Mark & Jeanne Simon - Founders

Who Are We and
Why We Can Help You
Make a Giant Leap Forward in Getting Your TV Show Sold

First, meet former Nickelodeon producer Jeanne Pappas Simon.

Little did I know 24 years ago that my entire career would prepare me to help others get their shows on TV. I’ve been involved in show business for most my life in one way or another. Maybe it has something to do with family history – my uncle, Ben Thau, was head of MGM back in the day when Ben Hur was a box office smash.

I’ve had my 15 minutes of fame in front of the camera as a news broadcaster, a cable talk show host, and a commercial talent. My type A controlling personality flourished in the behind-the-scenes action as an editor, camera lady, writer, and news director. I did all this while I was still living in Missouri. Phase two of my career started when I decided to get serious and move to the happiest place on earth. (Oops that comes later.)

I packed up my Toyota and moved to Beverly. Actually, I rented an apartment in Los Feliz and  I worked on feature films at the legendary Corman Studios in Venice Beach, Lethal Weapon 2, and HBO’s hit series 1st & 10. The best part of working on that production was meeting my husband Mark Simon.

Not too long after Mark and I met, we knew our life together would have many sequels and we needed a new location. So we moved to the happiest place on earth and we both landed jobs at Nickelodeon which was located at Universal Studios Orlando.

While at Nickelodeon, I was a part of TV history as a producer on the show that catapulted Melissa Joan Hart to stardom as Clarissa in Clarissa Explains It All. This ground-breaking show was created by Mitchell Kriegman who was also the creative force behind the hugely popular shows Bear in the Big Blue House, The Book of Pooh, and It’s a Big, Big World.  

Jeanne produced Clarissa Explains It All. Creator,
Mitchell Kreigman, is seated in a red vest on the couch.
Jeanne is standing directly behind him.

I also produced many other Nickelodeon shows such as Allegra’s Window, which featured work by puppeteers trained by Jim Henson, Gullah Gullah Island, Weinerville, and Roundhouse with American Idol director Bruce Gowers. I also worked on Get The Picture, Nick Arcade, Make the Grade, What Would You Do?, as well as the ABC pilot Real Mature, and international Blues Clues pilots.

In between Nickelodeon gigs, I also produced pilots for Animal Planet, wrote scripts for the ABC series Secrets of the Animal Kingdom and produced and directed portions of the pseudo-reality series Rollerjam on TNN.

Jeanne Simon produced, wrote and directed roll-ins and
character development segments on TNN's Roller Jam.

One of the most challenging and rewarding tasks in my TV career was as a consultant for Turner Broadcasting. I was teamed up with another consultant from New York to create the programming, staff, and budget for an entire new network from nothing. After almost one year of heavy development, we pitched our concepts to Scott Sassa (who later became president of NBC) and he gave our network the green light. Plans were under way to launch the network when Time Warner bought Turner and put the brakes on our network before it ever got a test drive.

Turner Broadcasting greenlit my network!

My time at Turner though got my creative juices flowing and I teamed up with my husband to create and sell our own TV shows. We’ve created practically every kind of show you can think of: animations for kids and adults, game shows, dramatic TV movies of the week, live-action sitcoms, faith-based TV, live-action kids edutainment, training videos, feature films, and reality TV shows. We’ve signed 20 distribution deals and won over 50 international awards including Grand Prize in the first ever Nicktoons Film Festival with our series of shorts Timmy’s Lessons in Nature. Every major network called us to pitch after that win.

We've signed 20 distribution deals

Mark and I continue to create and sell our own concepts and now as founders of our newest venture we’re able to help many more people achieve their dreams of having a show on TV.

 

Now meet director, artist, author, lecturer, entrepreneur Mark Simon.

For me, happiness is creating something, especially if it has anything to do with the arts. My creativity as a designer emerged at the tender age of twelve when I was a competitive skateboarder unsatisfied with store-bought boards. I designed my own line of boards and sold them to Schwinn. For me, creativity wasn’t complete unless I shared it with others. Making money along the way has always been the icing on the cake.

While an art major in college, I had my own award-winning advertising agency and I published a college newspaper throughout Texas which featured cartoons, photos, and controversial views on current events of the day.

After graduating from college, I knew that I wanted to be in the movie business, so I kissed my mom and Texas good-bye and headed to Hollywood. With plenty of outlets for my artistic talents, I worked as a designer on movies, commercials, and TV shows. Like Jeanne, I got my start at Roger Corman’s studio. When I was hired as the construction coordinator on HBO’s 1st & 10 I had to see Jeanne to sign employment papers and little did I know that I’d be signing up for the rest of my life.

She let me know that part of our deal was to leave L.A. and of course we did just that. We were both hired at Nickelodeon before the studios had officially opened. My creativity as a designer exploded during my time as a Nickelodeon art director on numerous shows under the inspired guidance of Byron Taylor.

Mark Simon 2nd unit directing on Spielberg's
NBC series, seaQuest DSV.

Little did I know though that art direction was not to be my career for long. When I heard that Steven Spielberg’s show seaQuest was coming to Orlando I was determined to do whatever it took to get on that show. I thought set designer was the job for me, but the producer had a different job in mind – storyboard and concept artist. I got to direct the second unit, design special effects, work directly with top directors, and work on story! Thanks to seaQuest I launched a new career and, when the show wrapped, I started my own company, Animatics & Storyboards, Inc., which would eventually become the largest storyboard house in the Southern U.S.

I've worked on over 2,500 productions.

Working on hundreds of storyboard jobs a year, 2500+ to date, has left me a few spare hours at night and on weekends to write books and create my own original TV concepts. I’ve written, published, and marketed seven books (number 8 is in the works), and I’ve created, pitched and sold dozens of shows. Plus I’m a contributing writer to Animation World Network and Animation Magazine, Filmmaker Magazine, Movie Maker Magazine and others.

The various books and articles I’ve written on storyboarding and animation have established me as an expert in these fields and I’ve had the great fortune to lecture around the world. In China, I lectured at a cultural symposium on how China could increase the quality and quantity of their indigenous animation. In the U.K., I lectured and gave workshops at Animex about storyboarding and pitching. And domestically, I’ve lectured at high schools, colleges, conventions, festivals, and art institutes on various aspects of art and how being an artist is the best job in the world. If creativity is my first love, then inspiring others to follow their passion for creativity is my second love.

Industry books written by Mark & Jeanne Simon.

I’ve pitched (and sold shows) to FOX, ABC, DIC, Nickelodeon, PBS, Dargaud-Marina, Discovery Networks, Cartoon Network, Nelvana, BBC, G4, France 3 and Disney just to name a few. As word spread about our success pitching and selling shows, more and more people kept calling us about helping them develop, package, pitch, and sell their shows. The demand just became overwhelming and that’s why we started Sell Your TV Concept Now. We get to do what we love – create shows – and we can help many more people fulfill their dreams of having their own TV shows.

Mark & Jeanne Simon Partial List of Clients & Projects

Networks:	My Wife Is Pregnant	Bryan Spicer
Nickelodeon	Early Days	Robert Wiemer
Cartoon Network	GUTS	Jesus Trevino
Fox	Welcome Freshmen	Burt Brinkerhoff
NBC	Dooley and Pals Show	Bryan Hickox
ABC	Wide World of Sports	Reginald Hudlin
HBO	Gallagher	Toby Martin
Showtime	Total Panic
VH-1		Production Studios:
TNN	Feature/TV Films:	Disney
Turner	Hoot	Sesame Workshop
Animal Planet	Lonely Hearts	Amblin Entertainment
PAX-TV	The Waterboy	20th Century Fox
PBS	Lethal Weapon 2	Sunbow
HSN	McHale's Navy	Haxan Films
Golf Channel	Nowhere to Run	Warner Bros.
MTV Latino	Beverly Hills Vamp	Marvel
	Night of the Cyclone	Viacom
TV Series:	Wilde Life	Universal Pictures
Clarissa Explains It All	Interstate 95	Miramax Pictures
Dexter	Two Much	TriStar
Round House	Miami School Bus Hijacking	Dick Clark Productions
Gullah Gullah Island	Walking Dead	Savoy Pictures
Roller Jam	Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity	MTM Productions
Allegra's Window	Party Line	Sony Pictures
Weinerville	In Dangerous Company	Empire Pictures
Carrot Top's A.M. Mayhem	Kill Crazy
Alpha Dog Challenge	Death Row Game Show	Commercials
Zoo Venture	Midnight	Thousands Including:
Secrets of the Animal Kingdom		Coke
International Blue's Clues	People:	M&M
A Message From God	Steven Spielberg	Pepsi
In Search Of...	Mitchell Kreigman	Mastercard
Dragon Tales	Bruce Gowers	3M
Real Mature	Chris Gifford	Ford
Timmy's Lessons In Nature	Brian Gadinski	NFL
Miss Miami	Frank Coraci	Nike
Outta Here	Tim Hill	Burger King
The Brother's Flub	Antoine Fuqua	Yamaha
Disciples	Anson Williams	IBM
1st & 10	Liz Plonka	Shell
The Cape	Jonathan Debin	AT&T
seaQuest DSV	Alexa Junge	NBA
What Would You Do?	Stan Lathan	GE
Second Noah	Woody Frasier	Sprint
Baby Beethoven	Mark Summers	Sears
The Cape	Ian Toynton	Jeep
Nick Arcade	Rob Bowman	Adidas
Firefighters	Reza Badiyi	AMC
From The Earth To The Moon	Buddy Sheffield	Cadillac

And here’s the good news: If we can develop, pitch, and sell our TV shows without living in Hollywood, without having an agent, and without doing everything right, then anyone can do it. We’ll show you how.