author
Fred R. Seibert
A behind-the-scenes force in modern animation, he helped shape MTV’s early look and later championed creator-driven cartoons that grew into major series. His career stretches from record production to internet video, with a knack for spotting what’s next.
1 Audiobook
Rescue the Perishing: Personal Work Made Easy
by Fred R. Seibert
About the author
Fred Seibert is an American television executive, producer, and media entrepreneur whose career has crossed music, television, animation, and digital video. He began in the 1970s as a jazz and blues record producer and audio engineer, and later became the first creative director of MTV during the channel’s formative years.
He went on to play a major role in animation’s revival in the 1990s. As president of Hanna-Barbera, he backed the What a Cartoon! shorts program, which helped launch shows including Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and The Powerpuff Girls. He later founded Frederator Studios, where projects such as The Fairly OddParents and Adventure Time grew out of another shorts-incubator approach.
Seibert has also been an early believer in online video. Through ventures including Next New Networks and Frederator’s digital channels, he helped bring animation and creator-led programming to new internet audiences. Across several decades, his reputation has been built less on being the public face of a show than on creating the conditions for new talent and new ideas to break through.