Ken Pontac

Ken Pontac (born May 22, 1957) is an American writer who has written for children's shows like ToddWorld and LazyTown. He also writes for the dark humor cartoon Happy Tree Friends and helped create its spin-off Ka-Pow!. Pontac also was a co-creator of Bump in the Night.

Life

Pontac began his filmmaking career in 1981 in the effects houses of Hollywood, directing film graphics for commercials and features. His commercial work included spots for Coca-Cola, Disneyland, Norelco, and Shell Oil. His feature effects were seen in films such as Never Say Never Again, Moonstruck, and Douglas Trumbulls groundbreaking Showscan film New Magic. In 1987 Pontac moved to Northern California to serve as art director for The New Adventures of Gumby, for which he produced sets, puppets and artwork for thirty-three episodes of syndicated animation. In 1989, Pontac returned to Hollywood to create and produce a prime-time television pilot that aired on ABC TV. He spent a year on the Warner Brothers lot working in development with various writers and producers, then returned to Northern California to create his own company, Danger Productions. Danger Productions employed a staff of one hundred artists and animators who created content for television, video games, and computer applications. The company produced twenty-six half-hours of the ABC TV animated program Bump in the Night, which Pontac created, produced, wrote and directed. Danger Productions also designed and produced the characters for the best-selling video game ClayFighter for Interplay, as well as creating animated assets for Microsoft Office 97 and My Personal Tutor. From 1990 to the present Pontac has written scripts for animated television episodes that have been translated into a dozen languages and shown around the world. During that time he has also worked as a director for the UPN prime time animated program Gary & Mike, for which his episode Phish Phry won an Emmy for Best Art Direction. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work on the Discovery Kids series ToddWorld. Pontac is now a writer and story-editor for Mondo Media's very popular show Happy Tree Friends. Pontac has also co-written the stories for the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series with Warren Graff, beginning with Sonic Colors. Pontac currently lives in Sausalito with his wife, Susan Linton, and his dog, Whistle. His dog, Whistle even provided the vocal effects of the snarls, growls, and roars for Whistle in "Doggone It". His earliest memory of seeing his mother catch on fire while making breakfast inspired the episode "Who's to Flame?".

Writing Credits

• Arthur
• Ka-Pow! (co-creator)
• The Secret Show
• Growing Up Creepie
• Happy Tree Friends
• LazyTown
• Krypto the Superdog
• Pet Alien
• Toddworld
• Howdi Gaudi
• MadWorld
• ¡Mucha Lucha!
• Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century
• Shadow Raiders
• Sonic Colours
• Extreme Dinosaurs
• The Legend of Calamity Jane
• The Wacky World of Tex Avery
• Roswell Conspiracies
• ReBoot
• Bump in the Night (creator with David Bleiman, writer, scripter, songwriter with David Bleiman and Jim Latham)
• Mighty Max
• Gumby Adventures (Time Out)
• Generator Rex
• Sonic Generations
• Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
• Sonic Lost World
• Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
• Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice
• Wacky Raceland

External links

• Ken Pontac at the Internet Movie Database