MSNBC
May 2 2005
Bigger than life: Cartoon draws in a Rockefeller
By David Mildenberg
Charlotte Business Journal
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET May 1, 2005A Rockefeller heir is now president
of a little-known Charlotte film production company that thinks Burt,
Sully, Squeeky and other animated Danger Rangers characters have a
monster future.
Steve Rockefeller says he took the job because of Educational
Adventures Inc.’s opportunity to excel financially while also doing
good. “It’s very difficult to find a for-profit venture that has both
a great mission and great potential for business success,” says
Rockefeller, who lives in a New York City suburb. “This is the best
opportunity I’ve seen.”
A former managing director in private banking at Deutsche Bank,
Rockefeller will help Chief Executive Michael Moore develop the
company. A key task will be working with New York investment bank
DeSilva & Phillips, which specializes in media, to raise $19 million.
Educational Adventures produces an animated TV program, books and
other media featuring characters called the Danger Rangers that show
kids how to avoid accidents.
Public TV stations in Charlotte, Los Angeles, Atlanta and other
cities ran the program’s pilot. Because of positive viewer feedback,
they plan five additional episodes that are in production.
Moore is lining up airtime on other public TV affiliates such as a
Honolulu station he visited this week. Having a Rockefeller on board
should help, given that his cousin, Susan Percy Rockefeller, is chief
executive of Washington’s WETA station and a longtime director of the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“We were really amazed at how well it did,” says Elsie Garner, chief
executive of WTVI in Charlotte. “I can’t wait to see the entire
series.”
Moore and Doug Smith started the company in 1999. Neither had any TV
or film industry experience, but both spotted an opportunity to use
entertainment to reduce the 20,000 annual children’s deaths due to
preventable accidents.
Over the past six years, the duo has made contacts in the film and
educational media markets.
They’ve also raised about $5 million from several dozen angel
investors, including retired Charlotte insurance executive Leonard
Bullock and Charlotte ophthalmologist Galen Grayson.
They’ve received at least as much in in-kind contributions from
various advisers with major entertainment and children’s media
credentials, says Moore, who is no relation to the famous documentary
maker with the same name.
Advisory board members include Hollywood producer Howard Kazanjian,
whose films include Star Wars, Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the
Lost Ark; Larry Huber, formerly executive producer of The Flintstones
and creator of Nickelodeon’s The Chalkzone; and Dr. Alvin Poussaint,
a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist.
A key force for the company, Moore says, is Ilie Agopian, who runs
Central Piedmont Community College’s TV station. He introduced Moore
to Kazanjian, a fellow Armenian-American.
“Obviously our calling is humanitarian,” Grayson says. “But as a
byproduct, we’re going to be a very, very successful business.”
Rockefeller’s wife, Kim, met Moore three years ago and was intrigued
by his passion for children’s safety issues, Steve Rockefeller says.
She runs an affiliated nonprofit foundation that will distribute the
company’s products to low-income families.
But Educational Adventures, which has eight employees, is very much a
for-profit, Moore emphasizes. The business plan projects revenue
topping $100 million within five years,
“The problem with most educational programs is that they are so
boring that most kids won’t watch them,” Moore says. “But our
business model calls for our productions to have the entertainment
values of a Disney film along with the educational value of the very
best on the market today.”
KidsFirst, a Santa Fe, N.M.-based nonprofit group that rates
children’s programming, gave its highest rating to the Danger
Rangers’ first episode.
“The Danger Rangers is a unique and delightfully animated show that
uses action-adventure, comedy and lively songs to impart safety tips
that entertain, educate and save lives,” KidsFirst reported.
KidsFirst President Ranny Levy predicts Danger Rangers will become
nationally popular, though not to the level of Nickelodeon’s popular
Blue’s Clues or Dora The Explorer.
“It is more of a niche market because of its focus on safety,” she
says.
For Moore and Smith, getting this far is no small feat.
“I’ve come within 24 hours of losing my home, and there’ve been
extended periods of time in which we literally had no food in the
refrigerator and all of our utilities have been turned off,” Moore
says.
Another hurdle came in 2000-01, when Educational Adventures lost
$750,000 in a fraudulent investment banking scam. But the firm’s
investors have stuck with the founders. “They’ve given new meaning to
the term ‘angel investors,'” Moore says.
“Michael really has made the supreme sacrifice and it’s been tough
for him, but he knew what he wanted and he’s stuck with it,” Bullock
says.