Deborah Forte is an award winning producer of children’s and family TV, feature films, websites and digital media including I Spy

I Spy (2003 TV series)

I Spy is a stop-motion television series that airs on the HBO Family digital cable television channel in the United States from April 2003 to January 2004, based on the popular children's book series drawn and written by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick...

, Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus (TV series)

The Magic School Bus is an American Saturday morning animated television series based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole. It is notable for its use of celebrity talent and combining entertainment with an educational show, according to an article in Animation World Magazine by...

, Goosebumps

Goosebumps (TV series)

Goosebumps is a Canadian children's horror anthology television series based on R. L. Stine's Goosebumps books.-Networks:...

, WordGirl

WordGirl

WordGirl is an American children’s animated television series for children aged 6-12, produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids...

, and The Golden Compass.

Career

Forte began her career in publishing at Viking Press in 1976 before joining Scholastic Productions in 1984 as VP of new business development.

Forte became President of Scholastic Media in 1995 and is the lead creative and business executive overseeing all media production including two production studios (Weston Woods and Soup2Nuts

Soup2Nuts

Soup2Nuts is an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder, Loren Bouchard, Brendon Small, Jody Snider, and Amanda Normoyle. It is known for its animated comedy series...

), Scholastic Interactive, Scholastic Audio Books and Scholastic Media Marketing and Consumer Products. Forte formed Scholastic Entertainment, a part of Scholastic Media, in 1997.

At Scholastic, Forte has produced over 300 productions, which includes turning best-selling Scholastic book series Clifford The Big Red Dog

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Clifford the Big Red Dog is an American children's book series first published in 1963. Written by Norman Bridwell, the series helped establish Scholastic Books as a premier publishing company....

, Dear America

Dear America

Dear America is a series of historical fiction novels for older girls published by Scholastic in 1996. The series was cancelled in 2004 with its final release, Hear My Sorrow. However, it was relaunched in the fall of 2010. Each book is written in the form of a diary of a young woman's life during...

, I Spy

I Spy

I Spy is an American television secret-agent adventure series. It ran for three seasons on NBC from 1965 to 1968 and teamed Robert Culp as international tennis player Kelly Robinson with Bill Cosby as his trainer, Alexander Scott...

, The Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus is a series of children's books about science written by author Joanna Cole. They feature the antics of Ms. Valerie Frizzle, an elementary school teacher, and her class, who board a magical school bus which takes them on field trips to impossible locations such as the solar...

, Goosebumps

Goosebumps

Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novels written by American author R. L. Stine and first published by Scholastic Publishing. It is a collection of stories that feature semi-homogenous plot structures, with fictional children being involved in scary situations...

, Animorphs

Animorphs

Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of young adult books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. Five humans, Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias, and one alien, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill , obtain the ability to morph into any animal they touch. They name...

and The Baby-sitters Club

The Baby-Sitters Club

The Baby-sitters Club is a series of novels written by Ann M. Martin and published by Scholastic between 1986 and 2000, that sold 17 milllon copies. Many of the novels were ghostwritten, including 43 by Peter Lerangis. However, Ann Martin wrote the first 35 novels.The series is about a group of...

into successful children’s TV series.

Her feature film credits include; The Indian in the Cupboard

The Indian in the Cupboard

The Indian in the Cupboard is a children's book by British author Lynne Reid Banks, and illustrated by Brock Cole. It was first published in 1980, and has received numerous awards, as well as being made into a film in 1995....

, Clifford's Really Big Movie

Clifford's Really Big Movie

Clifford's Really Big Movie is a 2004 American animated film based on the series of children's books drawn and written by Norman Bridwell. This film was directed by Robert C. Ramirez, produced by Scholastic Entertainment in association with Big Red Dog Productions, and originally released to...

, The Babysitters Club

The Baby-Sitters Club (film)

The Baby-Sitters Club is a 1995 family film directed by Melanie Mayron. It is based upon The Baby-sitters Club series of novels and is about one summer in the girls' lives in the fictional town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut...

, The Mighty

The Mighty

The Mighty is a 1998 drama film based on the book Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.-Plot:Kevin is a 12-year-old boy who suffers Mucopolysaccharidosis IV, or Morquio syndrome. He is extremely intelligent and prone to flights of fancy, but is physically crippled and is forced to walk with crutches...

, and Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting (2002 film)

Tuck Everlasting is a 2002 film based on the children's book of the same title by Natalie Babbitt published in 1975. This Disney version was directed by Jay Russell.- Plot summary :...

. Forte’s most recent film The Golden Compass, an adaptation of Philip Pullman’s critically acclaimed trilogy, His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...

, won the 2008 Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Forte is attached to produce upcoming features including Mortal Engines

Mortal Engines

Mortal Engines is the first of four novels in Philip Reeve's quartet of the same name, which is also known as the Hungry City Chronicles in the United States...

, Goosebumps (Columbia Pictures), The 39 Clues

The 39 Clues

The 39 Clues consists of two series of adventure books, The Clue Hunt and Cahills vs. Vespers, combining reading, online gaming, and card collecting...

(DreamWorks) and Clifford (Illumination/Universal).

Forte also oversees the Interactive Products Group of Scholastic Media, which has developed more than 80 video games, apps and other interactive products based on popular Scholastic brands, licensed properties and wholly developed proprieties. This includes iPod, iPhone and iPad apps.

Awards and honors

• National Education Association Award
• American Women in TV and Radio's Gracie Award
• Literacy in Media Award
  Literacy in media award
  The Literacy In Media Awards annual event was created by the Literacy Network of Greater Los Angeles in 1999 to honor producers and screenwriters for film, television, radio, and internet productions drawing attention to the importance of reading and writing...
  
  
• National Educational Media Network Golden Apple Award

Forte’s productions have won over 100 industry awards, including an Oscar, three Daytime Emmys, four Webby Awards

Webby Awards

A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....

, two Cine Golden Eagle Awards, twelve Parent's Choice Awards and the Humanitas prize

Humanitas Prize

The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...

.

Hamilton College, Forte’s alma mater, described her as "a pioneer in educational children's media."

Personal life

Forte was a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Children's Museum of Manhattan

Children's Museum of Manhattan

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan was founded by Bette Korman, under the name GAME , in 1973. With New York City in a deep fiscal crisis, and school art, music, and cultural programs eliminated, a loosely organized, group of artists and educators set up a basement storefront to serve Harlem and...

 and currently serves on the board of the American Center for Children and Media and the International Emmys. She is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....

 as well as the British Academy of Film and Television Arts

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

.

A Boston native, Forte is a graduate of Hamilton College and lives in New York with her husband, Dr. Peter Stone, and their two sons.

General references

• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0287149/filmotype
• http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/scholasticmedia.htm
• http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/taxonomy/term/111
• http://movies.about.com/od/thegoldencompass/a/goldendf020107.htm

External links

• http://my.hamilton.edu/news/deborah-forte-75-producer-the-golden-compass-i