Ben Bocquelet

Ben Bocquelet
Ben Bocquelet at Polymanga 2016
Born	Benjamin Bocquelet 27 June 1980 Paris, France
Residence	London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Animator, director, writer, producer
Years active	2003-present
Known for	The Hell's Kitchen The Amazing World of Gumball

Benjamin "Ben" Bocquelet (born 27 June 1980) is a French-British animator, director, writer, and producer. He is best known as the creator of The Amazing World of Gumball of which he also co-writes alongside James Lamont and Jon Foster. He was also the director of a short film called The Hell's Kitchen in 2003. When Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe was created in 2007, Ben Bocquelet was hired in order to help people pitch their projects to the network after dismissal of Nickelodeon and Jetix subdivisions of Europe. However, when the studio decided to have its employees all pitch their own ideas,^[1] he decided to take some of the rejected characters he had created for commercials and put them all in one series, with a school setting.^[2] Daniel Lennard, the Vice President of Original Series and Development at Turner Broadcasting UK,^[3] liked the idea and the series was ultimately greenlit.

The Amazing World of Gumball

After leaving Studio AKA, the creative director at Studio AKA encouraged Ben to join the new Cartoon Network studio in London. He helped other people pitch their ideas, and came up with his own idea while doing so. He pitched his idea to the producers. His idea was a show called Gumball about reject cartoon characters attending a remedial school, but producers felt this concept was too sad. He then revised this idea and made it more cheery, taking on the structure of a family sitcom. The producers liked this idea, and work went underway for what would become The Amazing World of Gumball. He named some characters after his relatives (Nicole, Richard, and Anais were named after his mother, father, and sister). The Wattersons themselves were named after Calvin and Hobbes creator, Bill Watterson.^[4]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	The Hell's Kitchen	Co-writer, co-director	Short film
2006	The Little Short-Sighted Snake	Designer[5]	Short film

Television

Show run	Project	Channel	Credited role	# of episodes
2011–present	The Amazing World of Gumball	Cartoon Network	Creator, Co-writer, Executive Producer	112 episodes

References

1. Kidscreen "Ready To Roll"
2. Toonzone "Toonzone Interviews "The Amazing World of Gumball" Creator Ben Bocquelet"
3. Animation Insider "Cartoon Network Europe Promotes Daniel Lennard"
4. Twitter "Post regarding Watterson name
5. Cartoon Brew "Article on The Little Short-Sighted Snake

External links

• Ben Bocquelet at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Bocquelet on Twitter