Cottonwood Pacts with Industry Veteran Sarah Haasz

Cottonwood Media is collaborating with creative producer Sarah Haasz, who will oversee the company’s North American slate of live-action series and animation.

The partnership also gives Cottonwood a right of first refusal to shows that Haasz creates. A former Canadian network executive, Haasz’s experience in kids’ media spans both the broadcast and production sides of the industry.

Haasz’s first 20 years in children’s television were spent as a broadcast executive for top networks in Canada, including YTV, Treehouse, CBC Kids, Disney XD Canada, Disney Jr. Canada and, most recently, Family Channel. Haasz subsequently created original IPs and assisted producers in making their shows become reality. As part of her network portfolio, Haasz was involved in the execution of successful series and movies such as The Next Step, Raising Expectations, Backstage, Gaming Show, Playdate and Justin Time. Haasz is credited for working on 2,000-plus hours of children’s programming in a range of genres.

Cottonwood’s David Michel, Zoé Carrera and Cécile Lauritano commented, “We have known and enjoyed working with Sarah as a broadcaster for over a decade. We couldn’t be happier to have her involved with Cottonwood in developing our North American slate. Sarah has brilliant creative instincts, very much in line with our goal as a company: to produce unique, high-end live-action and animation content.”

“I’m thrilled to be collaborating again with David Michel and look forward to working with the talented team at Cottonwood,” said Haasz. “David’s history of creating premium content for preschool and family audiences will enable me to pursue unique, high-quality co-productions to add to Cottonwood’s already robust development slate.”