New Hires Eric Poticha and Halle Stanford to lead next chapter of JHC Television Development
Hollywood, CA (December 08, 2004) – The Jim Henson Company has hired Eric Poticha as Vice President of Television and Halle Stanford as Head of Children’s Television, continuing its strategic objective of increasing its network and cable programming portfolio. The announcement was made today by Lisa Henson, Co-CEO (with Brian Henson) of The Jim Henson Company, to whom both will report. Poticha is charged with developing new comedy and drama series, miniseries and features for television as well as develop future Muppet projects to be produced by Henson for The Walt Disney Company. Stanford will lead the company’s development and production of all preschool and children’s programming for both television and direct-to-video projects in animated and live-action formats. She will also work closely with HIT Entertainment on pre-school programming for the co-production agreement recently announced by the two companies.
Mr. Poticha most recently served as Vice President of Movies and Miniseries at Fox Television Studios where he helped build the division into one of the top suppliers of longform programming. He conceived of and developed the FX original movie 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shootout, which became the highest rated program in the network’s history, and the Fox network reality show Girl Next Door, which he co-created with Hugh Hefner. Poticha also originated the development of Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, a made-for-television feature from Touchstone Television and The Jim Henson Company now in post-production.
Ms. Stanford returns to JHC after successfully founding 7 Crows Stories, a children’s creative company responsible for consulting on such upcoming projects as Krypto and Baby Looney Toons, two animated preschool series for Warner Brothers Animation Studios, as well as executive producing the Pat the Bunny DVD series for Classic Media. During her previous tenure at Henson, she led the children’s television division with projects like Animal Jam, which she also executive produced and currently airing on Discovery Kids, and the successful franchise Bear in the Big Blue House which was sold to The Walt Disney Company earlier this year. She also initiated Henson’s acquisition and development of Frances, an animated preschool project currently in postproduction and featuring the company’s proprietary digital puppetry technology.
“Eric and Halle are the perfect leaders for our company’s growing television development slate,” said Lisa Henson. “From working with Eric on Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, we know that he can not only create exciting quality programming but also has the strong relationships in the creative community essential to bringing such projects through production. Halle has a proven record with our company of seeking out exciting talent and material that can be nurtured into strong brands that resonate with the kids market.”