Lion Forge Animation has promoted Saxton Moore (pictured left) to VP of production to help support the Hair Love producer as it scales up its pipeline.
Moore, who reports to founder David Steward II, is now responsible for strengthening the Missouri-based studio’s growing production capabilities. Since joining the company in 2020, the Emmy-winning director-creator has served as executive creative director and is currently set to direct a new animated series for the studio based on the picture book Marley and the Family Band by Bob Marley’s daughter, Cedella Marley. Moore started his new role in January.
He previously held a number of senior creative roles at companies including Nickelodeon and Fuse Media and has worked on projects for the likes of Netflix, Cartoon Network and Sesame Workshop. Moore was also a children’s book illustrator for Penguin and Random House.
As part of this team change, chief creative officer Carl Reed will now have a more executive producer-focused role, honing in on several key projects.
The company has also hired former Mouse House exec Neely Shaman (pictured right) as VP of development. Shaman was most recently head of content at streaming network Ficto. Prior to this, she served as director of programming and development for entertainment at Disney and worked in other creative leadership roles at companies including Maker Studios and Zone TV.
Lion Forge is also planning to add more director and producer talent down the road to help the company as it grows.
Its recently announced projects in development include a series based on Josef Bastien’s fantasy book Excerpts from an Unknown Guidebook with Detroit-based prodco Folktellers Studios and 2D-animated comedy Alien Baby Sitters with Canadian prodco BulbKIDZ.