Still Motion Media – Management Team

Bob Budlow – Co-Founder/President

With a figure skating daughter and a soccer-playing son, my family often spends hours in the car.  We’ve listened to countless audio books for children which were wonderful in stimulating their imaginations and even encouraging my children to read.  But as every day portable screens began to permeate our society more and more, I began to wonder, as the eternal entrepreneur that I am, how could we take advantage of a screen while reaping all the proven benefits of the audio book?

While at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a few years ago, my business partner and I observed that screens were becoming both larger and much smaller all at the same time. But other than games and cartoons, “where was the kids’ content” for all those newly accessible screens? That’s how MobiStories Digital Books for Kids was born.

I am an entrepreneur who, in the late 80s, co-founded a direct marketing company that was twice listed as Inc. magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies and at one point, after a reverse merger into a public shell, had a market cap of 700 million. In addition to working with MobiStories, I serve as Board Chairperson of the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation.

Rick Toone – Co-Founder/Creative Director

You know what my two favorite words are?  “What if…”

What if opens the door to possibilities.  What if starts discussions. What if means there is no saying no!  When faced with a problem, asking What if is the beginning to a solution. It’s not a one way thought, it is a way for everyone to weigh in on the subject.  I believe in collaboration. I believe no one has all the answers. I believe ideas spark ideas.

How does What if apply to MobiStories? Because one day I asked …what if children’s picture books could be put on a screen and what if they had audio and what if parents liked the idea of something educational and fun on their child’s DS or iPod?

Thus the idea of MobiStories was born.

As a Propmaster and Art Director for 20 years in Hollywood I learned that collaboration gets results. I also learned that one idea can translate to a great idea if you listen to other insights. And I learned that ownership of an idea belongs to all who execute it. I still live by these ideas at work and at home even though I drive everyone crazy with one simple question.

Christopher Kennedy – Partner/Operations Director

Years ago I’d buy picture books, read them onto cassette and send them to my lad in England to read and listen to before bed. I still sometimes read to my 11 year old.  It’s a chance for me to play the actor, watch his reactions and be close to him. I love it.

When I was shown the first MobiStories digital book with narration and text, I saw tremendous potential. How cool for kids to have someone read to them when their parents can’t!  Having worked for many years in Hollywood creating sound for movies, I saw a wonderful opportunity to make the digital picture book experience even more fun and memorable.  The rest is history!

I’ve worked on nearly 70 films and TV shows; I’ve written the score to an award winning film and many of the MobiStories digital picture books.  I’m also the recipient of an Emmy nomination, three Golden Reel nominations, and I collaborated with composer Jan AP Kaczmarek on the Oscar winning score for Johnny Depp’s “Finding Neverland.” Sound is my life and I think MobiStories are a very sound idea.

Wendy Toone – Communications Director

You know the dream little girls in tutus or tap shoes have  – of being onstage & growing up to be a professional dancer? ….I lived it.  I must admit, I had a blast.  Until my mid-20’s when I realized dancing is a short-lived career and I was faced with that age-old question:  “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  I decided to put a new spin it: “What do I want to do when I grow up?”

While I’ve managed to do many things since giving up the stage – production coordinator/manager for television commercials, talent coordinator for live corporate shows, associate producer for TV comedy specials (even winning a CableACE award, before HBO and Showtime were awarded Emmys), teaching dance & fitness to kids of all ages – I’ve always enjoyed working with kids and in entertainment.  Working with MobiStories gives me the opportunity to do both.

When my husband, MobiStories’ founder Rick Toone, first came to me with the idea of putting kids’ picture books on cell phones, I thought he was nuts. Who’d give their toddler or preschooler their phone. Then iPhones and iPods appeared. Now, it’s not only a reality, it is the future of encouraging kids to read. I’m privileged to be a part of reinventing children’s publishing.