Aug 18, 2022

Wattpad Webtoon Studios Launches Global Animation Division

Wattpad Webtoon Studios, the global entertainment and publishing arm of social storytelling platform Wattpad and creator-driven comics site Webtoon, has announced the studio's Global Television and Global Film Along with its new head of Global Animation, the company announced a new Global Animation division.

Grant Taylor, former head of Webtoon Studios, will head the new Global Animation division and oversee IP development for all animated films and television projects. Taylor will next serve as executive producer of "Lore Olympus" with The Jim Henson Company. The series is an animated version of the popular webtoon comic of the same name by creator Rachel Smythe.

Taylor is a writer and webtoon creator herself ("Rot & Ruin") and was previously a development executive at Stan Lee Media, the head of Miramax's West Coast operations, and a children's entertainment writer.

Sidney Bright will be the director of development for the new division of Wattpad Webtoons. Bright has directed in-house design and animation for shows such as "Bob's Burgers" and "Brickleberry" at Bento Box Entertainment, and development at Seriously Digital Entertainment, a mobile game developer. where he served as director and producer. [In recent years, both Wattpad Studios and Webtoon Studios have had successful film adaptations: the Webtoon comics "Tower of God," "Noblesse," and "The God of High School" have garnered billions of views on the site, and the animated The animated series are streaming on Crunchyroll, HBO Max, and more. A feature film adaptation of author Kate Merchant's Wattpad romance "Float" is currently underway.

Taylor's division will operate under the Global Entertainment umbrella of Wattpad Webtoon.

Wattpad Webtoon has also appointed Sera Tubb to head Global Television and promoted Lindsey Weems Ramey to head Global Film. Tubb most recently served as vice president of development at Picture Perfect Federation, where she focused on adapting screenplays such as the Academy Award-winning "CODA." Ramey, who is working on the aforementioned film adaptation of "Float," was previously director of content development and production at Wattpad Studios.

"Millions of fans around the world have fallen in love with webtoons and Wattpad storytelling. They have created a massive global fan community built around creative storytellers and are changing the landscape of comics and fiction around the world." We have assembled a world-class team to bring this kind of content to market and deliver the fan community's favorite stories in a new format. With David at the helm and Serra, Taylor and Lindsay leading our newly formed division, we will continue to create the most exciting entertainment on the planet."