Maureen Fan
CEO/Co-Founder, Baobab Studios
Baobab CEO and Co-Founder Maureen Fan is CEO & Co-Founder of the 6-time Emmy and Annie award winning and leading immersive animation studio Baobab Studios, whose mission is to inspire you to dream by bringing out your sense of wonder. Make YOU matter. Baobab Studios has won an Emmy Award for Best Interactive Media for every qualifying project the studio has created. Baobab was named Most Innovative Company for 2018 by Fast Company and is creatively led by Eric Darnell, the writer and director of Antz And all 4 Madagascar films. Darnell is the 2nd highest box office grossing animation writer and director of all time. In a 1st, Hollywood is taking Baobab's VR IP to become a feature film: Roth Kirschenbaum Films (Maleficent, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman) has signed on to adapt INVASION!, Baobab’s first interactive movie into a traditional feature film, Penguin Random House has partnered to turn The Magic Paintbrush into a multi-book series, and MacMillan has partnered to turn INTERCATS into a graphic novel series.
Founded in 2015, Baobab is considered to be the world's leading independent interactive animation studio. They have won six Emmy awards as well as the first-ever Annie award for Best Virtual Reality Production. Crow: The Legend, both a traditional linear animated short film as well as an interactive VR experience, won the most awards of any animated program or series, traditional and/or interactive, at the 2019 Emmy Awards. Crow also won the 1st ever Annie Award for Best Virtual Reality Production. This story inspired by a Native American legend stars a diverse cast including John Legend, Oprah, Constance Wu, Diego Luna, Liza Koshy, Tye Sheridan, Sarah Eagle Heart, and Randy Edmonds and features Legend’s original song, “When You Can Fly.”
Their most recent release, Bonfire, starring Ali Wong, premiered at The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival to critical-acclaim with how it seamlessly weaved together narrative and interactivity with innovative AI systems. Bonfire released as an exclusive launch partner with Oculus Quest. Bonfire won Best in Show at SIGGRAPH’s inaugural Immersive award, Sandbox Film Festival, Best of 2019 at Venice Film Festival, and is nominated for a Best VR Annie.
Baobab’s Emmy-award winning VR animation, INVASION!, starring Ethan Hawke, launched to substantial critical acclaim and has become the #1 top viewed VR. In a first, Hollywood is taking IP from VR to become a feature film: Roth Kirschenbaum Films (Maleficent, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman) has signed on to adapt INVASION! into a big screen feature film "flattie". Baobab just won a 2nd Emmy for their 2nd immersive animation, ASTEROIDS! starring Elizabeth Banks, an official 2017 Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival selection. They also premiered Jack at Tribeca, a location based immersive theater experience, starring Lupita Nyong'o.
Maureen has held leadership roles in film, gaming and the consumer web. She was most recently vice president of games at Zynga, where she oversaw three game studios including the Farmville's, which contributed 40 percent of the company’s revenues. Previously, she worked on Pixar's Toy Story 3 film and at eBay in product management and UI design. Her collaboration, The Dam Keeper, directed by Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo, was nominated for the 2015 Oscar Best Animated Short. Maureen was also named one of ‘The Most Creative People of the Year’ by Ad Age
Top 100 Influential Asians by A100, and Variety crowned her as one the execs to watch earning a spot on their ‘Top Digital Creatives’ list. She’s been covered by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, USA Today, Business Insider, The New York Times, The LA Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and C|Net.
Maureen’s insights have been shared on the main stage at both the Web Summit and Tech Crunch Disrupt. She’s been a technology and entertainment convergence champion keynoting Oculus Connect and presenting at F8, South by Southwest, DICE, E3 and Variety Business Insider’s Ignition. As an advocate for diversity in the entertainment, Maureen is an active member of many organizations for minority groups and women and she gave the keynote at Grace Hopper Conference, as well as presented at Women in Animation, Fortune Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit and Fast Co’s Impact Council.