JHC Announces New Structure of TV Department

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The Jim Henson Company Announces New Structure of Television Department


New Hires Eric Poticha and Halle Stanford to Lead Next Chapter of

JHC Television Development

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- 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."

The Jim Henson Company, an established leader in family entertainment for nearly half a century, is recognized worldwide as a leader in puppetry, animatronics and computer graphics. Best known as creators of the world famous Muppets (the rights to which are now owned by The Walt Disney Company), Henson is the recipient of nearly 50 Emmy Awards and nine Grammy Awards. Additionally, Jim Henson's Creature Shop(TM) has received two Academy Awards for the visual effects and animatronic builds for the 1996 smash Babe, and the invention of the Henson Performance Control System -- a powerful character performance technology. Recent productions include Five Children and It and the Emmy nominated Farscape as well as the upcoming feature MirrorMask. The company is currently in post-production on Muppets Wizard of Oz for Buena Vista television and Frances, a preschool production in partnership with HIT Entertainment featuring Henson's proprietary digital puppetry technology. Headquartered in Los Angeles with offices and production facilities in New York and London, The Jim Henson Company's website is located at: www.henson.com.
 
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