Academy Talks – Animation and Children’s Programming

Liz has an extensive background in children’s entertainment as an executive creator, producer, director and Gemini winner. She has
developed a variety of award-winning shows for TVO, CBC, Life, W Network (Corus Entertainment) and Sinking Ship Productions. She left Sinking Ship in 2008 to focus on her passion for helping kids tell their own stories. Inspired by 826, a program in the USA started by acclaimed author Dave Eggers, Liz launched Story Planet, a non-profit storying making centre dedicated to helping young people discover and develop their voices.

Natalie Dumoulin is responsible for overseeing all creative aspects of 9 Story properties from inception to delivery, including sourcing and developing animated and live-action properties for kids of all ages. A seasoned producer of animated series,Dumoulin was instrumental in the production of the acclaimed PBS series Caillou, which she wrote and executive produced. Other key credits include producing the Emmy® award winning series Arthur and developing and producing Cartoon Network’s Gerald McBoing-Boing.

J.J. Johnson is a founding partner and the creative force behind Sinking Ship Entertainment. Since the company’s inception in 2004, he has created and executive produced 15 series including international hits, This is Daniel Cook, Annedroids and the Emmy award winning Dino Dan. In 2015, J.J. made Emmy history by being nominated three times in the same directing category for three different series, winning the Emmy for Odd Squad.

Joan handles acquisitions of projects in these areas as well as oversees creative development and financing. She also oversees all licensing and merchandising activities for the company that are driven by television programming.

Leah Wolfson is responsible for overseeing the creative development and production of the original programming slate for Corus Entertainment’s YTV and Treehouse networks. Working in partnership with producers, Leah has contributed to the success of several popular and award-winning YTV and Treehouse series, including The Next Star, Splatalot, Max & Shred, Some Assembly Required, Sidekick and Scaredy Squirrel along with many others.