Norman J. Grossfeld

Norman J. Grossfeld (born December 15, 1963) is an American director, television producer, record producer, screenwriter and media executive. From February 1994 to December 2009, he was the president of 4Kids Productions, a former subsidiary of 4Kids Entertainment and Leisure Concepts. He produced the English adaptations of the first eight seasons of the Pokémon TV series and five seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh!. He produced five seasons of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, five Pokémon movies, and one Yu-Gi-Oh! movie for 4Kids TV. In addition to producing and executive producing, Grossfeld co-wrote most of the Pokémon films, which grossed over $600 million worldwide. Grossfeld is credited with writing the Pokémon franchise's tagline, "Gotta catch 'em all!" He was also an executive producer for the anime One Piece. He also wrote both the main and ending theme songs for Sonic X and Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and the English ending theme song to Pokémon: Jirachi, Wish Maker.

Grossfeld also developed and co-wrote the successful stage adaptation of the Pokémon series, which premiered at Radio City Music Hall and toured the United States and Canada in late 2000 to early 2001.

Before his role as president of 4Kids, Grossfeld was a producer and director at Television Programming Enterprises from 1988 to 1991, worked at NBC Sports from 1991 to 1992 as a coordinating director, and spent 1992 through 1994 as president of the television production company Gold Coast Television Entertainment.

A member of the Directors Guild of America, Grossfeld directed coverage of several Olympic Games for NBC, including the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. In 1996, Grossfeld won the International Olympic Committee's highest honor, the Golden Rings, for his direction of the live sports coverage of the 1996 Olympic Games.

Filmography

Movies + Year Title Role 1999 Pokémon: The First Movie Writer, producer 2000 Pokémon: The Movie 2000 Writer, producer 2001 Pokémon 3: The Movie Writer, producer 2002 Pokémon 4Ever Writer, 2003 Pokémon Heroes Executive producer 2004 Pokémon: Jirachi, Wish Maker Writer, 2005 Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys Writer, producer 1998 Pokémon Writer, executive producer, 2001 Cubix Writer, executive producer, theme songwriter 2002 Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Executive producer, theme songwriter Ultimate Muscle Executive producer, theme songwriter 2003 Sonic X Executive producer, theme songwriter Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Executive producer, theme songwriter 2004 One Piece Executive producer 2005 Winx Club Executive producer 2006-09 Viva Piñata Executive producer 2008 Adventures in Voice Acting Interviewee