Nickelodeon Bolsters Animation Division

Nickelodeon has appointed three executives to newly created senior positions at its animation studio headquarters in California, including Darlene Caamaño Loquet, who has been named senior VP of Nickelodeon movies.

Additionally, Liz Paulson has been tapped for the role of senior VP of Nickelodeon animation casting and talent development, and Camille Eden has been appointed VP of Nickelodeon recruiting and talent development. All three will report to Ramsey Naito, executive VP of Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

In these roles, Caamaño Loquet will oversee Nickelodeon’s movie business, building and managing a slate of content for features and SVOD services; Paulson will run animation casting and talent development for the animation studio, which will include development and current series productions, movies and short-form content; and Eden will lead the recruitment for the animation studio, finding and placing new talent that will help develop a growing slate of series and feature productions.

Caamaño Loquet recently served as VP of production at Fox Animation, where she brought in and packaged several projects including National Book Award winner The Girl Who Drank the Moon, the New York Times best-selling trilogy Zita the Space Girl, as well as the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel NIMONA, currently in production at Blue Sky Studios, on which she also served as producer. Prior to joining Fox Animation, Caamaño Loquet served as president and COO of NALA Films, producing projects such as The Bling Ring, Decoding Deepak, Casa De Mi Padre, In The Valley of Elah and Dan in Real Life.

Paulson has spent the past 20 years in the field of casting, discovering emerging talent and aligning high-end talent in the television arena. Most recently, she served as senior VP of casting at 20th Century Fox Television, overseeing various scripted and animation television projects, including American Horror Story, 9-1-1, Empire, Bob’s Burgers, Bless The Harts and Fresh off the Boat, among others. Paulson began her career in the commercial landscape and is a founding partner of Mel & Liz Casting, a commercial casting company that works with a variety of high-profile television and feature directors.

Most recently, Eden oversaw the recruitment and outreach strategy at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Her credits include Frozen 2, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Moana, Zootopia, Big Hero 6, Frozen and Wreck-it Ralph. In 2004, Eden joined DreamWorks Animation on their first CG feature, Shark Tale. The following year, she transitioned from production to talent acquisitions/talent management working at Sony Pictures Imageworks recruiting for visual effects and animated features, as well as spearheading efforts for satellite offices in Bristol, England, Albuquerque and Vancouver.

Said Naito: “Nickelodeon Animation is focused on three vital elements to drive our business forward—building the culture, developing talent and creating great animated content for kids and families everywhere—and Darlene, Liz and Camille are the perfect leaders to bring our creative-lead mission into the future.”