1stAveMachine and The Gotham Group Launch YouTube Reading Series ‘Gotham Reads’ For Quarantined Kids
The Gotham Group has partnered with a number of children-centered non-profits to launch a YouTube reading room series, Gotham Reads, a new channel that will feature close to 75 top children’s authors, content creators, screenwriters and performers reading their favorite books and giving a peek into their creative process.
The series launched today (and will be refreshed every few days) with the first five videos that feature Caldecott Honor recipient and New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, authors and filmmaker Gris Grimley, Stargirl author Jerry Spinelli, The Fairly OddParents Butch Hartman, and Little Fires Everywhere actress AnnaSophia Robb. Other participants include Senator Cory Booker, Skylar Astin, Steve Buscemi, Lin Oliver, Casey Cott, Max Greenfield, Jewel, Sonequa Martin-Green, Natascha McElhone, DJ MacHale, Ethan Nicolle, Sara Rue, Lorraine Toussaint, Patrick Warburton, among others.
1stAveMachine, the production company with whom Gotham Group has a strategic partnership, is providing creative and production support and will be running the channel. To extend outreach to as many quarantined preschool through middle school kids as possible, Gotham Reads content will be shared with a network of affiliated organizations including 826LA, Common Sense Media, Girls Inc., Imagine LA, P.S. Arts, Save the Children, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and Young Storytellers.
According to 1stAveMachine Head of Content and Executive Producer Andrew Geller, “We’re happy to share much needed family entertainment during this unprecedented time. The Gotham Group has a wide range of talented artists and, thanks to our team’s experience in running YouTube channels, we can give the necessary creative and technical support to bring this vision to life.”
“Authors, illustrators, screenwriters and content creators are eager to help bring some solace and normalcy to children around the world during these challenging times. Storytelling is an essential part of our lives,” adds Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Gotham’s founder and CEO. ”No one knows that better than these artists, whose unique voices have entertained and comforted millions of children for decades.”
1stAveMachine is a mixed media production company and storytelling outfit. They create video, digital, and experimental content for TV, print, web, and mobile, all with a unified singular vision. They have won numerous awards since their formation, including Gold, Silver, and Bronze Cannes Lions, AICP, One Show, and ANDY awards, and many others. Their work has been featured across the globe and during the Super Bowl, and their division 1stAve Content has been instrumental in pairing the perfect influencers and creators with agencies and brands.
The Gotham Group is a multi-faceted management and production company, representing some of the most creative minds in Hollywood. Goldsmith-Vein and The Gotham Group, cited in Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” series, have been producers on such hits as The Maze Runner franchise as well as the Netflix 2018 Kodachrome with Jason Sudeikis, Elisabeth Olsen and Ed Harris, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Gotham is currently in production on the film Stargirl for Disney, based on the 2000 novel by Jerry Spinelli and starring Grace VanderWaal; Wendell & Wild at Netflix in collaboration with Jordan Peele and acclaimed director Henry Selick, The Woman in Cabin 10 at CBS films based on the Ruth Ware book and adapted by Hillary Seitz,and Train Man, starring Julia Roberts as the lawyer defending Darius McCollum, the New Yorker who became notorious for driving subway trains illegally.