The WordWits

About Us

Imagine a child being able to put the feeling of being “frustrated” into words rather than just crying. Envision a young person actually knowing what the word “responsibility” means when adults refer to it. The Word Wits video series is being created to help children ages 3-7 build their vocabulary through funny musical video vignettes. Our educational goal is to improve verbal communication skills and reading comprehension potential as the result of an improved conversational vocabulary. We hope to help children communicate better with their parents and teachers as well as develop a better understanding of the world around them..

NICHE

Language development and linguistics can be broken down into parts or sub-fields: phonics, graphemes, and lexical semantics. Phonics deals with the relationship of sounds or letters and graphemes has to do with spelling. There are already many multimedia programs which deal with these building blocks. A third element, lexical semantics, is the subfield of linguistics dealing with the meaning and relationship of words. How can we communicate if we do not know the meaning of the words we use? Lexical semantics is what we address with The Word Wits.

FORMAT

With iPods, iPhones, and PCs of young children, the media world is changing. Our short episode length is one of the unique aspects about The Word Wits. The two-three minute episode (more than a television commercial and less than a pop song) is ideal to hold the attention of a 3 to 8-year-old child. In two minutes of time we will show the viewer the meanings of one to three related words. The short length gives flexibility to the amount of time parents choose to let their children watch the series. A child can get involved with The Word Wits for two minutes or thirty minutes. And kids can watch on the go.

WORD SETS

Four (4) two-minute episodes featuring approximately eight total words will be packaged together with a “game-show” review which creates a five episode category set – one for Monday through Friday. Naturally, if the child becomes enthusiastic about the series he or she can move even more quickly than eight new words per week.

Words set themed categories such as Math, Character, Signs, Our Body, Emotional Feelings, Descriptive Words, Courtesy and Idioms will also be age or learning level appropriate. Category titles will be selected and produced based on ongoing parent survey results. Much of this feedback information can be obtained online at the time of purchase with a simple question at the time of checkout: “What word categories should we produce in the future?” Including word category and word sophistication selection as part of the packaging will enable parents to pick the lessons that best fits their child's interest and education level.

MANAGEMENT AND CREATIVE TEAM

	*Mark Beckwith –Executive Producer/President/Writer/Director/Voice of The WordWits* character “Puey-the-Pig”.** Mr. Beckwith has a degree in music and wrote and produced hundreds of songs for Knowledge Adventure (Vivendi-Univeral). He is the co-founder of Razzle Bam Boom Productions and Shows That Teach (www.showsthatteach.com) and has produced ten children’s CDs and six stage shows for children. From 1986-1990 he was the Marketing Director for the record company Alshire International in Burbank, California.
	Obediah Thomas– Co-Producer/Writer/Director/Various Word Wits Characters. Mr. Thomas holds a B.A. degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He is a co-founder of Razzle Bam Boom Productions (www.razzlebamboom.com) and has co-written several stage shows for children. Obediah is a former stand-up comedian in Chicago and Los Angeles.
	Joni Bovill –Portrays the character “Miss Joni”. Ms. Bovill is an experienced television, stage actress and recording artist. She has appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, and stage productions. She holds a B.A. from University of Southern Mississippi and a M.S. from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
	Michael “Tuba” Heatherton –Various Word Wits Characters. Mr. Heatherton is a veteran actor and variety artist who previously toured as a clown with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and has made appearances on the Tonight Show.
	Donna Babcock – Associate Producer/Script Editor. Ms. Babcock has recently joined the Razzle Bam Boom Productions staff. A former entertainer and teacher herself, she is a graduate of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Clown College. Ms. Babcock holds a B.A. in Human Development with a specialization in Arts Education from Pacific Oaks University. Ms. Babcock worked as a trainer for Cirque du Soleil’s social outreach program. She has studied with the Groundlings and has several television and film credits herself.
	Kim Arnold – Business Administrator. Ms. Arnold holds a B.S. in Business Management from Pepperdine University. Formally Ms. Arnold was Business Systems Consultant and Analyst for Technicolor in Burbank and Sony Entertainment in Culver City. Prior to that she was the Manager of information systems at Universal Studios, Hollywood. Ms. Arnold has been the Business Manager for Razzle Bam Boom Productions since September of 2006.
	Jessica Pettit, M.S. – Language Consultant. Ms. Pettit has a B.S. and a Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Miami University. She is also a mom and Speech-Language Pathologist.
	Robert Stone, M.S., M.F.C. – Consultant. Mr. Stone has a Masters degree in Psychology and is a practicing therapist in California.
	Bonnie Bright – Art Director. Mrs. Bright studied fine arts at UC Santa Barbara and Illustration at Cal State University Long Beach. Her credits include five children’s books and the Jump-Start multi-media series. Bright now runs her own business, Bright Illustration, where she makes use of her tallents: illustrating, building 3D models, animating and building web sites. (www.brightillustration.net).