Television
June 4, 2008
Highly Respected Animation Executive And Producer Sam Register Named Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, At Warner Bros. Animation
(June 4, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – Highly respected veteran animation executive and producer Sam Register has been named Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, at Warner Bros. Animation, it was announced today by Warner Bros. Television President Peter Roth, who also oversees Warner Bros. Animation. Register will report to Roth.
In his new position, Register will spearhead creative efforts for the development and production of new programming and content for all distribution outlets, including traditional animated product for television and promotional use, as well as for KidsWB.com, the Studio’s premium, ad-supported destination built around youth-oriented, immersive entertainment. He will also work alongside Warner Premiere on the Studio’s animated direct-to-DVD releases.
“Sam is an enormously creative, talented producer and an outstanding executive. His energy and passion will be the guiding force as he shepherds the company on a day-to-day basis,” said Roth. “We are thrilled to have him in this new position and look forward to a very long and successful association.”
Register joined Warner Bros. Animation in November as a producer with a multi-property development and production deal. Previously, he was an animation executive and, later, producer at Cartoon Network for 10 years, where he developed hit animated series such as “Ben 10” and “Teen Titans,” and created “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.” During his tenure at Cartoon Network, he oversaw numerous successful program launches, reinvigorated the DC Comics animated universe, established powerful relationships with such companies as Lucasfilm, and helped grow www.cartoonnetwork.com from a small marketing portal to an exciting kids’ entertainment destination.
In 1995, Register joined Turner Broadcasting as Creative Director for San Francisco-based Turner New Media, guiding Turner¹s earliest explorations of online marketing and content opportunities. He then joined Colossal Pictures as Creative Director, where he strategized multi-platform marketing concepts for such clients as Coca-Cola, The Disney Channel, Microsoft and WebTV.
Register was then named Senior Vice President/Creative Director of Cartoon Network Online in 1997, where he strategized and mobilized a creative plan for the network’s Internet presence that immediately quadrupled traffic. During his tenure with Cartoon Network Online, Register creatively integrated classic characters into digital-age entertainment – populating the site with beloved animated icons from throughout the Time Warner library.
In 2001, he was named Senior Vice President of Development for Cartoon Network, where he built the West Coast development department from the ground up while deepening the network’s relationships with key partners including DC Comics, Hasbro, Lucasfilm and Mattel. Under his leadership, Cartoon Network reestablished its renowned shorts program, a creator-driven slate of 40 seven-minute pilots.
In 2003, he was named Senior Vice President of Original Animation and worked closely with Lucasfilm to create two seasons of Cartoon Network’s hit microseries “Star Wars: Clone Wars.” Working closely with Warner Bros. Animation, he oversaw three seasons of “Duck Dodgers,” two seasons of “Justice League Unlimited” and four seasons of the multiple-Emmy® Award-winning “The Batman,” a stylish new take on the Dark Knight. Building on the success of Warner Bros. Animation’s “Teen Titans,” which ran for six successful seasons and launched a massive wave of profitable tie-in merchandise, Register created his own Cartoon Network series with “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.”
He then delivered Cartoon Network’s first original action show for kids, “Ben 10,” of which he is the executive producer. Premiering in January 2006, the show ran for four seasons and spawned a live-action television feature adaptation, “Ben 10: Race Against Time,” which debuted in November 2007. A new series, “Ben 10: Alien Force,” premiered in April 2008.
Immediately prior to joining Warner Bros. Animation, Register served as executive producer of “Transformers Animated,” a new 2-D series from Cartoon Network and Hasbro, Inc. which premiered in December 2007.
About Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) has been producing award-winning original animation since 1930, when it released its first cartoon, Sinkin’ in the Bathtub. Since then, WBA’s characters have set the standard for innovative, quality animation. Producing for network and cable television, online, home entertainment and feature films both domestically and internationally, WBA is highly respected for its creative and technical excellence, as well as maintaining the studio’s rich cartoon heritage. WBA also oversees the creative use of, and production of animated programming based on, classic animated characters from the Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics libraries. WBA is one of the most honored animation studios in history, garnering a grand total of six Academy Awards®, 36 Emmy® Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, an Environmental Media Award, a Parents’ Choice Award, a Humanitas Award, five Prism Awards and 20 Annie Awards. # # #