NICKELODEON WELCOMES SEVEN EMERGING CREATIVES TO JOIN THE STUDIO’S ANNUAL WRITING AND ARTIST PROGRAMS
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BURBANK, Calif. – January 31, 2025 – Nickelodeon has selected seven emerging creatives to join its studio’s esteemed annual Writing and Artist Programs. Designed to cultivate and foster the development of emerging talent, both programs offer opportunities to voices with unique perspectives. The 2025 participants will work from the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank.
“Nickelodeon is thrilled to welcome this year’s talented artists and storytellers to the Writing and Artist Programs, which continue to cultivate incredible voices,” said Jean Margaret Smith, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, Nickelodeon. “Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Writing Program and the 14th year of the Artist Program, both further develop a pipeline of unique perspectives and content in the entertainment industry, a true must.”
Celebrating its historic 25th anniversary, the Writing Program has enlisted a cohort of aspiring writers to spend the year working on a robust curriculum that includes networking, executive mentorship, and tailored workshops hosted by program alumni. The group will also shadow Nickelodeon’s working writers’ rooms and gain hands-on experience while strengthening their improv and sketch comedy skills.
The Writing Program participants are:
Disha Manocha is a comedy writer from Mumbai, India, who grew up around storytelling. Inspired by her mother, a Hindi soap opera writer, her love for writing and television propelled her to move to Los Angeles, where she enrolled in graduate school at Chapman University. Manocha has also written and produced a comedy short film and has written for the Disney Television Talent Showcase. Her writing features characters who feel a little different and explores journeys navigating identity, community, and family.
Marcus Perkins Bejarano is a Bolivian American storyteller named a “Rising Star” attorney at the largest law firm in Dallas, TX, before taking the only logical next step: quitting his job to pursue a career in comedy writing. Since obtaining an M.F.A. in Musical Theater Writing from NYU, he has co-written comedy songs featuring characters from the video game Genshin Impact that have amassed over 20 million YouTube views and 4.5 million Spotify streams to date. As a TV comedy writer, he is passionate about creating Latino characters who strive to embrace their most authentic selves, which mirrors his professional and cultural journeys.
Teddy Sevilla is a writer and comedian from suburban Massachusetts. Growing up in a Filipino, Irish, and Italian American family, he discovered a love of storytelling through the summer camp game “Mafia,” where he was always voted out first and thus tasked with narrating his friends’ fates. In college, he spent his days studying Evolutionary Biology and Studio Art and spent his nights writing jokes and drawing comics for multiple comedy publications on campus. He moved to Brooklyn, where he performs stand-up and works as a contributor at Clickhole and The Onion. During the pandemic, he joined TikTok, where his sketches have accumulated over 11 million likes, and his maximum attention span has dropped to 4.5 seconds.
Founded in 2011, the Artist Program creates opportunities for rising artists to cultivate an understanding of the production process and serve as a launchpad into the entertainment industry. Focused on mentorship, each artist is placed on a host production team where, over the next six months, they will work closely with a Senior Artist Mentor in addition to a Peer Mentor who has completed the same program.
The Artist Program participants are:
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Wes Smith (Storyboard Path) developed a passion for art and animation through comics and video games. He pursued a Bachelor’s in Traditional Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design with a minor in Sequential Art. Smith furthered his education at the School of Visual Arts, majoring in Computer Arts to master traditional and digital techniques. Now a recent graduate, he aims to create animated works that are both entertaining and inspiring for audiences of all ages. With a strong artistic foundation and technical expertise, he is ready to make his mark in the animation industry.
Lisa Bird (CG Generalist Path) is a CG artist from picturesque Colorado. Growing up in a half-Japanese, half-American household, Bird’s sense of storytelling was shaped by watching Western cartoons and anime. While studying animation at Brigham Young University, she discovered the artistic possibilities that technology offers (as well as the technical possibilities that art offers) and fell in love with lighting. Bird loves to see various fields of animation come together to tell a story and believes that putting things in the right light can make the mundane magical.
Lauren Bird (Visual Development Path) is a designer and illustrator from Interior Alaska. She traces her love of creating to a childhood spent scuffling in the woods and scribbling on printer paper. After years of drawing Geronimo Stilton-inspired mouse people and voraciously consuming cartoons, she brought the fire to Detroit to study Illustration at the College for Creative Studies. Her favorite artistic moments involve crayons, zaniness, and sincerity – it’s a good day when she gets to color outside the lines.
Anthony Hernandez (Storyboard Path) is a Mexican American story artist from Palmdale, California. His love for stories was present throughout his life, beginning with frequent visits to the public library and expanding into the world of video games. This curiosity for narrative-driven experiences and visual storytelling ultimately led him to the captivating world of animation. Inspired by the ability to push creative boundaries and forge personal connections with audiences, Hernandez chose to pursue a career in storyboarding, where he aims to contribute to diverse and impactful stories.
ABOUT NICKELODEON’S ARTIST PROGRAM
Nickelodeon’s Artist Program launched in 2011 to open the door for talented artists with unique voices. The program mentors, develops, and staffs emerging artists with diverse experiences and perspectives on the studio’s animated productions in CG, visual development, and storyboard roles. Distinguished alumni include Najja Porter (Emmy nominated Writer and Storyboard Artist, Craig of the Creek), Keiko Murayama (Annie Award-winning Character Designer, Inside Out 2 and Carmen Sandiego), Sarah Jaques (Art Director, Santiago of the Seas), Samantha Kalis (Creative Director of Visual Development, Disney TV Animation), Li Cree Hurt (Storyboard Artist, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man), Emily Monjaraz (Background Designer, The Loud House), Bikram Singh (Storyboard Revisionist, SpongeBob SquarePants), and many more.
ABOUT NICKELODEON’S WRITING PROGRAM
Nickelodeon’s Writing Program was founded in 2000 to create opportunities for emerging TV comedy writers with unique perspectives to launch their careers across the network’s award-winning animated and live-action show portfolio. The esteemed alumni list includes industry movers Jessica Gao (EP, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law), Travis Braun (EP & Creator, Pupstruction and T.O.T.S.), Jeff Trammell (EP, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man), Jonathan Butler and Gabe Garza (Co-Creators, Bella and the Bulldogs), Kevin Arrieta (Co-EP, Carol & the End of the World), May Chan (EP, Surfside Girls) and many more.
ABOUT NICKELODEON
Nickelodeon, now in its 45th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location-based experiences, publishing, and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon is a part of Paramount’s (Nasdaq: PARA, PARAA) global portfolio of multimedia entertainment brands.
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