As the Nickelodeon Animation Studio celebrates its 25th anniversary, it has clearly grown from a small but formidable showhouse to a world-class studio with dozens of productions in progress and executive Ramsey Naito at the helm. And Naito’s plans include expanding relationships with creators who can talk to Nick’s audience.
Over the past five to six years, the studio has expanded to include Nick Animation West (Burbank), Nick Animation East (New York), and Hollywood offices on the Paramount lot. When Naito was named president of Nickelodeon Animation in 2020 (she has since also become president of Paramount Animation), there were nine shows in production at the studio. Today, there are nearly 70 in a place known for its irreverent, fun, and groundbreaking animation.
Naito, who attended CalArts and comes from a family of artists and haiku poets, knew the studio had to expand when she arrived.
Nine shows “wasn’t enough,” says Naito, who had worked for the company earlier in her career. “We are open to a huge variety of projects and all of our projects are vastly different. We try to really embrace this idea of no house style and in doing so we really work with four walls around creators, directors, producers, working with them to create a process to get their vision on screen in the best way . For every single film we’re making now, we’re working with a different studio, which I think also supports uniqueness and sophistication in storytelling and execution. We treat animation like cinema.”
When Nickelodeon opened its state-of-the-art building in Burbank six years ago, the 200,000-square-foot venue was intended as a place where contributors could collaborate as they worked on an ever-increasing number of shows and movies. It was intended to indicate to the creative community that the company was committed to making a home for its creatives.
The animation studio’s projects include “SpongeBob Square Pants,” “Loud House,” “Shimmer and Shine,” “The Fairly OddParents,” “Rugrats,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” They created the SpongeBob spin-offs “Camp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years” and “The Patrick Star Show”. Another movie based on “Paw Patrol” is also in the works, and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” co-written by Seth Rogen, will hit theaters in August.
Upon her return to Nickelodeon, Naito dove headlong into development. “The plan was to build a slate and greenlight a bunch of shows,” says Naito. “With this we have focused on three very important pillars: culture, talent and content.
“First, we revived our culture. We let people know that we were open to buying and doing a lot of shows. We targeted and reached talent, and we developed great content.”
She says building the slate was one of the first conversations she had with Brian Robbins, president and CEO, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and chief content officer, movies and kids & family, Paramount+. “We knew we needed these things.”
Feature films based on “Blues Clues” and “Baby Shark,” as well as Paramount properties including “Transformers” and “Smurfs,” are on the horizon. With so many franchises and IP in play, the studio is still focused on the qualities that set the company’s animated shows apart
the beginning.
“I remember [former Paramount topper]Sherry Lansing says it all comes down to great characters,” says Naito. “Ultimately, we want shows with great characters that are engaging, relatable and engage our audience in a way that compels them to want to see their story and go on an adventure. People want to see SpongeBob because he warms their hearts and makes them laugh. Such great characters are at the heart of everything we do.”