With a design/advertising degree and a Channel 4 internship under his belt, Hunter began his career focused on other programming genres. But then Fox Kids came knocking in 2003 and swept him into the world of kids TV. Shortly after he joined, Fox Kids was acquired by The Walt Disney Company, and Hunter spent almost two years there, followed by increasingly senior positions at Nickelodeon (creative content manager) and Sony Pictures Television (director of kids networks).

Hunter’s two years at YouTube—where he was working as global head of kids and family when he was let go in 2023’s mass layoffs—were especially influential. “It was a really big responsibility to have ownership of content that millions of kids would see—that’s something that’s stuck with me,” he says, adding that a career highlight was the Emmy-winning YouTube series Tab Time, which he helped develop with Kids At Play. “That project was very special to me.”

New ecosystem
After a year of independent consulting, Hunter made an under-the-radar move to join Amazon in June 2024 to head up series development and production for the company’s kids service. He says he’s still getting used to the cross-sector landscape of his new gig—while he’s strictly working on the video content side, the platform also offers books and games, so those teams occasionally help facilitate pitches by sending over specific titles for him to look at.

To build out Amazon’s programming slate for three- to 12-year-olds, Hunter is looking for format-agnostic TV concepts based on “brands, characters and trends that kids already know and love” in order to cut through in a crowded marketplace of platforms and grab kids’ attention. These could stem from any source, including existing TV series, movies, games and books. And his firsthand success with YouTube content means Hunter is also keen to hear pitches inspired by creators and digital-first IPs.

Standing out
He’s looking for content with a fresh take or unique hook that sets it apart from properties offered by competitors. A perfect example is Bat-Family, an upcoming spinoff series to Prime Video’s 2023 Merry Little Batman film that Hunter is spearheading in partnership with Warner Bros. Animation. Due out in 2025, this 2D toon focuses on an eight-year-old version of Damian Wayne (an incarnation of Robin, and Bruce Wayne’s only biological child).

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen‘s Q1 2025 magazine issue.