Nickelodeon’s animation department has been busy, hiring a new vice president of animation development and greenlighting DHX and Cartoon Saloon’s new co-production Dorg Van Dango (pictured). Former development executive for King Features Syndicate, Kari Kim has been chosen by the kidcaster as its new VP of animation development.
In this newly created role, Kim will be based out of Nickelodeon’s Burbank headquarters and reporting to EVP of animation production and development, Ramsey Naito. She will be responsible for all aspects of original series development all the way from concept through to the pilot stage, including all creative and production.
Prior to taking on this new position, Kim was a development executive at King Features Syndicate where she created and produced content for its IP Cuphead, Popeye and Flash Gordon as well as co-creating the game Trivia Treat for Amazon Echo. She has also served as a development executive at pocket.watch, developing and pitching new animated content for its slate.
This move is part of Nick’s efforts to grow its animation content pipeline, notes Naito in the announcement. The company is wasting no time getting started as the kidcaster also gave the go-ahead to DHX and Cartoon Saloon’s Dorg van Dango. Nickelodeon International picked up the Canada-Ireland co-pro, in association with Family Channel in Canada and RTE in Ireland. It will air the new series across more than 170 territories in 2020.
The animated comedy for six to 11s, follows the adventures of the titular character living in the normal town of Normill until he meets a unicorn, an ancient witch, a curious alien and an eerie ghost who are all escapees from Area 51. Production of the 52 x 11-minute show is already underway in DHX’s Vancouver studio.
Cartoon Saloon will be handling all of the writing, designs, storyboards, post-production and distribution in Ireland and the UK. DHX meanwhile is handling voice recording, character and background builds, animation and distribution in the rest of the world.
Based on an original idea by Fabian Erlinghauser (Song of the Sea) and Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner), it is developed and produced with assistance from Screen Ireland and Creative Europe.