Jean Chalopin

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Jean Chalopin
Jean Chalopin.jpg
Chalopin in 2013
Born (1950-05-31) 31 May 1950 (age 73)
Occupation(s)Banker, television producer, media proprietor, screenwriter
Years active1971–present
Children2

Jean Chalopin (born 31 May 1950) is a French businessman, banker and former television producer. [1] In 1971, he founded the production company DIC Entertainment, which specialized in children-oriented television and films. Through the company, he co-created numerous successful television series including Inspector Gadget (which grew into a namesake media franchise), The Real Ghostbusters , Sonic Underground , and Dennis the Menace ; he also served as the co-writer and producer of The Mysterious Cities of Gold . He created a successor company, C&D in 1987. [2] DIC was dissolved into Cookie Jar Group in 2013, and he since began working as a banker.

Contents

Career

In 1968, Chalopin formed an advertising company named the Office de Gestion et d'Action Publicitaire (OGAP, Office of Management and Advertising Action). [3] In 1971, with the backing of Radio Television Luxembourg, Chalopin renamed the company to Diffusion Information Commercial (DIC, Commercial Information Dissemination) which later evolved into DIC Entertainment. At DIC, he wrote, developed and produced programmes animated by overseas studios. [4] [5] DIC's first major series were the French-Japanese co-productions Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold , which Chalopin produced and co-wrote. Subsequently, he co-created Inspector Gadget together with Andy Heyward and Bruno Bianchi; its launch in 1983, concurrently with The Littles , marked DIC's foray into the American marketplace.

In 1987, Chalopin founded the company Créativité et Développement, aka C&D (eng: Creativity and Development), after selling his shares in DIC, and continued to produce cartoons in the late 1980s and 1990s. C&D had offices in Paris and Tokyo while setting up Jetlag Productions as its American affiliated company. [6] C&D had purchased the DIC library foreign distribution rights from Saban Entertainment soon after Saban had acquired them from DIC in 1987. [4] In 1996, Chalopin sold the C&D library to Fox Kids Worldwide, while the company itself was absorbed into Saban International Paris. [6]

After moving to the Bahamas in 1987, Chalopin began investing in Deltec Bank and Trust, eventually becoming its largest shareholder and chairman. According to Chalopin, as chairman he sought out smaller cryptocurrency-related businesses, including Tether and its controlling company Bitfinex in 2018. At that time, Deltec was the only bank willing to work with the cryptocurrency. [7]

Chalopin acquired Farmington State Bank (FSB), a single-location community bank in Farmington, Washington, in 2020. FSB, which until then had focused on agricultural loans, began to offer services to the blockchain and cannabis industries under the name Moonstone Bank. Among FSB's blockchain activities, it accepted millions of dollars in investment capital and deposits from entities linked to the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. US federal prosecutors seized FTX-related funds from the bank in January 2023 after FTX's failure, and FSB announced that it would return to community banking. Later that year FSB agreed to sell its operations and liquidate at the insistence of the Federal Reserve Board and state bank regulators. [8]

Producer

Television

Film

Screenwriting credits

Television

Film

* = head writer

See also

Related Research Articles

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Inspector Gadget is an animated superhero science fiction comedy series co-created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi, and was originally syndicated by DIC Audiovisuel and Lexington Broadcast Services Company. The show revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, dim-witted police officer from Metro City named Inspector Gadget—a cyborg human with various bionic gadgets built into his body—who is sent on missions to thwart plans by his nemesis Dr. Claw, the leader of an evil organization known as "M.A.D.", while unknowingly being assisted by his niece Penny and their dog, Brain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DIC Entertainment</span> Film and television production company

DIC Entertainment Corporation, branded as the Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production company that was mostly associated as an animation studio. As a now former division of The Walt Disney Company, DIC produced live-action feature films and licensed numerous anime series.

Shuki Levy is an Israeli-American music composer and television producer. Levy's best known work is soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s, such as The Real Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, M.A.S.K., Dinosaucers, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. In the 1990s, he became known chiefly for his work on the Power Rangers franchise, Digimon: Digital Monsters, Masked Rider, VR Troopers, and Big Bad Beetleborgs. He has also written and directed numerous episodes for some these television shows, and directed a few films, such as Perfect Victims (1988) and Blind Vision (1991). He was also part of a musical duo known as Shuky & Aviva with his partner Aviva Paz.

<i>The Mysterious Cities of Gold</i> Television series

The Mysterious Cities of Gold, originally released in Japan as Esteban, Child of the Sun and released in France and Luxembourg as Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or, is an animated series which was co-produced by DiC Audiovisuel and Studio Pierrot.

<i>Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors</i> Animated TV show

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is an animated show which was first broadcast on TF1 on September 9, 1985, on the block Salut les p'tits loups !, and eventually on September 16 in the United States in syndication. It was produced by DIC Audiovisuel and animated by the Japanese animation studios Sunrise, Shaft, Studio Giants, Studio Look and Swan Production. The show, which ran for 65 thirty-minute episodes, was created to support Mattel's Wheeled Warriors toyline. The show had an ongoing plot which was left unresolved, with no series finale.

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Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer is a 1985 American animated fantasy film directed by Bernard Deyriès and Kimio Yabuki. The film was produced by DIC Enterprises, Inc. and Hallmark Cards, and was released in the United States on November 15, 1985 by Warner Bros. It is the only film to feature the greeting card character Rainbow Brite; she also appeared in a few television specials prior to its release, and later in a Kideo TV series. In the film, Rainbow Brite tries to bring spring to an Earth that is already facing a perpetual winter. She must stop a wicked princess who wants all of Spectra, a planet-sized diamond through which all the light in the universe must pass.

<i>Pole Position</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

Pole Position is an animated series produced by DIC Enterprises and MK Company. The series is loosely based on the arcade racing video game series Pole Position, the name of which was licensed from Namco to capitalize on its popularity. The game and the show have very little in common, other than Wheels being red as in Pole Position and Roadie being blue as in Pole Position II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Massey (actor)</span> Canadian actor (1928–2014)

Walter Edward Hart Massey was a Canadian actor, best known for voicing Principal Herbert Haney on the animated series Arthur and The Doctor in the English version of The Mysterious Cities of Gold. He was based in Montreal, Quebec.

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Heathcliff is a children's animated television series that debuted on September 3, 1984. Produced by DIC Audiovisuel, it was the second animated series based on the Heathcliff comic strip. 65 half-hour episodes aired in first-run syndication in the fall of 1984, followed by a second season of 21 episodes in 1985 ran in syndication until it ended in 1988. The Catillac Cats characters were created by Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi.

Toshiyuki "Toshi" Hiruma is a film producer, who has produced Batman: Gotham Knight, The Batman, Kangaroo Jack: G'Day U.S.A.!, Daffy Duck for President, Justice League and What's New, Scooby-Doo?. He directed many animated movies in the 1990s with fellow director Takashi Masunaga for Jetlag Productions.

Bruno Bianchi was a French cartoonist, comics artist and animation director. Bianchi worked extensively as an artist, director and producer on animated television productions; including Heathcliff, Iznogoud and most notably, Inspector Gadget, which he also co-created.

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References

  1. Katz, Lily; Leising, Matthew (2 November 2018). "Bank Tied to Tether Goes Quiet on Relationship With Crypto Firm" . Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  2. Adelson, Andrea (30 December 1987). "BUSINESS PEOPLE; For Maker of Cartoons, A Chance to Go Public". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  3. "DIC Entertainment Company Profile: Valuation, Investors, Acquisition | PitchBook".
  4. 1 2 Perlmutter, David (2014). America Toons In: A History of Television Animation. McFarland. pp. 207–212. ISBN   9780786476503 . Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  5. Bates, James (29 December 1987). "DIC, Computer Memories Plan Merger : Cartoon Maker Seeks Easy Way to Go Public". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Deltec International Group". Isola Capital. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  7. Faux, Zeke (7 October 2021). "Anyone Seen Tether's Billions?" . Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  8. Saulsbery, Gabrielle (18 August 2023). "Fed orders wind down of FTX-associated Farmington State Bank" . Retrieved 22 August 2023.