Nickelodeon Selects Seven Creatives for Writing & Artist Programs

Nickelodeon has selected seven emerging creatives to join its annual writing and artist programs and work from the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank.

The writing program participants will spend the year working on a curriculum that includes networking, executive mentorship and tailored workshops hosted by program alumni, as well as shadowing Nickelodeon’s working writers’ rooms. The artist program participants will be placed on a host production team where, over six months, they will work closely with a senior artist mentor and a peer mentor who completed the same program.

The selected writing program participants are Disha Manocha, a comedy writer from Mumbai, India, who has written and produced a comedy short film and written for the Disney Television Talent Showcase; Marcus Perkins Bejarano, a Bolivian-American storyteller who has co-written comedy songs featuring characters from Genshin Impact that garnered over 20 million YouTube views and 4.5 million Spotify streams; and Teddy Sevilla, a writer and comedian from Massachusetts who performs stand-up and contributes at Clickhole and The Onion.

The selected artist program participants are Wes Smith, a recent graduate of the School of Visual Arts who is on the storyboard path; Lisa Bird, a CG artist from Colorado who is on the CG generalist path; Lauren Bird, a designer and illustrator from Interior Alaska on the visual development path; and Anthony Hernandez, a Mexican-American story artist from California on the storyboard path.

“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 VP of public affairs at 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.”