Mar 16, 2015

Three Top Nick Animation Employees Fired (Exclusive)

[Exclusive] As part of Nickelodeon's reorganization of its animation division, three top executives from the studio's animation department were fired last Friday.

The three who left Nickelodeon Animation Studios are Rich Magallanes (pictured above left), now senior vice president of series; Jenna Boyd (pictured above right), senior vice president of animation development; and Jill Sanford. [She began working at the studio in 1997 as a freelance story consultant on shows such as Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, and Angry Beavers. Jenna Boyd, another 18-year Nickelodeon veteran, joined the company as a production intern on Kenan & Kell. Jill Sanford joined Nick in 2012 from Disney, where she was director of original series for Disney Television Animation.

"As announced, we are in the process of restructuring and as a result we have employees leaving the company," a Nickelodeon spokesperson told Cartoon Brew. 'We are very grateful for the contributions they have made to Viacom.'

The layoffs are part of a broader corporate transformation at Nickelodeon's parent company, Viacom. Last month, Nickelodeon chief Saima Zarghami was named head of the expanded Viacom Kids and Families Group.

"Our industry is in transition, and change is not always easy. We are working hard to adapt to changing viewer behavior, embrace new forms of delivery, and better integrate technology into everything we do."

"We are working hard to ensure that we are able to provide the best possible service to our customers.

In recent months, Nick Animation has made efforts to address the shortcomings of an executive-driven approach to series production and to push for a renewed focus on artist-driven projects. The company has touted its Artist Collective and Writers Fellowship programs as keys to finding the next "SpongeBob". In explaining the value of these programs, Russell Hicks, Nick's president of content development and production, said, "We're trying to build a culture that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world today."

Last week, the studio announced plans to significantly expand its Burbank facility with a new five-story building to be completed next year. The studio's new series, C.H. Greenblatt's Herbie Beaks, will premiere on March 29, 2015.