Licensing Into the Ether

Selling bites and bytes into a global market

A panel of children’s content creators and licensors will discuss opportunities – and challenges – that come from trying to license rights by country in an age when apps make content available in globally accessible forms. How does a publisher navigate these new markets when they have a host of “legacy” deals created in a different environment, and what are the implications for the overall brand that the publisher might be licensing? What kind of synergy can be created between publishers and new content developers through licensing?

Lorraine Shanley
President, Market Partners International

Lorraine Shanley is President of Market Partners International, a consulting firm that specializes in traditional and digital publishing in the US and internationally. One of the top recruiters in the industry, MPI also works with publishers, brands, cultural institutions and associations, and technology firms on various aspects of content development and distribution. Shanley is a member (and past president) of Women’s Media Group, and is on the Advisory Board of New York University’s Publishing Program and the board of Fourth Story Media, a New York-based web development company. She graduated from the University of Rochester and received her M.A. from the University of Virginia, where she serves on the Jefferson Fellowship selection committee.

Paula Allen
Sr. Vice President, Nickelodeon Global Publishing

Paula Allen is a publishing executive with over 28 years experience in developing and managing publishing business units, along with author representation and contract negotiation. She has a proven career record of producing multimillion-dollar profits through book licensing sales and retail publishing sales and a solid understanding of the publishing business in the USA and major international markets in Europe, Latin America and Asia. 

Deborah A. Forte
President, Scholastic Media (SM)
Executive Vice President, Scholastic Inc.

Deborah A. Forte is President of Scholastic Media (SM), Executive Vice President of Scholastic Inc. and an award-winning producer of mutli-platform children’s media based on books, including movies, television programming, video games, software, applications and web sites and a leading marketer of children’s brands. Created by Ms. Forte in 1997, Scholastic Media, is the only full-scale digital production, branding and merchandising division in the children’s publishing industry that successfully develops, produces and markets children’s cross platform media and brands for the global marketplace. Ms. Forte is its lead creative and business executive.  Her productions have been distributed in over 60 countries and have won hundreds of awards including Emmys, Webbys, Humanitas, a Peabody and an Oscar.  Among her successful productions are award-winning television series such as Magic School Bus, Goosebumps, and Clifford; the feature film, The Golden Compass, the award-winning I Spy game franchise for NDS and Wii platforms as well as book and game apps. Ms.Forte’s latest initiative is leading the development and production of Scholastic’s eReading software platform and eBooks.

A proven leader in the children’s media landscape, Scholastic Media ranks as one of the foremost producers of quality, family-oriented multiplatform content and is an award-winning global  marketer of children’s brands. Ms. Forte oversees Scholastic Media’s three main divisions: The Digital Products Group, Scholastic Entertainment, Scholastic Marketing & Consumer Products.

Peter Schrøder
Digital Director, Egmont Kids Media

Peter Schrøder is responsible for all digital initiatives at Egmont Kids Media. He has a long history of experience in new media, telecommunications, TV, software development, and entertainment. Prior to joining Egmont, Peter acted as Associate Partner at the VC fund Partnerkapital and previously worked at NDS Denmark and British Telecommunications. He hold an MBA/MIEM from SDA Bocconi in Italy.

Woody Sears
Founder, zuuka

Woody’s knowledge of the consumer and mobile technology industries has proven essential to the growth of the company’s digital publishing platform. After co-founding FrogDogMedia, the company’s iStoryTime digital publishing grew tremendously, leading to a merger with Germany-based zuuka GmbH, resulting in the world’s largest publisher of mobile children’s books. Under the name zuuka, the newly formed company utilizes the largely successful iStoryTime name as its flagship label and joint brand.Woody earned an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University and a B.A. from the University of Colorado.