Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood, Santa Monica Tuesday, June 12th Digital Production World at Digital Hollywood 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM Session B: Unimagined Realities - Short Form Innovative Programming - Live Action, Animation - 2D - 3D & Flash Evan Spiridellis, co-founder and "Head Art Guy", JibJab Media Inc. Lou Wallach, Senior Vice President, Original Programming and Development - East Coast, COMEDY CENTRAL John Evershed, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mondo Media Josh Faure-Brac, Creator and Director of SuperNews, Current.tv Drew Reifenberger, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Super Deluxe, Turner Broadcasting Markus Almer, President and co-founder, Almer/Blank Jason Marks, VP, Programming and Development, Heavy.com Aaron Simpson, founder, Cold Hard Flash, Moderator Evan Spiridellis co-founded JibJab Media Inc. with his brother Gregg in 1999 and has developed a reputation as a creative pioneer in digital entertainment. In 2004, his ground breaking mixed media style helped spark an international sensation with the release of JibJab’s election parody, "This Land." The two minute short and its follow up, "Good To Be In DC!" were viewed more than eighty million times on every continent, including Antarctica. NASA even contacted the brothers for permission to send a copy of the animation to the International Space Station! Evan has appeared on the "Today Show," "The Tonight Show," "CBS Early Morning," "NBC Nightly News," CNN, FOX News, CNBC and MSNBC. He has also been featured in articles in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and Time. In December 2004, the late Peter Jennings named Evan and his brother "People of the Year." Prior to JibJab, Evan was an accomplished independent animator living and working in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with high honors from Parson’s School of Design in 1996 with a BFA in Illustration. Lou Wallach, Senior Vice President, Original Programming and Development - East Coast, COMEDY CENTRAL: Lou Wallach is senior vice president, original programming and development, COMEDY CENTRAL and is responsible for the development and supervision of original programming for the network on the east coast. In addition to series development, Wallach also oversees production of the network's extensive stand-up franchises ("COMEDY CENTRAL Presents," "Premium Blend," the one hour stand-up specials, among others). Wallach spearheads the development and production of original content for the network's programming expansion into new digital platforms such as Comedy Central's Motherload and cell phones as well. Wallach joined COMEDY CENTRAL in 2000 as vice president, original programming and development. During his tenure, he has been instrumental in developing such highly-regarded projects as "Chappelle's Show," "Insomniac with Dave Attell," and "Crank Yankers." He has also been a key player in developing and supervising production of many others shows including "The Colbert Report," "TV Funhouse" and the soon to launch animated series "Freak Show" and special "Legends: Rodney Dangerfield." Prior to joining the network, Wallach was director, creative affairs at Fox Television Studios in Los Angeles where he was responsible for the development and production of series programming for a variety of genres, including comedy, drama, reality, game, and talk. Before that he was manager of comedy development at CBS Entertainment and earlier had stints in the primetime series area at NBC Entertainment and at the William Morris Agency in the television packaging department. Wallach holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Northwestern University. John Evershed – CEO Mondo Media. Co-founded Mondo Media with Deirdre O’Malley in 1988. One of the oldest “new media” companies, Mondo has remained on the front lines of the constantly evolving intersection of entertainment and technology. Today Evershed oversees the strategy and business development for Mondo Mini Shows, a virtual animation channel targeted at teens and young adults. Featuring the hit series Happy Tree Friends, the Mondo Mini Shows Channel is available as an ad supported web site, Podcast and Mobile WAP Channel. Mondo Mini Shows shorts have been viewed over a half billion times since its launch in 2000. With no spoken dialog, its anchor series Happy Tree Friends has evolved into an international franchise that includes a TV series, mobile property, line of DVDs, merchandise and upcoming videogame from Sega. Mondo Media is a venture backed company based in San Francisco, CA. Markus Almer is president and co-founder of Almer/Blank, an interactive media agency in Venice, California. He helps clients like ClearChannel, E! Entertainment Television, IKEA, and Apple identify business opportunities and develop rich digital experiences to improve customer experiences, and Marketing-ROI. Markus is also co-founder of the Rich Media Institute in Los Angeles, which provides training, research and community services to Digital Media professionals. He speaks frequently on events and conferences from the American Marketing Association and Digital Hollywood. Markus began his career in digital media in 1998 by introducing patented multimedia card technology to the United States and over the past 8 years, he has gained extensive experience in interactive marketing and rich media applications. Markus earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Zurich. He grew up in Switzerland and has lived in Southern California since 1998. Drew Reifenberger is senior vice president and general manager of SUPER DELUXE, Turner Broadcasting’s broadband network featuring high-quality, exclusive, originally produced comedy combined with interactive online-community tools. He is based in Atlanta and reports to Stuart Snyder, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Turner Broadcasting’s Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media division. Prior to heading up SUPER DELUXE, Reifenberger served as executive vice president of Turner Sports Program Planning, Acquisitions and Interactive. In this capacity, Reifenberger oversaw all business planning, rights negotiations and sports programming development across all television and new media platforms. In addition, Reifenberger oversaw Turner Sports’ highly successful Interactive group, which includes NASCAR.com and PGA.com. The group was created to develop new interactive media companies in partnership with major sports intellectual property owners. Previously, Reifenberger was senior vice president of Global Client Solutions, where he focused on maximizing the value of the Time Warner portfolio of assets by leveraging its relevant media to deliver successful media and marketing solutions to world-class clients. Working beyond the traditional sales model and developing larger, strategic partnerships, Reifenberger was responsible for the largest transaction with a single client as well as the deal with the most Time Warner properties represented in a single transaction, in the history of Time Warner. Reifenberger began his tenure with Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. in the Turner Sports division. As vice president of sports marketing, Reifenberger was responsible for managing the marketing, business development, special events, sales support and cross utilization of company assets between the Turner Networks and Turner Sports partners. In addition, Reifenberger coordinated the company’s successful bid to acquire the Atlanta Thrashers, the NHL’s 28th franchise. Reifenberger joined Turner Sports in 1990 as director of sports marketing. Before joining Turner Sports, Reifenberger worked in The Strategic Group where he served as account supervisor and head of the golf and event management divisions. For the five years prior to joining The Strategic Group, he was involved in developing and executing marketing programs for the Coca-Cola Company in international sports and events. Jason Marks recently took a position at Heavy Networks as Vice President of Programming & Development, creating online video for a true veteran of the medium, Heavy.com. This new challenge came after bringing MTV.com into the content era with the groundbreaking video platform, Overdrive. Combining hit-based television programming with viral short form video and by-appointment live events, Jason was the Creative Director behind The Stew, MyVMAs, Laguna Beach: The After Show, My Movie Awards, The Woodies and TRL Behind the Scenes, to name a few. He also oversaw all custom ad creative across the site for clients like, McDonald’s, Nike, Pepsi, and Saturn. He acquired his digital advertising experience at R/GA, where working as a member of the Core Team, he was responsible for an impressive body of work for the Nike Brand sites, bringing home several cubes, pencils, arrows, and lions. Jason lives and works in New York City. Aaron Simpson is the Founder of Cold Hard Flash (coldhardflash.com), a popular news and entertainment site focusing on the rapidly expanding universe of Flash animation. Simpson is an Emmy-nominated Producer of "Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island," a Flash-animated series that aired on Kids'WB! in 2005. In addition, at Warner Bros., he produced over a dozen development shorts and developed "Johnny Test" for the 2005-2006 season. Prior to Warner Bros., Simpson was Senior Producer of Original Content at Sony, where he helped architect a forward-thinking entertainment portal, Screenblast. Also, in 2006 and 2007, Simpson held the title of Vice President, Animation & Development at JibJab Media. In 2005, Aaron was a judge at KOCCA's Star Project Awards in Seoul, and he has presented at SXSW, Flashforward and FITC Hollywood. In September 2006, he was featured in the Flash Tenth Anniversary online video presentation at adobe.com.