On the brink of embarking on an expansion into live-action production, Lion Forge Animation has hired former Imagine Kids+Family president Stephanie Sperber as its new president and chief content officer. 

Going forward, the St. Louis-based company will be known as Lion Forge Entertainment, focusing on both animated and live-action content for kids, families and YA audiences. Sperber is heading up this evolution, and will focus on finding new IPs to develop and maximizing established franchises like Hair Love. Based in LA, she plans to mine the company’s catalogue of comic IPs, and will also optimize the company’s business operations through new production, distribution and consumer products deals. 

Sperber left her president position at Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment earlier this month, although she will continue to executive produce The Tiny Chef Show for Nickelodeon. Sperber has worked at Imagine since 2018, overseeing kids development and production on projects including Bossy Bear for Nick Jr., live-action series The Astronauts for Nickelodeon and upcoming Disney+ feature film The Slumber Party. 

Prior to Imagine, Sperber was president of Universal Studios’ global consumer products, digital gaming and brand promotions division, where she managed an expansion of the studio’s Despicable Me and Minions franchises into consumer products and games. In the early ’90s, she served as executive director of marketing at Turner Broadcasting for Hanna-Barbera Productions. 

Sperber first entered Lion Forge’s orbit back in 2020, when it signed a first-look partnership with Imagine Kids+Family to develop and produce new shows. 

It’s been a busy few years for the fast-growing indie studio, which opened its doors in 2019. It’s currently producing 2D-animated series Iyanu: Child of Wonder for Cartoon Network and HBO Max and Young Love (a follow-up to its Oscar-winning short film) for HBO Max, as well as co-producing Heiress with Canadian prodco BRON Digital. 

Lion Forge Animation’s former CEO Carl Reed departed in 2022 to launch his own studio, Composition Media.  

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Sperber.