Emmy, Humanitas and Annie Award winner Roberts "Bobs" Gannaway is the showrunner and executive producer of Skydance Animation’s imaginative series “Wondla” for Apple TV+.
Gannaway began his animation career developing various projects at Walt Disney Feature Animation and segued to television when he began working at Hanna-Barbera. While there, Gannaway wrote shorts for Hanna-Barbera's half-hour cartoons "2 Stupid Dogs" and "Secret Squirrel."
In 1994, Gannaway returned to Disney joining the team at Disney Television Animation as the supervising producer of the Emmy Award-winning "Timon & Pumba," and he co-created and served as executive producer on "Disney's Mickey MouseWorks," the first television series to feature Disney's standard characters performing together, and the first original series to star Mickey Mouse since the 1950s, and went on to win the 2000 Annie Award for Outstanding Animated Series. He later went on to executive produce "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," the first television series starring Mickey in computer generated animation. His additional Disney Television Animation credits include "House of Mouse," "101 Dalmatians: The Series," "The Emperor's New School" and "Jake and the Never Land Pirates."
Gannaway co-wrote and directed the Disneytoon Studios feature film "Planes: Fire & Rescue," a sequel to the 2013 film "Planes." Additionally, he co-wrote and co-directed "Secret of the Wings" and served as a writer on "The Pirate Fairy," both part of the Disney Fairies franchise. Gannaway has also executive produced and co-directed several direct-to-video features, including "Mickey's Magical Christmas," "Disney's House of Villains" and "Stitch: The Movie." Bobs also recently developed and executive produced the series "Monsters At Work," a Disney+ original series inspired by the world of Disney and Pixar's Academy Award-winning "Monsters, Inc."
In addition to his extensive accomplishments in animation, Gannaway has written screenplays for Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and a live stage show for Kenneth Feld Productions.
A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Gannaway attended the University of Oklahoma on a cartooning scholarship, and then went on to graduate from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he received the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
A panel opening up the conversation to how we talk about climate change and more broadly sustainability in stories. Animation can deal with stories about sustainability as well, not just purview of live action. Does it scare people or can it be done in a way to entertain and possibly inform? Do we have to be experts to add elements in? Will anyone buy it? Join the discussion on these and other pressing questions - no promises to solve the last question but planet positive stories may be the future we need. Some might argue that if you don't at least have some thought to this issue then - your content will date itself.