From Ambition to Action: Stephanie Sperber’s Guide to Producing Kids' Content

STEPHANIE SPERBER, President & Chief Content Officer @ Lion Forge Entertainment, is known for executive producing THE TINY CHEF SHOW (4 million followers on Tiktok) and THE ASTRONAUTS for Nickelodeon.

Did you always know you wanted to pursue a career in entertainment?

No, I did not know at all!

I originally planned to be a lawyer. I went to UCSB, and I was a political science major and obsessed with politics.

My first job was actually working for Joe Biden when he was a senator and running for president in 1988. Just two days after I graduated, I got on a plane and went to DC to work for him. It was a blast.

After that experience, I decided that the best way to influence culture—at least as I saw it—was to enter the entertainment industry rather than pursue law or politics.

What's a piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

It was quite difficult to get into the entertainment industry, honestly.

I moved from DC to LA and had no connections. I started out by doing anything I could. My experience was that even in the most entry level positions, there’s always something amazing to learn.

However, in a very early position that I had, I was told by my male supervisors that I was “too ambitious.”

I wanted to learn so much that I would come in early, get my work done quickly, and then I’d run around and say, “Who needs help? I can do it. What do you need?”

I was expressing my enthusiasm like a 22 year old would, and I was told to tone it down.

My advice to younger people today is: Don’t listen to that. Be ambitious, but also balance that with respect, experience, and humility. Don’t assume you know everything—there’s great value in taking the time to learn the fundamentals. 

You've worked on a variety of projects from “The Tiny Chef Show” to the upcoming “Iyanu.” As a producer, what makes certain projects stand out to you?

What usually stands out to me is a creator with passion.

So many projects today feel like a commercial grab or a re-tread of something we’ve seen a million times.

I’m always drawn to projects with something unique or odd about them. I think Tiny Chef is the best example of that.

The creator knew exactly what she wanted to make. My job as her producer was to support her in creating the show she wanted, because I had complete faith that her vision would break through and resonate.

When adapting source material, I think a creator should be respectful of the original source material but also not be afraid to give it their own go. 

In the kids and family space, I receive a lot of pitches for very young picture books. Most are challenging to adapt, but some have the potential to become a series with a story engine that can continue in a fresh way.

Creating kids’ content is a significant responsibility. What kinds of messages or values do you hope children take away from Lion Forge’s content?

The most basic, underlying goal I hope our content and any kids’ content can do is to help make good humans.

It’s quite simple: let’s try to create good humans by teaching them the value of basic civility.

Kids are so amazing, positive, and open-minded, and it’s our job as kids’ content creators to open their eyes even wider, showing them that kindness, friendship, empathy, curiosity, and emotions are to be nurtured and embraced.

What does your creative process look like?

It usually starts with our team receiving a piece of material and engaging with it, whether it’s reading a book or hearing someone’s pitch for an original idea.

Sometimes, we’ll think, “Oh my gosh, we could do this with it,” or “Wouldn’t it be cool if we did this?” or “This might be crazy, but what if we did that?”

Even if our ideas don’t make it to the screen, if something sparks our interest and gets us talking and throwing around ideas, then we know it’s probably worth pursuing.

We also think a lot about the commercial path for the idea, because we are sellers. We think about who might want to buy it, what the target audience is, and who is programming for that audience.

So, the creative process is really about whether we’re excited about it and if we think we can sell it.

If a project already has a creator at its core, then we work with them to get the project to be the best version of itself, so it can be sold.

If the project is a book or another piece of existing IP, then our task is to match the creators we know with the IP. That’s a different path, focusing on whose take on the idea is the most creatively interesting and commercially viable.

What key lessons have you learned about being an effective producer and leader in entertainment?

I think that good producers tend to be good leaders, but not all good leaders are necessarily good producers. Producers are relentless; we have to be, because we’re putting together teams, scripts, and ideas from scratch, selling them, pushing them, and willing them into existence.

The most successful producers are like “happy warriors.” They know they’re going to face challenges everyday but do so with a smile on their face, solving problems in ways that benefit everyone.

I would say my leadership style is very empowering. I hire people that I believe are really great and I trust them to do their job. Being respectful, kind, and super open-minded to the talents and ideas of others is so important.

Also, I believe in providing structure, a clear path, and motivation. People need to know what the end goal is when they walk into a company. For example, Lion Forge sets out to tell diverse stories authentically, so we need to understand how we’re going to achieve that.

We might need to recruit from different employment pools to bring in people who haven’t had the same exposure or opportunities. We must deconstruct the steps to reach the ultimate vision and constantly remind people of that goal: to make cool, diverse, and authentic content that is also commercial and likely to get a green light.

Post-COVID, it’s also important to rebuild a culture of in-person collaboration, and bringing people together in a collaborative way to achieve the best creative outcomes is a key part of my role as a leader.

How do you maintain your well-being and work-life balance?

As I get older, maintaining balance has become much more important.

Everyone says to set boundaries, but I often wonder what that really means because it can feel quite abstract.

For me, setting boundaries means scheduling specific time for myself. I literally go into my calendar and schedule time to work out, to get out of the office, to spend time with my husband or daughter, and to plan vacations.

Our business is intense, and I’ve always been the type of person who will do whatever it takes to get things done. So, when it comes to work-life balance, it’s not always consistent and I tend to experience ups and downs.

This might not be the answer that younger people want to hear, but it reflects the reality of business and especially the stage of production when you are constantly needing to get things done.

Looking ahead, what changes would you like to see in the industry to better support and elevate women and people of color in leadership?

Recently, the Annenberg study came out and it was quite depressing. You think you’re making progress, only to realize that in 2023, the percentage of female leads was still very small, and for female leads of color, it was even worse.

Addressing this issue is complex and intersectional—there is no single solution.

One way to tackle it is to rethink the pipeline of bringing young people into the industry. It can’t be limited to only meeting with graduates from top film schools or only giving jobs to people with the most connections.

We need to widen the aperture and bring in people with diverse life experiences and backgrounds. Without this, the industry will never change.

People need to be open to giving a chance to amazing and exceptional women, people of color, neurodiverse talent, and LGBTQ talent.

At Lion Forge, we are committed to keeping an open mind and heart, from the most junior positions to leadership roles, and to looking at the talent pool differently.

What has been your proudest accomplishment?

Winning the Annie Award for “The Tiny Chef Show.” We were such underdogs. It was also a difficult show to produce, because it was so different from anything else on television at the time.

A few years back, we were all together on a very rainy night at the Annies, and when they announced Tiny Chef as the winner of the best preschool show, it was absolutely thrilling. To have our show recognized by the Annie Awards and the animation industry was so meaningful.