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CHRISTIAN ROBINS

ANIMATOR

Christian is the Chief Creative Officer/Partner of 11 Dollar Bill Chicago/Boulder/LA and is a multiple-Emmy Award winning creative with over two decades of experience. He is responsible for the creative output and talent curation of all the 11 Dollar Bill offices. He has worked with numerous agencies and directly with global brands. He is multi-disciplined in the management and execution of all aspects of Production and Post-Production workflows.

 

Christian has a strong fine-arts background heavily tailored to Motion Graphics, Compositing and Visual Effects. Christian has directed and concepted numerous national and international campaigns for clients such as Manchester United, Red Bull, Wilson Sporting Goods, Adidas, Popsockets, Dish, Kit Kat, Jimmy Johns, Goose Island, Netflix, Vail Resorts, Dyson, Smartwool, Kraft, and Nescafé.

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DANIEL ALCHEH

COMPOSER

Daniel Alcheh is an award-winning, internationally-performed composer. A dual citizen of the United States and Israel, he has written for concert halls, films, TV shows and countless commercials. Along with producer Elliot Hunt, he owns the music and audio-post house, alcheh&hunt.

His film work began in 2001, when he was brought aboard as score producer for Dover Kosashvili's feature film Late Marriage, the highest-grossing Israeli film of the decade, one of Entertainment Weekly's Ten Best Films of 2002 and Newsweek's Top 15 Films of 2002. Among his recent scores are the Chinese 3D sci-fi feature Impossible, which stars several of the China’s biggest stars and opened on 20,000 screens, and The Trouble With Bliss, starring Michael C. Hall, Lucy Liu, Peter Fonda, Brie Larson and Chris Messina. The feature film’s score was released on the Sony Classical label. Daniel’s most recent project was assisting composer Christopher Lennertz with production and additional music on the upcoming Robert De Niro / Uma Thurman / Christopher Walken feature film comedy, The War With Grandpa.

In 2012, Alcheh was named Composer-in-Residence in the Concerti in San Martino festival in Switzerland where his commissioned Septet was performed. Other notable concert works are his virtuoso violin-solo piece, Nocturne and Aubade, chosen as the obligatory contemporary piece for competitors to perform at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, and his demanding Dying Pianos for piano duo and recorded sound, commissioned by The Israeli Piano Duo. Alcheh's concert music is published by IMC (Israeli Music Center), and he is currently working on several American and European concert commissions.

Alcheh completed both his Bachelor's and his Master's degrees in composition at the music academy at Tel-Aviv University, and was a visiting scholar to the Music Technology Department at Chicago's Northwestern University. He lives in Los Angeles with his daughter and his wife, author Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh.

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MATTHEW POLIS

SOUND DESIGN AND RE-RECORDING MIXER

An accomplished sound designer, mixer, and studio entrepreneur, Matthew Polis recently returned to Boulder after 20 years in New York City, and is the founder of boutique sound house, SoundSpace, where he has been sound designing and mixing films for nearly two decades. 

 

His combined story driven approach to sound design and technical mastery in the mix room has earned him respect amongst his peers in the indie film world with over 200 credits. In addition to his film, television, and commercial work, Matthew is also the post audio engineer for TED Conferences and served 7 years as an instructor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts developing and teaching film sound curriculum for both the sound department as well as the film production classes.

 

Since returning to Colorado, Matthew has followed a long-running dream of his to build a studio out West which is now proudly a one-of-a-kind audio facility for CO that delivers full 5.1 cinema mixing, foley work, sound design, and everything else in audio post working closely with directors to fully execute their vision.

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ED ASNER

NARRATOR

Yitzhak Edward "Ed" Asner is an American actor, voice actor and a former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Asner was born on November 15, 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri to Jewish Russian-born parents and was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home.

 

Asner is best known for his character Lou Grant, who was first introduced on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. In 1977, after the series, Asner's character was given his own show, Lou Grant (1977–82). In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore series, a thirty-minute comedy, the Lou Grant series was an hour-long award-winning drama about journalism. (For his role as Grant, Asner is one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award for a sitcom and a drama for the same role.)

 

Other television series starring Asner in regular roles include Thunder Alley, The Bronx Zoo and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also starred in one episode of the western series, Dead Man's Gun (1997), as well as portraying art smuggler August March in an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O (1975) and reprised the role in the Hawaii Five-O (2012) remake.

 

Asner was acclaimed for his role in the ABC miniseries Roots, as Captain Davies, the morally conflicted captain of the Lord Ligonier, the slave ship that brought Kunta Kinte to America. That role earned Asner an Emmy Award, as did the similarly dark role of Axel Jordache in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). In contrast, he played a former Pontiff in the lead role of Papa Giovanni: Ioannes XXIII (Pope John XXIII 2002), an Italian television film for RAI.

 

Asner has also had an extensive voice acting career. In 1987, he performed the role of the title character, George F. Babbitt, in the L.A. Classic Theatre Works' radio theatre production of Sinclair Lewis's novel Babbitt. He also provided the voices for Joshua on Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (1986) for Hanna-Barbera; J. Jonah Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man (1994–98); Hoggish Greedly on Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–95); Hudson on Gargoyles (1994–96); Jabba the Hutt on the radio version of Star Wars; Master Vrook from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel; Roland Daggett on Batman: The Animated Series (1992–94); Cosgrove on Freakazoid!; Ed Wuncler on The Boondocks (2005–14); and Granny Goodness in various DC Comics animated series. Asner also provided the voice of famed American orator Edward Everett in the 2015 documentary film The Gettysburg Address.

 

Asner provided the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the Academy Award-winning Pixar film Up (2009). He received great critical praise for the role, with one critic going so far as to suggest "They should create a new category for this year's Academy Award for Best Vocal Acting in an Animated Film and name Asner as the first recipient."

 

He has appeared in a recurring segment on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, entitled "Does This Impress Ed Asner?"

 

In 2001, Asner was the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

 

Asner has won more Emmy Awards for performing than any other male actor (seven, including five for the role of Lou Grant). In 1996, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

 

In 2010, Asner played the title role in "FDR", a stage production about the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt he has subsequently continued to tour the play throughout the country. He made an appearance in the independent comedy feature Not Another B Movie, and had a small but pivotal role as billionaire Warren Buffett in HBO's economy drama Too Big to Fail (2011).

 

In early 2011, Asner returned to television as butcher Hank Greziak in Working Class, the first original sitcom on cable channel CMT. He starred in the Canadian television series Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays, on CBC Television and has appeared in the 2013 television series The Glades. Asner has most recently starred as Guy Redmayne, a wealthy, homophobic billionaire who supports Alicia Florick's campaign in the sixth season of The Good Wife.

 

Ed Asner is on the Entertainment Board of Directors for The Survivor Mitzvah Project (www.survivormitzvah.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing direct emergency aid to elderly and impoverished Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.

 

He serves as an advisor to the Rosenberg Fund for Children, an organization founded by the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, which provides benefits for the children of political activists, and as a board member for the wildlife conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife. Asner also sits on the advisory board for Exceptional Minds, a nonprofit school and a computer animation studio for young adults on the autism spectrum.

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FERNANDO ALLENDE

SPANISH NARRATOR, LA PEQUEÑA TORA TÁTUADA

One of the most recognizable faces in Hispanic television and film, Fernando is credited with being one of the first actors of his generation to cross-over and make the transition from Latin America to Hollywood.

Allende has starred in more than 32 motion pictures along with iconic TV shows such as Miami Vice, Flamingo Road, The Hitchhiker, and Hart to Hart. Recently, Allende starred in the primetime global hit, Muchacha Italiana Viene a Casarse, which aired daily on Univision.

Before the pull for Hollywood proved irresistible, he starred in numerous telenovelas with Televisa. He also had a dozen best selling records, variety specials, and won the Hispanic equivalent of the Academy Award® and EMMY® in the same year. As a singer Allende has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Madison Square Garden.

As an artist he has over 70 paintings displayed across the world, from Mexico to Italy. His paintings have been shown at the Florence Biennale and the Jumex Museum, and are a part of numerous private collections.

In recent years, Allende has had the opportunity of hosting events such as Miss World competition from China to 150 countries, the Latin version of Star Search, Buscando Estrellas, and has appeared on the Latin version of Dancing With the Stars, Bailando por Un Sueno.

He has received the Certificate of Congressional Recognition by US House of Representatives, ACE Lifetime Achievement Award, Harlequin Lifetime Achievement Award, Mexican Radio Association Lifetime Achievement Award, Premio Telenovela, Acapulco International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, Ambassador in Perpetuity to all Mexican Mariachi Musicians Worldwide and the Governor’s Award in Puerto Rico.

 

THE TEAM

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MARC BENNETT

DIRECTOR, CO-SCREENWRITER

Marc Bennett has spent his life creating powerful images and stories in print and on film. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Bennett received his education at The Brooklyn Museum Art School, The School of Visual Arts in New York City, and Otis Parsons and Art Center in Los Angeles. He got his start designing sets for theatrical, musical and operatic productions in New York and Los Angeles, and is a two-time recipient of the Dramalogue Critics Award for Best Scenic Design.

 

As an artist and photographer, his work has been shown in exhibitions throughout the United States, and is a part of many private collections. He is a recipient of the Art of California Magazine’s “Discovery Award” and the Stamford Art Association’s “Color Award,” and his artwork has been used in campaigns to raise money and awareness for numerous organizations and charities such as Aids Project Los Angeles, Cancervive, the Grammys’ MusiCares, Free Arts for Children, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Aspen Center for Integral Health, the Anti-Defamation League, Hadassah, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance.

 

Bennett has formed a unique artistic and philanthropic partnership with Soroka Medical Center, Israel’s most vital medical institution in the Negev, where a monumental version of his artwork, The History of the Star of David is being installed and a percentage of all worldwide art sales from the project will go to support Soroka’s life-saving mission. As the national airline of Israel, EL AL has become the corporate partner for the project.

 

His artwork is a part of the public collections of Yad Vashem, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, the California Afro-American Museum, the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation, Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, Aspen Jewish Community Center, the Jona Goldrich Center for Digital Story Telling at USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, and the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center & Museum in South Florida.

 

For Peace Sake!, an artwork he created in conjunction with R&B Live and Athletes & Entertainers for Kids after the Los Angeles riots, became part of a successful fundraising and public awareness campaign throughout the city. The piece served as a powerful reminder to maintain peace, safety and equality in our lives and raised funds for numerous organizations aiding in the revitalization of Los Angeles. The artwork was presented to Mayor Bradley in a special ceremony commemorating his outstanding work in the community. Lithographs of the artwork have been selling at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles for over 25 years.

 

Bennett was the creative director for the music television network The Tube, and was instrumental in creating the branding of the network, as well as designing, producing, and directing many of the network’s commercials and promos. While there, he also produced the documentary Bridge to Havana which followed an inspiring musical event in Cuba and was shot by Haskell Wexler and starred Gladys Knight, Bonnie Raitt, Mick Fleetwood and some of Cuba's most renowned musicians.

 

As a director, he has helmed feature films, documentaries, music videos, and national commercials. His credits include the feature film Should’ve Been Romeo starring an eclectic ensemble cast including Carol Kane, Ed Asner, Michael Rapaport, Mary McCormack, Natasha Henstridge, Evan Handler, Kelly Osborne, and Paul Ben-Victor, the short films From Fairfax with Love and Mother's Day, the documentaries Life Matters, A Journey of Hope and Survival, the award-winning Hot Flash Havoc, narrated by Goldie Hawn and The Beach Boys 50 which stars five of the original Beach Boys including Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Also, a serendipitous interview he directed with O.J. and Nicole Simpson two weeks before the infamous crime is featured in the Academy Award-winning documentary, O.J.: Made in America.

 

He has just completed directing the animated short film The Tattooed Torah, based on the renowned children’s book, with Ed Asner providing the voice of the main character. The film is a coproduction of the Goldrich Family Foundation and USC Shoah Foundation. The Spanish version of the film, La Pequeña Torá Tatuada, has just been completed as well, with Latin star Fernando Allende providing the voice. Bennett is currently directing the feature-length documentary, Ride for the Living, which tells the inspirational story an annual bike ride that re-traces the steps of a young Polish holocaust survivor from Auschwitz to Krakow in 1945, and explores whether the power of empathy might actually be harnessed to face down the way perpetrators of genocide have marshaled fear, ignorance, bigotry, and anti-Semitism. He is an associate producer on the new documentary Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance, which examines the relationship between the African-American and Jewish communities during the Civil Rights era.

 

Among his many commercial credits are the spots he did for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which promoted a major retrospective for artist Keith Haring and won the World Medal at the New York Festival’s Television Advertising Awards.

 

Marc Bennett is committed to art and film as visual languages that can entertain, inspire, educate and enlighten, as well as be vehicles for positive change and philanthropy worldwide.

 

He is a member of the Directors Guild of America.

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LISA EFFRESS

PRODUCER

Ask any of Lisa’s clients or associates to describe her contributions to their work and the words “Energetic,” “Passionate,” “Collaborative” and “Resourceful” will top the list.

 

After graduating from the Hollywood Film Institute in 1994, Lisa began her career as a 2nd AD in primetime television. But soon she was drawn back to her roots in Minneapolis and took a job as Agency Producer at Peterson Milla Hooks where she produced all the TV and radio content for the original “Sign of the Times” campaign for Target, as well as other campaigns for Radisson Hotels Worldwide, United Way and Land O’ Lakes.

 

After an exhaustive seven years there, Lisa answered the call of the ocean and returned to Los Angeles in 2006 to join forces with TBWA/Chiat Day. During her four-year tenure there, she launched Gatorade’s “G” campaign, working with award-winning directors such as Spike Lee, Lance Acord, Joe Pytka and Armando Bo. She also helped teams deliver groundbreaking work for Visa, Playstation and Nissan, managing production budgets ranging from 20,000 to 3 million dollars.

 

In 2009, Lisa was recruited by Agency of the Decade, Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Boulder to launch a new holiday campaign for GAP, which resulted in record-breaking sales. As Executive Producer at CP+B, Lisa also helped launch the new Windows Phone campaign directed by Stacy Wall and high profile campaigns for Kraft Mac & Cheese, Arby’s, Burger King and American Express.

 

After recognizing the surge of other creative shops in Boulder, Lisa launched her freelance career in the summer of 2013 during which she has produced highly successful work for Annie’s, Burt’s Bees, Church’s Chicken, Al Gore’s “The Climate Reality Project,” Arizona Jeans, MiO, Lemonheads and JC Penney.

 

In early 2016, Lisa was approached by Intel Corporation’s Agency Inside to create a mentorship program for film students and take on the role of Executive Producer of Mentorship. For nearly nine months, Lisa built the program from the ground up and hand-picked teams of students to come and work at Intel under her mentorship. While there, she led her students to produce meaningful content showcasing the intersection of Intel technology and the human experience, and was an integral part of Ad Age naming the Agency Inside 2016’s In-House Agency of the Year.

 

In addition to producing, Lisa is currently the Managing Partner of the full-service, award-winning post production facility 11 Dollar Bill with offices in LA, Chicago and Boulder.

 

Lisa’s diverse set of skills includes not only production but business affairs, talent negotiations and third-party asset licensing for TV, digital, out-of-home, print and experiential work for global brands and their agencies.

 

When not producing, she spends every available minute with her husband and eight-year-old daughter skiing, hiking, antiquing, exploring and listening to music. They also bring their dog, Archie, along with them whenever possible. 

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EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

BETH KOPIN

Beth Kopin is an award-winning interior architect and designer who commutes regularly between Chicago and Israel, living and working in both cities. She has projects in Chicago, Miami, Jerusalem and Rosh Ha’Ayin. Beth’s work has appeared in multiple publications including the Jerusalem Post, Chicago Tribune, and Miami Home and Decor.

 

Beth is also involved in the American Jewish world. She served as president of the Keshet Auxiliary Board in Chicago, and the JUF Young Women’s Board. She and her husband, Jeff Kopin, were honored in 2010 at the Solomon Schechter Day School’s Annual Campaign Dinner for establishing the Ginsburg Solomon Schechter Early Childhood Center, named after her late parents, Marvell and Stanley Ginsburg.

 

Beth also served on the Camp Ramah in Wisconsin board for 25 years and was a key member on the design team responsible for all new construction for the camp. She designed the staff lounge, named after her late father-in-law, and influenced the design of the new dining hall. Beth is also currently active in Camp Ramah International, and was instrumental in launching Ramahdate, an online dating platform for Ramah alumni worldwide. Beth’s husband is the current national president of the Camp Ramah network.

 

“This project is very close to my heart. My mother, Marvell Ginsburg, wrote The Tattooed Torah in 1983, right before my children were born, and I saw the wonderful impact the book had as an educational tool for them and their peers regarding the Holocaust. It has always been my dream to make this into an animated film. Nothing makes me happier than to work with my son, Brett, the co-screenwriter, and turn this into a three-generation project. I hope through the film, we can continue the work to educate a new generation of children around the world about the Holocaust and Jewish continuity."

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GREG FERKEL

WRITER - STORY

Greg Ferkel is a film and television writer who has worked with companies such as Gary Sanchez, Infinitum Nihil, Intrepid Pictures, and Gold Circle Films. He co-wrote (with Karen Leigh Hopkins) the web series Designated Driver for Sony/Crackle, which starred Thomas Middleditch and Eva Amurri and was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. He co-wrote (with Paul Ben-Victor) the independent feature Should've Been Romeo, which starred Ed Asner and Carol Kane, and was spotlighted at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

 

Greg wrote the feature script Owen's Manual, which made the industry’s Black List of best unproduced screenplays, and is being developed as a television series by CBS Studios. Greg is also the co-creator and co-writer (with John Stalberg, Jr.) of the animated TV series King of Mars, which has David Spade, Kate Hudson, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn attached to star, with Bento Box Entertainment and Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson and Wyatt Russell producing.

 

Greg is a member of the Writer's Guild of America, a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School, and believes strongly in the power and importance of storytelling to educate children and people of all ages around the world about the Holocaust and the deep relevance of its lessons for today's world.

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BRETT KOPIN

CO-SCREENWRITER

Brett Kopin is a Chicago native, and grew up at Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago, home of the original Tattooed Torah. He spent his undergraduate career at Washington University in St. Louis studying English Literature and Creative Writing.

 

After college, Brett worked in Chicago at the iCenter for Israel Education, where he revised and developed his grandmother, Marvell Ginsburg’s (author of The Tattooed Torah) curriculum guide, Teaching Holidays to Young Jewish Children, originally written in 1970.

 

He has also worked on pieces for Forbes, TIME, Huffington Post, and Commentary Magazine. Brett and his grandmother were very close, and before she passed she told him she wanted to write a story with him. The experience of working on the screenplay for the film adaptation of The Tattooed Torah feels like the fulfillment of that wish. Brett is currently a co-writer on the feature-length documentary, Ride for the Living, which tells the inspirational story of an annual bike ride that re-traces the steps of a young Polish Holocaust survivor from Auschwitz to Krakow in 1945.

 

He is currently studying to become a rabbi at American Jewish University’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles.

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MARTIN LEMELMAN

ILLUSTRATOR

The child of Holocaust survivors, Martin Lemelman was raised in the back of a Brooklyn candy store.

 
His graphic memoir, Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood (Bloomsbury USA) is about that experience. It was selected as one of the best memoirs of the year by Kirkus Reviews. It was also included in Comic Book Resources’ list of the top 100 comics of the year. The Boston Globe commented “Lemelman’s viewpoint is affectionate but not gauzy… The book tracks the transformation of the neighborhood from a kind of shtetl to one of uneasy racial mix. This is literary territory familiar to fans of Mordecai Richler and Saul Bellow; what Lemelman brings to it is artistry featuring a fine eye for detail, penmanship nuanced but never watery, and a stylistic fearlessness that can stuff pop art tropes, photography, and naturalism onto the same page.”

 

His first graphic memoir, Mendel’s Daughter (Free Press/ Simon & Schuster) is the story of Jewish family life in Poland in the 1930’s and his mother’s miraculous survival in the Holocaust. Entertainment Weekly ranked Mendel’s Daughter number eight in their 10 Greatest Graphic Novels.  The book was also selected as an Austin Chronicle pick for Best Books of 2006 and was a New York Public Library Selection - “Books For The Teen Age 2007.”  Jonathan Cape/Random House has released an edition in the United Kingdom. In addition, there are French, Spanish and Polish editions. Original art from the book is in the permanent collection of the Memorial de la Shoah in Paris and the Muzeum Historii Å»ydów Polskich POLIN, the Jewish Museum of Poland located in Warsaw.


He has been a freelance illustrator since 1976. His client list includes McGraw/Hill, Children's Television Workshop, Scholastic Children’s Publications, Parent's Magazine, Crayola Crayons and the Jewish Publication Society, amongst others. He has illustrated over 30 children's books including The Tattooed Torah, and his work has been published in magazines ranging from the New York Times Book Review to Sesame Street Magazine.

 

Martin is a retired professor from the Communication Design Department at Kutztown University.

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JEFFREY PITTLE

ANIMATOR

Jeffrey Pittle is a Senior Art /Creative Director with 20+ combined years of hands-on and executive-level experience guiding the development and execution of motion graphics, special effects and 2D/3D animation projects for brand identity and entertainment clients.

 

He established his award-winning creative consultancy, Pittleworks, Inc. to specialize in the development and production of quality, story-driven animation projects, building a roster of 200+ multi-contract television/film clients such as Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon. Under this banner, he and his team guide concept-to-completion execution of TV show opens, bumpers, channel IDs, motion graphics, promos and film titles utilizing cutting-edge motion graphics technology and production techniques.

 

In recent years, Jeffrey has helped develop many entertainment properties, including feature film promo work for Pirates Of The Caribbean, Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, Green Lantern, Rango, Kick Ass and others. His national television work includes Miss America, Deal Or No Deal, Dance War, Inside Edition, Dr. Phil, Spike TV and many more.

 

Pittle’s animation experience includes bringing the Animalations children’s book series to life, as well as traditional animation experience at The Walt Disney Company, and for clients such as The MGM/Mirage family of companies, The Nevada Tourism Board and The Spa Resort and Casino in Palm Springs, The Venetian Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas, and many others.

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