] ne "Splog" has taken on its own notoriety as a stopping place for animators and film professionals. Many and varied bits of animation art and history are mixed with candid opinion.

References

1. ^ "cine.org". http://www.cine.org/archives/winner-archives/pdfs/1984-CINE-Winner-Directory.pdf. Retrieved 2010-10-20. 

External links

• Home Page
• Blog
• Michael Sporn Animation filmography
• Company Profile
• Michael Sporn at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Sporn Animation Inc. (us) at Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Sporn, Michael
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Date of birth	23 April 1946
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