Derek Drymon (born November 19, 1968) is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, director, comedian, and producer. He has worked on numerous animated cartoon productions.

Early life

Derek Drymon was born in New Jersey. t=movies "Derek Drymon"

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. Retrieved October 29, 2017. He attended Jefferson Township and Dover public schools as a child and enjoyed drawing and making comic books. Drymon graduated from Jefferson Township High School in 1987. Drymon attended the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

(SVA) in New York, where he majored in Illustration, sharpening his drawing skills and moving from still images to animation. He graduated from SVA in 1992.Halm, Dan (Winter 2002). "Soaking in Talent" '' Visual Arts Journal'',

(New York City). pp. 24 – 25.

Career

Drymon obtained an internship with Disney on the strength of his life drawings. Drymon was discovered by

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

in 1993. He moved to California to work as an animator for Nickelodeon. In 1993, Drymon also began working as a storyboard artist and writer for ''

Rocko's Modern Life ''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American Television comedy, comedy animated television series created by Joe Murray (animator), Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic Australian ...

''. It was here he met two of his future employers, Tim Hill,

Chris Savino Christopher Mason Savino (born October 2, 1971) is an American comic book artist, writer and former animator. He is well-known for having created the animated series '' The Loud House'' (2016–present) for Nickelodeon. Savino has also worked on ...

and

Stephen Hillenburg Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (August 21, 1961 – November 26, 2018) was an American animator, writer, producer, director, voice actor, and marine biology educator. Hillenburg was best known for creating the animated television series ''SpongeBo ...

; Hill was a writer, Hillenburg was a co-producer and storyboard artist. In 1997, Hillenburg created ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

''. Drymon performed many duties on ''SpongeBob'', including being a writer on all episodes, the creative director, and, on his last season with the show, supervising producer. Drymon also worked on the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

animated series ''

Camp Lazlo ''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey who goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout–like summer camp in the Pim ...

''. Drymon worked on Tim Hill's side project, the popular ''

KaBlam! ''KaBlam!'' (stylized as ''KaBLaM!'') is an American animated sketch comedy anthology television series that ran on Nickelodeon from October 11, 1996 to May 27, 2000, with repeats until November 2, 2001. The series was created by Robert Mittenth ...

'' skit ''

Action League Now! ''Action League Now!'' (advertised as ''Action League Now!: The Series'' when packaged into a half-hour block) is a series of stop motion shorts that aired as part of both '' All That'' and '' KaBlam!'' on Nickelodeon. It was made using "chuckima ...

'', as a storyboard artist. He also wrote the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-nominated episode of ''

CatDog ''CatDog'' is an American animated television series created by Peter Hannan for Nickelodeon. The series follows the zany hijinks of orange-furred conjoined brothers of different species, with one half of the resultant animal being a cat and t ...

'' "Doggone". Drymon met

on the Nickelodeon cartoon ''

''. Hillenburg recalled Drymon as "one of the main people in the genesis of SpongeBob". Drymon teamed up with Hillenburg, Hill, and Nick Jennings who was also a companion from Nickelodeon. Drymon was the creative director for the first three seasons and became Supervising Producer in

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

until being replaced by

Paul Tibbitt Paul Harrison Tibbitt IV (born May 13, 1968) is an American animator, writer, and voice actor, best known for his work on the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. After its creator Stephen Hillenburg resigned in 2004, Tibbitt took his po ...

starting in

season 4 Season 4 may refer to: * "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock'' See also * * Season One (disambiguation) * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album), 2014 * ''2econd Season'', an album ...

. Along with Stephen Hillenburg, Drymon approved the writers' ideas and outlines for episodes and controlled the creative and production process on SpongeBob. Drymon was eventually promoted to Executive producer on television show ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

'', and become a lead writer and director for

DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film studio and Film distribution, distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994, as a live-action a ...

, Illumination Entertainment,

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...

and

Rovio Animation Rovio Animation, Ltd. (also known as Rovio Animation Studios) is a Canadian animation studio. It is a division of Ferly Corporation (formerly known as Kaiken Entertainment) after it was acquired from its original owner, Rovio Entertainment in M ...

. During the first three seasons of SpongeBob, Drymon being creative director allowed him to work with executive story editor

Merriwether Williams Merriwether St. John Williams (born March 28, 1968) is an American television writer, former Nickelodeon executive and actress, who has worked on television shows such as ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'', ''Camp ...

and the rest of the writing team. Staff writer

Kent Osborne Kent Matthew Osborne (born August 30, 1969) is an American animator, writer, producer, director, and actor. He has worked for such animated television shows as ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''Camp Lazlo'', ''Phineas and Ferb'', '' The Marvelous Mi ...

responded to the writing process with Drymon and other writers by saying "By the third season we had done 26 half-hours. I came up with millions of ideas". Despite the issues with writing new episodes, Drymon collaborated with the writers to create episode ideas like the half-hour specials and episodes that focused on other characters, for example the season three episodes "The Algae Always Greener" and "Plankton's Army" focused on Sheldon Plankton and "Doing Time" focused on

Mrs. Puff Mrs. Penelope "Poppy" Puff is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and every film based on the franchise. Voiced by Mary Jo Catlett, Mrs. Puff debuted in the season one episode "Boating Sc ...

. Drymon said in an interview "Coming up with episode ideas was always tough". The writers were influenced for the episode "The Secret Box", which was influenced by Drymon because he told them when he was younger he kept a "secret box", the writers thought it was hilarious and weird and used Drymon's idea to create the story of the episode. Drymon co-wrote the pilot episode "Help Wanted". Drymon earned two Emmy nominations and along with the crew of SpongeBob won the "Best Animated Television Production" Annie award in 2005 for

of SpongeBob. Drymon hired a large amount of the staff writers, including

Sam Henderson Sam Henderson (born October 18, 1969) is an American cartoonist, writer, and expert on American comedy history. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series ''Magic Whistle''. He was a contributor to the animated television series ''Sponge ...

, a friend and fellow alumnus of SVA, along with

and

Walt Dohrn Walter Dohrn (born December 5, 1970) is an American writer, director, animator, musician, and actor. He performed the voice of Rumpelstiltskin in ''Shrek Forever After'' (2010), as well as various characters in ''Shrek the Third'' (2007). He co-d ...

. From 2008 to 2017, Drymon work as a Storyboard Artist for

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

, working on films such as the ''

Kung Fu Panda ''Kung Fu Panda'' is an American martial arts comedy media franchise that started in 2008 with the release of the animated film '' Kung Fu Panda'' produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping (primarily v ...

'' trilogy, ''

Monsters vs. Aliens ''Monsters vs. Aliens'' is a 2009 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman from a screenplay written by Let ...

'', ''

Shrek Forever After ''Shrek Forever After'' is a 2010 American animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig. Directed by Mike Mitchell (in his animated directorial debut) and written by Josh Klausner and ...

'', ''

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" (; ; ; ) is a European fairy tale about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand in marriage of a princess for his penniless and low-born master. The oldest written telling version ...

'', ''

Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

'', ''

Penguins of Madagascar ''Penguins of Madagascar'' is a 2014 American animated spy comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by 20th Century Fox. A spinoff of the ''Madagascar'' film series, it was directed by Eric Darnell and ...

'', and '' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie''. Drymon was an executive producer (with

Fred Seibert Frederick G. Seibert is an American television producer and media proprietor. Seibert began his professional career as a jazz and blues record producer and audio engineer in the 1970s. He co-founded the record label Oblivion Records by 1972 an ...

) on the

series ''

'', created by

Pendleton Ward Pendleton Ward is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Frederator Studios, and Netflix Animation. He created the series ''Adventure Time'', the Internet series ''Brave ...

for the show's first season. He was no longer credited on episodes starting with the second season. On September 17, 2020, Drymon was set to co-direct '' Hotel Transylvania: Transformania'' with story artist

Jennifer Kluska Jennifer Kluska is an American film director, screenwriter, and storyboard artist best known for her work on ''DC Super Hero Girls'' (2018) and '' Hotel Transylvania: Transformania'' (2022). Career In 2015, Kluska began her career by serving a ...

. In April 2023, Drymon was announced as the director of the fourth ''

'' theatrical film titled '' The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants''.

Filmography

Television

Film

Bibliography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drymon, Derek 1968 births Living people American storyboard artists Jefferson Township High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Jefferson Township, New Jersey Artists from Morristown, New Jersey Animators from New Jersey American television writers American male screenwriters American animated film directors American animated film producers American male television writers American male comedians 21st-century American comedians Screenwriters from New Jersey Nickelodeon Animation Studio people Cartoon Network Studios people DreamWorks Animation people Nickelodeon people Sony Pictures Animation people School of Visual Arts alumni Comedians from Morris County, New Jersey