In the wake of Mike Moon‘s departure as Director of Adult Animation earlier this summer, Netflix is bolstering its animation team by welcoming onboard two industry veterans and promoting one of its in-house executives to top positions across series and film.
Billy Wee has joined the streamer from HBO Max, where he was SVP of Comedy & Animation, as Director of Adult Animation Comedy Series. Wee was VP of Original Programming at TBS from 2016 until he was tapped as SVP of Original Animation at HBO Max in 2019. As part of the recently re-dubbed Warner Bros. Discovery family, Wee worked on animated series including Final Space, Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake, Ten Year Old Tom and Close Enough. Prior to this, Wee was a producer at DreamWorks TV and Happy Madison.
Jermaine Turner, who came to Netflix in 2020 after over 20 years at Disney TV, has been promoted to Director of Adult Animation Action Series. Months before jumping to Netflix, Turner was named VP Development for Disney Channel, expanding his role to include the development of new animated content to support the increased volume demanded by the company’s linear channels and Disney+ streaming platform. He had previously served as executive director at Disney TV Animation, creating kids’ toons for Disney Channel.
Wee and Turner will both be based in L.A., reporting to VP Animation Series John Derderian and jointly shouldering the mantle shed by Moon.
On the feature side, Netflix welcomes Maggie Malone as its new Vice President Animation Film, reporting to Karen Toliver. She jumps to streaming after a few years as an Executive Producer at NBCUniversal’s Illumination. Prior, she held the post of Head of Creative Affairs as part of the leadership team for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Over 13 years with the mouse, Malone worked on Oscar-winning features Zootopia, Frozen and Big Hero 6, as well as Moana, Wreck-It Ralph, Tangled, Winnie the Pooh, The Princess and the Frog, Meet the Robinsons, Ralph Breaks the Internet and DisneyToons’ Tinker Bell movies. She also worked with Gary Ross at Universal on The Tale of Desperaux.
Per LinkedIn, Malone has actually been collaborating with Netflix since 2020 developing the animated feature Roald Dahl adaptation The Twits.
[H/T Hollywood Reporter]
