9 Story Media Group announced Tuesday that Angela C. Santomero is exiting as Chief Creative Officer after five years with the company. As the creator and executive producer of the Emmy-winning preschool series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Blue’s Clues & You!, she will continue to work with 9 Story and its animation studio Brown Bag Films, and has been retained in an ongoing consulting capacity.
Santomero joined 9 Story in 2018, following the company’s acquisition of Out of the Blue Enterprises, the children’s media company she co-founded in 2005. “I am grateful to 9 Story Media Group for acquiring Out of the Blue and for the opportunity to create and develop IP with kids at the center,” said Santomero. “I cannot wait for the newest series that I created to premiere next year!”
Wendy Harris will lead the Creative Affairs group across all locations moving forward as SVP/Head of Creative Affairs and report to President & CEO Vince Commisso. Harris is a seasoned executive behind many franchise series, including Blue’s Clues, and has served as Co-Creator and Executive Producer on several series.
The VPs of Development in New York, Toronto and Dublin will continue to report to Harris, as will the senior management team across production, research and interactive in New York.
In response to accelerated global growth over the past two years for flagship brand Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir and Ghostforce, which has been earning top ratings across Europe, ZAG has appointed Mark Kingston to the newly-created role of Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Products. The announcement was made today by Founder & CEO Jeremy Zag.
Kingston will report to Julian Jacob Zag, EVP, Global Operations and Head of Consumer Products, under whose leadership ZAG’s consumer products business has grown exponentially. New offices have been established around the world in Paris, Frankfurt, London, Montreal, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Shenzhen, collectively delivering over US$1 billion in retail sales (as of December 2021) for Miraculous.
Kingston, based in London, will spearhead the ongoing growth of ZAG’s consumer products business that includes L&M, promotions, gaming and LBE for all IPs, including the animated feature Melody, starring Katy Perry (in production). He joins ZAG following an 11-year, where he served most recently as SVP, International Consumer Products, overseeing team members across multiple disciplines and in 18 countries. Prior, he held senior commercial and retail sales and marketing roles at both The Walt Disney Company and BBC Worldwide.
Sow You Entertainment, a recently sprouted new arrival on the Irish animation scene, has hired on the creative team of Amy Stephenson and Shane Langan as development producers. This is in response to the growth of the company’s development slate across a range of genres, with active discussions already ongoing regarding production financing with potential broadcast partners for its initial offerings.
Stephenson and Langan have been writing together since they co-founded the comedy group Diet of Worms in 2006, creating sketch shows, plays, web series and a BBC sitcom. Since 2015, they’ve worked in animation, writing, head-writing and story developing shows for Amazon, Nickelodeon, BBC and Warner Bros. Discovery among many others. In 2019, they won Best Preschool Writer at the Irish Animation Awards.
Based in Dublin, the duo will report to co-founder Lena Byrne. In light of the growing development slate, the company has taken additional office space in the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin. Additionally, company has just secured funding from Screen Ireland to fuel its potential.
U.K. animation indie A+C Studios has launched its directors’ roster with eight signings of award-winning and emerging talent from around the globe. Founded in 2007, A+C has grown from its launch in founder Dan Richards’ garage to a custom-fitted space that holds three animation production studios, a model-making workshop, a motion design studio, an edit suite and a production office. You can read more about the directors here.
- Mai Vu (Say Hi to Pencil, Spring Roll Dream)
- Ida Melum (Poles Apart, Night of the Living Dread)
- Vida Vega (BAA, Kinsale & London International Award winner, Cannes Lions nominee)
- Jess Deacon (Revolution)
- Antonin Niclass (Do Not Feed the Pigeons)
- Luiz Stockler (RTS, Adobe Design and Vimeo Staff Pick recognized work)
- Zarina Tucker (Esquire, Naturya, Happy Socks stop-motion)
- Lina Kalcheva (Other Half)
More Moves:
- Moonraker VFX adds Lucas Pozzey (Lion King 2019, Prometheus, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) to leadership team as Head of 3D.
- Generative AI entertainment technology company Flawless announced the appointment of industry vet Peter Busch as Chief Strategic Officer. Busch has worked for Warner Bros. Animation, Paramount, Image Metrics and co-founded Faceware Technologies.
- Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) welcomes FX artist Thomas James (Avengers: Infinity Wars, News of the World) to Adelaide from London as the newest member of its training staff.
