Hollywood Money: The 75 Most Powerful People in Kids’ Entertainment

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The 75 Most Powerful People in Kids’ Entertainment

For today’s young viewers, it’s Saturday morning all day, every day. As kid-targeted content — and the platforms offering it — proliferate, the creators and executives listed here have figured out how to capture children’s precious attention and better reflect their worlds.

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Bruce W. Smith & Ralph Farquhar​

The Proud Family: Louder & Prouder

Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar COURTESY OF SUBJECT; COURTESY OF DISNEY
Created for the Disney Channel in 2001, Smith’s The Proud Family was a groundbreaking success thanks to its unique depiction of a Black suburban family that focused on storylines and featured vernacular specific to African American culture. The animated series ran for two seasons, culminating in a 2005 film The Proud Family Movie. Its revival, The Proud Family: Louder & Prouder, premiered on Disney+ in 2022. Co-created with Farquhar, an executive producer on the original series, this iteration follows the same characters with the addition of a few others and explores themes related to puberty, social media and family genealogy.

 

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Kay Wilson Stallings​

Sesame Workshop

Kay Wilson Stallings COURTESY OF SUBJECT
Overseeing the nonprofit studio that produces Sesame Street for eight years, exec vp Stallings has introduced a wave of changes to the children’s programming stalwart, including a diverse writers fellowship program; a push to hire more female puppeteers; the introduction of humanoid Muppets with diverse racial backgrounds (like TJ, who is Filipino American); and the addition of a full-time diversity, equity and inclusion advocate on set. She oversees 35 new episodes a year, which air on PBS and Max.

 

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David Steward II & Stephanie Sperber​

Lion Forge Animation

David Steward II and Stephanie Sperber PAUL COLLETTI/COURTESY OF SUBJECT; COURTESY OF SUBJECT
Founded by Steward, Lion Forge Animation won an Oscar with its debut film, Matthew A. Cherry’s 2019 short Hair Love, about a Black father’s struggles to do his daughter’s hair for the first time. The rare Black-owned animation studio, Lion Forge has, under new president and CCO Sperber, stayed true to its mission to produce “diverse stories, authentically told,” including Disney Junior’s Rise Up, Sing Out, featuring music by The Roots’ Questlove and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter.

 

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Tabitha Brown​

Tab Time

Tabitha Brown COURTESY OF KIDS AT PLAY
The social media star, who boasts 5 million followers on TikTok and over 4 million on Instagram, sparked by her mom content and vegan cooking videos, has taken on the role of a modern-day Mister Rogers with her YouTube kids’ show Tab Time. The series — which has been nominated for two Emmys and is produced by production company Kids at Play — is geared toward preschoolers and their parents. Tab Time has also picked up two NAACP Image Awards since launching in December 2021.

 

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Ayo Davis​

Disney Branded Television

Ayo Davis CRAIG SJODIN/DISNEY
With Davis as president, Disney Branded Television, which supplies Disney+, Disney Channel and its offshoots with premium fare for kids and families, has inked major deals with everyone from producer Dan Povenmire — who will create new seasons of beloved series Phineas and Ferb and current hit Hamster & Gretel — to the BBC, which provides animated smash Bluey. Other new offerings from the 20-year Disney vet’s team include The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and The Santa Clauses.

 

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John Derderian & Karen Toliver​

Netflix

John Derderian and Karen Toliver COURTESY OF SUBJECT (2)
Commanding animated series and film, respectively, Derderian and Toliver are flooding the streaming service with options. But, after a spending spree in TV, features look like the priority in the current slate, with eight projects on the schedule and 13 in development from the likes of Lupita Nyong’o and Guillermo del Toro. The latter gifted Netflix with Pinocchio, which won the Oscar earlier this year for best animated feature of 2022 (a first for the streamer). On the series side, buzzy King Kong spinoff Skull Island arrives June 22.

 

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Everett Downing Jr. & Patrick Harpin​

My Dad the Bounty Hunter

Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin COURTESY OF SUBJECT (2)
Created by Downing and Harpin, Netflix’s animated sci-fi series My Dad the Bounty Hunter premiered in February, with a second season already slated for August. The show has been celebrated both for its winning mix of comedy and adventure and for its social commentary. “It’s a Black family getting to do what The Incredibles and other animated families do, and they get to have their own flaws and aren’t squeaky-clean either,” says Harpin.

 

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Dylan Gilmer​

Young Dylan

Dylan Gilmer LEON BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES
It was a viral Instagram video of a 5-year-old Gilmer rapping that landed him on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a spot that catapulted the young star into a network gig on Nickelodeon. Now in its third season, the hit show Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan stars Gilmer in the title role — and ranks as the top live-action program for kids ages 6-11. A content creator in his own right, Gilmer boasts half a million Instagram followers and nearly 150,000 YouTube subscribers with videos racking up millions of views. Loyal to his roots, the now 14-year-old is also still making rap music, putting out his first commercially released solo single, “TikTok,” last year.

 

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Alaya High​

That Girl Lay Lay

Alaya High PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHRISEAN ROSE
(See story here.)