As part of a team shuffle orchestrated by recently installed film chief Dan Lin, Hannah Minghella (pictured) has joined Netflix as head of feature animation and live-action family film. Minghella hails from LA’s Bad Robot, where she served as president of motion pictures for the past four years, supervising development and production for the studio’s film slate. 

In related news, animation film VP Karen Toliver and feature animation president Traci Balthazor are both exiting the streamer. Toliver has been with Netflix for two years, and Balthazor joined in 2019, originally as a director of animation production for features. Both played major roles in building the animated film division, launching successful titles such as Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (which earned an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2023) and Leo (which had been viewed 96 million times by the end of 2023).

Netflix has also announced that Sharon Taylor is coming back to the fold to head up feature animation production. Based in Vancouver, Taylor is the former CEO of Animal Logic Studios (The LEGO Movie), which Netflix acquired in 2022 and merged with its animation arm this past January, prompting Taylor’s resignation.

Minghella reports directly to Lin, who values her strong relationships with top filmmakers and her familiarity with both animation and live action. She previously worked at Sony Pictures for 15 years, joining the company’s Sony Pictures Animation division as a director of creative affairs in 2005, and overseeing the launch of major kids & family franchises like Hotel Transylvania, The Amazing Spider-Man and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs over the years.

Lin, who reorganized Netflix’s film team along genre-based lines in April, was bullish about its animation prospects during a recent town hall. The medium has demonstrated its appeal by consistently achieving high viewing numbers in the streamer’s What We Watched report. 

Image courtesy of Hannah Minghella.