Charlie Fink (producer) explained

Charlie Fink
Alma Mater:The Art Institute of Chicago
Occupation:Author, Executive

Charlie Fink is a former Disney executive. He was vice president for creative affairs at Disney for six years.[1] He is credited for pitching the story "Bambi in Africa" which later became The Lion King (1994).[2] [3] In 1992, Fink was chief operating officer of the digital media company Virtual World Entertainment in Walnut Creek.[4] He is also the author of two AR-enabled books.

Career

Fink earned his BA Degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Art Institute of Chicago.[5] [6]

In 1987, Fink started his career in the Animation Division of Walt Disney Pictures, where he rose to the position of vice-president. In his years with Disney, Fink developed The Lion King (1994), which was based on his idea, "Bambi in Africa".

In 1992, Fink left Disney to join the digital media company Virtual World Entertainment, a software developer and location-based Entertainment Company owned by Tim Disney.

In early 1996, Fink joined AOL as senior vice-president and chief creative officer of Greenhouse Networks, where he created and launched the service Santa's Home Page where kids could e-mail a letter to Santa Claus.[7] [8] [9]

After leaving AOL in 1999, Fink founded eAgents.com, a daily email service, which was sold to American Greetings Interactive (AGI) in 2000.[10] Fink served as President of American Greetings until 2003, and chairman until 2005. During his tenure, American Greetings acquired its two largest competitors, BlueMountain.com and eGreetings.com, and transitioned from a free site to a fee based subscription service with over five million paying subscribers.[11]

Fink is the author of the AR-enabled books Charlie Fink's Metaverse, Convergence, How The World Will Be Painted With Data,[12] and Remote Collaboration & Virtual Conferencing: The Future of Work. He is an adjunct faculty member teaching extended reality at Chapman University in Orange, California.[13]

Theatrical career

Charlie Fink is the founder and artistic director of the New Musical Foundation, which produces readings, workshops, and festival productions of new musicals.[14] He was chairman of the board of New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF),[15] from 2007 to 2017.[15] He was honored at the 2017 NYMF gala[15] alongside playwright Marsha Norman for his ten years of leadership.

Fink was previously honored in 2014 by No Rules Theater Company.[16] Fink produced Who's Your Baghdaddy? at the Actor's Temple in New York City in 2015. The show nominated Best Musical by the Off-Broadway Alliance.[17] The New York Times called the production "a cunning, rock-solid musical comedy with a terrible title".[18] The show, its title shortened to Baghdaddy, was revived for a subsequent, limited run at St. Luke's Theater in New York City in March 2017. It played 46 performances and closed on July 2, 2017.[19]

Notes and References

  1. News: SEIDMAN . DAVID . A 'Toon Man for the Ages : Animation: Joe Grant was on Disney's original talent team. November 1, 2020 . Los Angeles Times . January 19, 1995.
  2. Web site: The Music of The Lion King: A 20th Anniversary Conversation with Rob Minkoff and Mark Mancina. Projector and Orchestra. Tim Grieving. September 17, 2014. March 6, 2015.
  3. Web site: Roundtable Interview:The Lion King. Blu-Ray. September 28, 2011. March 6, 2015.
  4. Web site: It's High-Tech Playtime. Patrice APODACA. December 14, 1993. Los Angeles Times. March 6, 2015.
  5. Web site: The Next Big Thing. November 1, 2020. www.sarahlawrence.edu. Sarah Lawrence College. en.
  6. Web site: The Big Fish of the Fun Business. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20141018111319/http://www.informationtechnologyleaders.com/fink.html. October 18, 2014. March 6, 2015. Information Technology Leaders.
  7. Web site: Behind the Screens at AOL's Entertainment Network. Sharon McDonnell. October 22, 1997. March 6, 2015.
  8. Web site: Launching Entertainment Vehicles in Cyberspace. USA Today. Bruce Haring. March 6, 2015.
  9. Web site: Making AOL a Media Company. Archive Wired. John Geirland. November 2, 1997. March 6, 2015.
  10. Web site: AG Interactive. New Atlantic Ventures. John Backus. December 31, 2000. March 6, 2015.
  11. Web site: E-Commerce Report:The possible sale of Blue Mountain Arts could lead to the end of the free online greeting card. The New York Times. South Africa. September 10, 2001. March 6, 2015.
  12. Book: Charlie Fink's Metaverse – An AR Enabled Guide to AR & VR. January 8, 2018. Cool Blue Media. 978-1640079793.
  13. Web site: Arp. Dennis. March 30, 2020. Dodge College VR Class Reinvents Itself to Research Book on Virtual Collaboration. 2020-04-24. Chapman Newsroom. en.
  14. Web site: Heís mad for musicals. Washington DC Theater Scene. Lorraine Treanor. November 3, 2014. March 6, 2015.
  15. Web site: Marsha Norman and Charlie Fink Will Be Honored at New York Musical Festivalís 2017 Gala. Playbill. Ryan MCPhee. October 4, 2017. January 26, 2018.
  16. Web site: No Rules Theater Company proudly honors Charlie Fink with the 2014 RuleBreaker Award. Washington DC Metro Theater Arts. Joel Markowitz. October 26, 2014. March 6, 2015.
  17. Web site: The Official 2016 Off Broadway Alliance Award Nominations. The Producer's Perspective. April 26, 2017.
  18. Web site: Whoís Your Baghdaddy?,í on the Difference Between Credible and Reliable Intelligence. The New York Times. Anita Gates. October 13, 2015. September 10, 2016.
  19. Web site: Baghdaddy. Show Score. January 26, 2018.