Jim Henson Company president of TV Halle Stanford shifts to production, strikes first-look deal
Halle Stanford, president of television and exec producer at The Jim Henson Company (TJHC), has relaunched her own company and signed a first-look producer deal with TJHC.
Halle Stanford
Stanford will continue working with TJHC CEO Lisa Henson, who will oversee the creative affairs team including VP of feature films Tara Billik, director of primetime development Delaney Shiokari, production exec Tim O’Brien, creative supervisor for Fraggle Rock John Tartaglia and a yet-to-be-hired VP of kids’ development.
Stanford first joined TJHC in 1993, working on projects including Muppet Treasure Island and Bear in the Big Blue House, before leaving temporarily in 2000 to found 7 Crow Stories.
She returned to TJHC in 2003 as senior VP and exec producer, before becoming exec VP and then president of television in 2017. Projects launched under her helm include The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Word Party for Netflix, and Harriet the Spy and Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock for Apple TV+.
Stanford has now relaunched 7 Crow Stories, under which she will develop live-action and animated projects for TJHC in the preschool, family and primetime spaces.
Its projects include primetime fantasy series Goblins with actor Norman Reedus, primetime animated series Lore Olympus, which is based on the Webtoon digital comic series, and older kids’ animated series Adrenaline Lemmings, all of which have been announced previously.
Stanford is also attached to develop a future production of classic 1980s series Fraggle Rock and will serve as creator, showrunner and writer for multiple TJHC projects that she has personally created and written.
These include live-action puppet preschool series Jim Henson’s Wowsabout!, which is set to begin shooting this summer. The comedy, co-created by Stanford and Dorien Davies (Word Party), follows a guitar-playing hedgehog and a tree-loving pig as they embark on an adventure to discover the ‘wows of the world.’
Davies and John Tartaglia (Fraggle Rock) will co-exec produce and perform as puppeteers. The show has also partnered with Dacher Keltner from UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, to integrate aspects of the college’s curriculum.
Stanford said: “I’m deeply grateful for this new chapter with The Jim Henson Company as we continue to innovate family programming and collaborate with the very best dreamers in the world.”
Lisa Henson added: “Over her decades of work with The Jim Henson Company, Halle has brought to bear the positive influence that television can have on generations of children and has also dedicated herself to developing her own powerful, inspiring and joyous creative voice.
“Through her collaborative producing, thoughtful writing and dynamic leadership, she has built a strong scaffolding for herself as a showrunner for a raft of productions that reflect her deep understanding and mastery of children’s television.”
