Nick Weidenfeld

Last updated
Nick Weidenfeld
Nick Weidenfeld - 2012.JPG
Weidenfeld in 2012
Born
Nicholas Rabb Weidenfeld

September 26, 1979
Washington, D.C., United States
NationalityAmerican
OccupationExecutive
Years active2004–present

Nicholas Rabb Weidenfeld (born September 26, 1979) is an American television producer and executive who led program development for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and Fox's Animation Domination High-Def programming blocks. He won producing Emmy Awards in 2012 and 2013 for the series Childrens Hospital . Since 2016, he has been the president of programming for television channel Viceland.

Contents

Biography

Weidenfeld was born in 1979 to Edward Weidenfeld, a Washington DC lawyer, and Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, former press secretary to First Lady Betty Ford. He grew up in Georgetown and attended Georgetown Day School. While there, he parlayed his interest in rap into assignments writing up interviews for little-known popular culture magazines and websites. [1] He started the alternative magazine While You Were Sleeping in the late 1990s, [2] and reviewed music for magazines Seventeen and Teen Vogue . At Columbia University, he was a liberal arts major. He interned at the Pentagon. [1]

In 2004, he arranged to interview Mike Lazzo, a senior executive at Atlanta's Cartoon Network for an in-depth piece (intended for Esquire magazine, but never published) about the network's Adult Swim block of programming. [2] [3] The two got along well. [1] Lazzo wasn't familiar with Weidenfeld's satirical While You Were Sleeping, but his staff was. Partly on the strength of that, Lazzo offered him a job as director of program development at Adult Swim. [2] [3]

The position would entail shepherding projects from greenlighting to air. [3] Adult Swim was a small operation at the time. [2] Weidenfeld's first responsibility was to find talent, particularly developers outside the traditional animation pipelines, who could help the company grow beyond animation into live action. [4] [5] In seven years there, Weidenfeld developed, among others, Robot Chicken , the Peabody Award-winning animated series The Boondocks , Delocated , and Childrens Hospital , [1] [5] [6] in addition to providing the voice of Peanut Cop in 12 oz. Mouse . [7] For Childrens Hospital, he would win producing Emmy Awards in 2012 and 2013. [8]

In June 2008, he married Amantha Starr Walden, a music executive at Adult Swim and daughter of the late record label executive Phil Walden. [9] By October 2011, when their son was born, they had moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles. [10]

In February 2012, then Fox President, Kevin Reilly tapped Weidenfeld to lead the network's foray into late-night Saturday animation. [11] Dubbed Animation Domination High-Def (ADHD), the 90-minute programming block would be filled with 15-minute shows broken up by shorter bits. [4] [11] Fox built a 12,500-square-foot, 120-person, animation studio, ADHD Studios, with Weidenfeld at its head, and he founded his own production company, Friends Night, to license content to the network. [1] [11] Aiming for comedy that would appeal to an audience younger than himself, he tried to hire only young candidates who had never paid to watch television. [2] [4]

ADHD premiered in July 2013. [4] Fox took the underperforming experiment off the air in June 2014 because it failed to reach the target audience and upset too many of the network's older viewers. [12] Two ADHD series were moved to primetime, while others continued on digital platforms, [13] before they shifted to a new late-night animation block on sister channel FX in 2015. [14]

Weidenfeld was hired in April 2016 as the president of programming for Viceland, a youth-oriented television channel that is a joint venture between A&E Networks and Vice Media. [15]

Related Research Articles

An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either a finite number of episodes like a miniseries, a definite end, or be open-ended, without a predetermined number of episodes. They can be broadcast on television, shown in movie theatres, released direct-to-video or on the internet. Like other television series, films, including animated films, animated series can be of a wide variety of genres and can also have different demographic target audiences, from males to females ranging children to adults.

Adult Swim is a prime time and late night programming block broadcast by the American basic cable channel Cartoon Network. The block features stylistically varied animated and live-action series targeting a young adult audience, including original programming, syndicated series, and short films with generally minimal or no editing for content. Adult Swim is programmed by Williams Street, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Television Studios that also produces much of the block's original programming.

<i>Space Ghost Coast to Coast</i> American animated parody talk show

Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animated comedy late-night talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. It is the first TV show to be produced by Williams Street, the company to start up Adult Swim in the early 2000s. In contrast to the original 1960s series, Space Ghost, which aired as a standard Hanna-Barbera Saturday-morning superhero cartoon, Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a reboot and sequel of the series intended for teens and adults, reinterpreted as a surreal spoof talk show and animated using the original series' artwork. Early seasons are more of a parody of late-night talk shows, while later seasons rely more on surrealism and non-sequitur humor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williams Street</span> Atlanta-based animation production studio

Williams Street Productions, LLC, d/b/a Williams Street and formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries, is an American animation and live action television production studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The studio is the in-house production arm of Adult Swim. Mike Lazzo and Keith Crofford oversaw operations for the building for most of its existence.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augenblick Studios</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animation Domination</span> Programming block of animated TV series

Animation Domination is an American animated programming block which has aired in two iterations on the Fox broadcast network, featuring a lineup solely made up of prime-time animation and adult animation carried as a majority of, or the whole of, the network's Sunday evening schedule. It originally ran from May 1, 2005, until September 21, 2014, before returning on September 29, 2019.

The Problem Solverz is an American animated television series that aired on Cartoon Network. Created by Ben Jones, it follows Alfe, Roba, and Horace; a group of detectives in their troubled town, Farboro.

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Benjamin Queair Jones is an American director, fine artist, voice actor, animator, producer, writer and storyboard artist. He was a co-founder and member of the art collective Paper Rad from 2001–2008, as well as his own studio Ben Jones Studio, Inc. in 2008. He has worked on various animated television programs and web series for Animation Domination High-Def (ADHD). Since 2017, Jones is the creative director of Bento Box Entertainment. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

<i>China, IL</i> American animated television series

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<i>Axe Cop</i> (TV series) American adult animated series

Axe Cop is an American adult animated series based on the webcomic of the same name that was created by Ethan Nicolle and Malachai Nicolle. It premiered on Fox on July 21, 2013, as a part of the channel's Animation Domination HD programming block. The first season consists of 12 11-minute episodes. The second, broadcast in April—June 2015 on FXX consists of 10 episodes.

<i>High School USA!</i> American TV series or program

High School USA! is an American adult animated television series produced by Friends Night and Animation Domination High-Def Studios. The series was created and written by Dino Stamatopoulos. Nick Weidenfeld, Hend Baghdady and Stamatopoulos executive produce the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld</span> TV producer, former US Press Secretary

Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld is a television producer and the former Press Secretary to First Lady Betty Ford and Special Assistant to President Gerald Ford. She is the author of the "First Lady's Lady," a book about her experiences in the Ford White House.

Animation Domination High-Def was a late-night programming block broadcast by Fox. Originally premiering on July 21, 2013 as a spin-off of Animation Domination, the block originally focused on new, original adult animation series—similarly in style to Adult Swim. The ninety-minute block and its content were primarily produced by Friends Night, a television animation studio headed by Adult Swim alumni Nick Weidenfeld, Hend Baghdady, and creative director Ben Jones —including its programs, along with interstitials and other content featured during its programming.

<i>Lucas Bros. Moving Co.</i> American adult animated television series

Lucas Bros. Moving Co. is an American adult animated television series created by The Lucas Brothers. It originally premiered on Fox on November 23, 2013 as part of Animation Domination High-Def, and was renewed for two additional seasons on FXX. The show was cancelled on June 4, 2015.

<i>Stone Quackers</i> American TV series or program

Stone Quackers is an American adult animated television series created by Ben Jones. The series premiered October 27, 2014 on FXX as part of their Animation Domination High-Def block.

<i>Major Lazer</i> (TV series) American adult animation series

Major Lazer was an American adult animated television series based on the electronic music group of the same name, created by DJ and record producer Diplo with Ferry Gouw and Kevin Kusatsu. It premiered on FXX on April 16, 2015, as part of their Animation Domination High-Def (ADHD) block. After Stone Quackers, Major Lazer is the second ADHD original series to be aired on the channel after FOX had stopped its broadcast of the block itself.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Heath, Thomas (June 16, 2013). "Value Added: Washington establishment scion aims to conquer TV with cartoons". The Washington Post.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Five Experts Explain How They Discover the Best of New Art, Film, Literature, Comedy and Design". The Fader. May 7, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Strike, Joe (December 28, 2005). "Development Execs: Who They Are and How They Got There". Animation World Network.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Caramanica, Jon (July 5, 2013). "Fox's Experiment in Animated Living". The New York Times.
  5. 1 2 Owen, Rob (March 6, 2014). "'Axe Cop' a gleefully bizarre addition to Fox's 'Animation Domination High-Def'". Standard-Examiner. Ogden, Utah.
  6. ↑ Berkowitz, Joe (June 27, 2012). "Cartoons 3.0: Adult Swim Vet Nick Weidenfeld On Bringing Late Night Animation to Fox". Fast Company.
  7. ↑ Grant, Drew (July 8, 2015). "Is 'True Detective' Based on This Obscure Cartoon?". Observer . Observer Media . Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Nick Weidenfeld". Television Academy.
  9. ↑ "Weddings: Amantha Walden, Nicholas Weidenfeld". The New York Times. June 8, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Insiders: Births". Variety. November 7, 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 Spangler, Todd (May 3, 2013). "Fox Sets Toons to Warped Speed with ADHD". Variety.
  12. ↑ Malone, Michael (April 17, 2014). "Exclusive: Fox Scrapping Animation Domination HD Saturday Block". Broadcasting & Cable.
  13. ↑ O'Connell, Michael (April 17, 2014). "Fox Plans Animation Domination HD for Primetime in 2015, Nixes Late Night". The Hollywood Reporter.
  14. ↑ Miller, Liz Shannon (February 19, 2015). "How To Create an Animated Comedy Empire, According to the Creator of Fox's ADHD". Indie Wire.
  15. ↑ Rose, Lacey (April 22, 2016). "Viceland Hires Two TV Veterans in Top Positions". The Hollywood Reporter.
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