Butch Hartman

Butch Hartman
Hartman at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.
Born	Elmer Earl Hartman IV January 10, 1965 Highland Park, Michigan, US
Residence	Bell Canyon, California
Occupation	Animator, producer, writer, voice actor, director, illustrator
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Julieann Hartman
Children	2

Elmer Earl "Butch" Hartman IV (born January 10, 1965) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, illustrator and actor, best known for creating the Nickelodeon shows; The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, and T.U.F.F. Puppy. Hartman also owns his own production company; Billionfold, Inc. for which he uses primarily to produce his shows. Hartman remains an executive producer on Fairly OddParents ever since its debut in 2001.

Early life

Hartman was born in Highland Park, Michigan on January 10th, 1965 to Elmer Earl Hartman III and Carol Davis. He received the nickname "Butch" as a young boy and continued to use the name professionally as an adult. Hartman spent his childhood in Roseville, Michigan and his teen years in New Baltimore, Michigan. He graduated from Anchor Bay High School in New Baltimore in 1983. He subsequently attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.^[1]

Career

Early career

While still attending CalArts, Hartman received the chance to intern as an in-between animator on the Don Bluth film; An American Tail. Shortly after graduating from CalArts, Hartman was hired as a character designer and storyboard artist for an unidentified My Little Pony animated series. It was the first time he had worked with storyboards before, and because of this, he was soon fired from the job.^[2] Afterwards, Hartman found work with Ruby-Spears, where he worked on It's Punky Brewster and Dink, the Little Dinosaur. He was also a member of the video reference crew for the Disney film; Pocahontas.

In the early 1990s he was hired as an artist in the model department at Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually contacted by studio president Fred Seibert to make the shorts Pfish and Chip and Gramps for the What a Cartoon! Show. Eventually, he became a writer, director and storyboard artist for several of the early Cartoon Network shows; including Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and I Am Weasel. After his contract with Hanna-Barbera expired, he went to work with Seibert on the Oh Yeah! Cartoons show for Nickelodeon.

During his time working at Hanna-Barbera, he became friends with future Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. The two would later go onto to make the short; Zoomates together for Oh Yeah! Cartoons. The character; Dr. Elmer Hartman in Family Guy was named after Hartman. He also voiced various characters in the show's first few seasons.

The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy

His biggest success came in 1997, when he created The Fairly OddParents. The series originally started out as a series shorts on the anthology show, Oh Yeah! Cartoons. In 2001, Nickelodeon decided to pick the shorts up as a full series. The adapted series ended up becoming a huge hit, second only in the ratings to SpongeBob SquarePants (and it briefly even passed SpongeBob's ratings). Following the Jimmy Neutron crossover The Timmy-Jimmy Power Hour, the series ceased production in 2006, but it was announced on Hartman's forum on February 2, 2007 that 20 more episodes would be produced; the 6th season of Fairly OddParents aired on February 18, 2008, starting with the 1-hour special Fairly OddBaby. From May 1, 2009 to May 3, 2009, the 3 part special Wishology aired; although that too was originally intended as a series finale, the series was renewed for another season, and new episodes continue to be produced to this day. A tenth season was eventually ordered in 2015.^[3] Fairly OddParents is Nickelodeon's third longest running animated show behind SpongeBob and Rugrats.

Due to the success of The Fairly OddParents, Hartman was asked to create another show for Nickelodeon, Hartman says the President of Nickelodeon asked him if he had an idea, and before he could say the title he was given the greenlight. The show would later become Danny Phantom.^[4] To produce the show, in 2004, Hartman founded Billionfold Inc., which he also used, and still uses today, to produce his other projects. Danny Phantom received critical acclaim and is considered Hartman's best show, with Hartman himself acknowledging it is perhaps the best of his programs. Danny Phantom ended production in 2007, however, Hartman has stated that he would be interested in doing a revival for the show if Nickelodeon asked him to.

Around 2008-2009, Hartman began production his third show for Nickelodeon, T.U.F.F. Puppy, which premiered in 2010 alongside the Jimmy Neutron spinoff; Planet Sheen.^[5] The series received mixed reviews and ran for 3 seasons before being cancelled.

Doogal

Hartman was asked to serve as executive producer and screenwriter of Doogal, the Americanized dub of the British/French animated film The Magic Roundabout. Under his own assumption that the movie itself was lacking, Hartman proposed that in addition to dubbing, extra scenes be filmed in live action to fill up empty spaces in the story. While the idea was originally received with praise and was essentially given the okay, budgeting was pulled from it at the last minute and the only changes made were in the dubbing.

The film was then dubbed by The Weinstein Company, and was released on February 24, 2006. Doogal was poorly received by critics, and did poorly in the box-office, grossing $7 million and getting 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[6]

Other works

His other TV work includes voicing various characters on the animated series Family Guy and playing the character Sean Masters on the short-lived series Generations in 1991. He also appeared on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives during the late 1980s. In 2012, it was announced that Hartman was set to serve as the director on the film adaptation of ALF for Sony Pictures Animation.

In 2015, Hartman launched a "kid safe network (app) of live shows and cartoons" called the Noog Network.^[7][8]

Personal life

Hartman currently lives in Bell Canyon, California, with his wife, Julieann, and daughters, Carly and Sophia. Hartman is a Christian.

In 2005, Hartman, along with his wife founded Hartman House, a non-profit organization that travels to developing nations and some of the most poverty stricken areas in the United States.^[9] Hartman House has built two homes for families in Guatemala, fed nearly 7200 families with Thanksgiving meals in the U.S., and is in the midst of funding a school in Africa. At Hartman House events, Hartman usually draws and autographs things related to his work for children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	An American Tail		in between artist
1992	California Hot Wax	Eddie
1995	Pocahontas		video reference cast
1997	Annabelle's Wish		storyboard artist Direct-to-video film
1998	Adventures in Odyssey: Baby Daze		storyboard artist
	Adventures in Odyssey: A Stranger Among Us		storyboard artist
2004	Channel Chasers		animator for "Channel 297" scene
2005	The Magic Roundabout		writer: United States screenplay
2011	A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!	Waiter	writer: series and characters
2012	A Fairly Odd Christmas	Christmas caroler	writer: series and characters
2014	A Fairly Odd Summer		writer: series and characters

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985–1986	It's Punky Brewster		models
1987	Growing Pains	Robert Jordan	Episode 3.5: "Michaelgate"
1988	Just the Ten of Us	Rod Grossman	Episode 1.4: "Close Encounters"
	Police Academy		models
1988–1989	Days of Our Lives	Henry Jake
1989	Dink, the Little Dinosaur		storyboard artist
1990	Piggsburg Pigs!		key model designer
1991–1993	Tom & Jerry Kids		character designer
1993	Droopy, Master Detective		designer
1995	The Cartoon Cartoon Show		creator: "Pfish & Chip" and "Gramps"
1996–1997	Dexter's Laboratory		storyboard artist/background designer/layout artist
1997–1999	Johnny Bravo		writer/director
1997	Cow & Chicken		models/storyboard artist
1997	I Am Weasel		models/storyboard artist
1998–2001	Oh Yeah! Cartoons		creator: "The Fairly OddParents" and "Dan Danger", director/storyboard artist: "Zoomates"
1999–2002	Family Guy	additional voices
2001–present	The Fairly OddParents	Dr. Rip Studwell	creator/executive producer
2003	Pet Star	Judge	Episode 1.11
2004–2007	Danny Phantom		creator/executive producer
2010–2015	T.U.F.F. Puppy	Agent Weaselman Agent Rodentski	creator/executive producer
2013	Big Time Rush		guest star, guest animator on Big Time Christmas
2013	Jinxed		additional artist
TBA	Bunsen Is a Beast!		creator/executive producer

References

1. "'Fairly OddParents' is not just for kids". The Augusta Chronicle. February 12, 2004. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
2. Fletcher, Alex (September 7, 2012). "TUFF Puppy' Butch Hartman interview: 'I want Charlie Sheen character". Digital Spy. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
3. "‘The Fairly OddParents’ Is Getting A New Character — And A Tenth Season" MTV.com
4. Ball, Ryan (April 8, 2004). "Butch Hartman Talks Danny Phantom". Animation Magazine. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
5. Lloyd, Robert (October 2, 2010). "Television reviews: 'T.U.F.F. Puppy' and 'Planet Sheen'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
7. "Animator Butch Hartman Launches the NOOG NETWORK | Strange Kids Club". Retrieved 2016-03-30.
8. "Butch Hartman Launches Noog App". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
9. White, Stefanie (November 24, 2006). "Nickelodeon cartoon creator Butch Hartman visits McKinney". McKinney Courier-Gazette Star. Retrieved November 11, 2012.

External links

• Butch Hartman on Facebook
• Butch Hartman at the Internet Movie Database
• Hartman House Foundation