Butch Hartman

For the racer, see Butch Hartman (racer).

Butch Hartman
Hartman at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.
Born	Elmer Earl Hartman IV January 10, 1965 (1965-01-10) Highland Park, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Animator, executive producer, television producer, animation director, storyboard artist, voice actor, voice director
Years active	1986–present
Spouse	Julieann Hartman
Website
http://www.butchhartman.com

Elmer Earl "Butch" Hartman IV (born January 10, 1965) is an American animator, executive producer, animation director, storyboard artist, voice actor, occasional singer, producer, and creator of the animated series The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy. He heads a production company known as Billionfold, Inc., which produces the three aforementioned programs.

Childhood

Hartman was born in Highland Park, Michigan to Elmer Earl Hartman III and Carol Davis. He received the nickname "Butch" as a youth and continues 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.

Early career

While still attending the California Institute of the Arts, Hartman received the chance to intern as an in-between animator on the Don Bluth film, An American Tail. Shortly after graduating for the California Institute of the Arts Hartman was hired as a character designer for the animated series My Little Pony. Instead, they had him working on storyboards (which he had not done before) and as quickly as he was hired, he was fired. Soon after Hartman found work with Ruby-Spears, where he worked on It's Punky Brewster and Dink, the Little Dinosaur. He was also a video reference crew for the Disney movie, Pocahontas. Later, he became a writer, television director and storyboard artist for several Hanna-Barbera shows, including Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken. After his contract with Hanna-Barbera finished up he went to work with former co-worker Fred Seibert on the Oh Yeah! Cartoons show.

He is also a friend of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and designed and directed on MacFarlane's animated short "Zoo Mates." MacFarlane also has a character on Family Guy named after him: Dr. Elmer Hartman. Hartman currently lives in Bell Canyon, California, with his wife, Julieann, and daughters, Carly and Sophia.

The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom

His biggest success came in 1997, when he created The Fairly OddParents. (The idea came to him during the drive from Hanna-Barbara to Nickelodeon to pitch an idea to Fred Seibert.) It was originally a series of made for TV shorts on the anthology show, Oh Yeah! Cartoons. In 2001, Nickelodeon picked it up as a full series. The Fairly OddParents became a huge hit, second only in the ratings to SpongeBob SquarePants. Due to the success of "OddParents", Hartman was asked to create another cartoon 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 a contract.) which would become Danny Phantom. To produce that show, in 2004, Hartman created Billionfold Studios.

The Fairly OddParents ceased production in 2006, but it was announced on Hartman's website on February 2, 2007 that 20 more episodes will be produced. On July 11, 2007, the first new episode of Danny Phantom was aired on the Nicktoons Network. Danny Phantom ended production on August 24, 2007 though it is possible that the show may return. The 6th Season of The Fairly OddParents aired on February 18, 2008, starting with the 1-hour special Fairly OddBaby. Starting then, Billionfold began to join in on FOP production due to the cancellation of Danny Phantom. On May 1, 2009 to May 3, 2009, the brand new special Wishology aired.

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. Seeing 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 dollars and getting 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]

T.U.F.F. Puppy

Hartman's newest show, T.U.F.F. Puppy, premiered on October 2, 2010, (along with the premiere of Planet Sheen). It is about the adventures of a dim-witted mutt named Dudley Puppy (voiced by iCarly star Jerry Trainor) who joins a secret agent force known as the Turbo Undercover Fighting Force or T.U.F.F. to fight against the Diabolical Order Of Mayhem or D.O.O.M.. The series has been picked up for 60 episodes to air.

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 early 2012, Hartman has reported by Sony Pictures Animation will film a live-action/animated film, AIDS Attack.

FOP looks of other Nicktoons and Shows

On an edition of Nick Magazine, Butch Hartman posted FOP looks of Nicktoons and other Nick Shows such as Zoey 101, SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, Drake & Josh, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Hartman House

Hartman also founded a non-profit organization in 2005, Hartman House along with his wife, Julieann Hartman, who is the Co-Founder of the organization. Hartman House travels to developing nations and some of the most poverty stricken areas in the United States.

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. Hartman uses his talent to draw and autograph pictures of his animated shows for hundreds of children at these events.

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
TBA	AIDS Attack		animator, writer

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
1990–1991	Generations	Sean Masters
1991–1993	Tom & Jerry Kids		character designer
1993	Droopy, Master Detective		designer
1994	Yogi the Easter Bear		designer TV special
	Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights		character designer
1995–1997	The Cartoon Cartoon Show	Chip	creator: "Pfish and Chip" and "Gramps"
1996–1997	Dexter's Laboratory		storyboard artist/background designer/layout artist
1997–1999	Johnny Bravo		writer/director
1997	Cow and Chicken		models
1998–2001	Oh Yeah! Cartoons		creator: "The Fairly OddParents" and "Dan Danger"
1999–2002	Family Guy	additional voices
2001-	The Fairly OddParents	Dr. Rip Studwell	creator/executive producer
2003	Pet Star	Judge	Episode 1.11
2004–2007	Danny Phantom		creator/executive producer
2010-	T.U.F.F. Puppy	Agent Weaselman Agent Rodentski	creator/executive producer

External links

• Butch Hartman at the Internet Movie Database
• The Official Butch Hartman site