Jens Opatz

Commissioning Editor, Redakteur

For the last twenty five years, Jens Opatz has been a part of the international animation business. After working as a camera assistant when he was still a teenager, he did an internship at a company called 181 productions in New York, where he worked as a storyboard artist. After founding his own animation company in Frankfurt specialized in classic stop-motion, he studied at the prestigious Animation Institute in Stuttgart. He graduated in 2002 and first became a head-writer for a German crime series before becoming co-producer and commissioning editor of KiKA- Der Kinderkanal. Between 2006 and 2020, he worked as a freelance commissioning editor and writer for many international animation projects. Since 2021, he is in charge of all animation co-productions at WDR.

Sarah Muller

Head of Commissioning & Acquisitions 7-12 BBC

Recently appointed as Head of Commissioning & Acquisitions 7-12, Sarah Muller rejoined BBC Children’s in 2019 as Head of Acquisitions and Animation. Previously she was Vice President of Children’s and Youth Programming at Sony Pictures Television with responsibility for the Pop and Sony Music Channels and before that, Sarah was Head of Children’s at Channel 5 where she was responsible for the Milkshake! brand. She was also Creative Director, Scripted, Animation and Co-Productions for CBBC In-House, a role that grew from her work as Head of CBBC Acquisitions, Animation and Drama Development. Passionate about all Kids’ content, but especially Drama and Animation, commissioned projects include “Danger Mouse”, “Strange Hill High”, “Creeped Out”, “Wolfblood”, “The Dumping Ground”, “The Worst Witch”, “Katie” and “Just William”.

Prior to joining BBC Children’s, she was Managing Director of Elephant Productions. As a producer, credits include 6 series of the multi-award winning, ratings success “Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids”(CITV).

Chris Rose

Vice President of Production and Development, Paramount Global Kids & Family

Chris Rose is Vice President of International Production and Development for Paramount’ Global Kids & Family Group. Rose heads up the internal and external animation development and production teams for Paramount’ Kids & Family brands outside of the U.S.

With more than 20 years of experience in broadcasting, development and production, Rose has a wealth of knowledge and is an expert in the in “hit making” process for kids content. Since joining Nickelodeon in 2018, Rose has secured several key projects and talent, and manages the brand’s global animated shorts program, which spawned Sharkdog, Nickelodeon’s first internationally originated global animated series for Netflix, which premiered worldwide in 2021 and was renewed for a second season.

Rose is responsible for growing the global kids’ and family content pipeline by leading the animation and live action development and production teams. Rose spearheads production development initiatives across the UK and aligns closely with production and development teams across Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Israel.

Rose previously ran the development and production arm of London’s Beano Studios (Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed, So Beano!) and served as TV Commissioning Editor for ABC ME and ABC KIDS, ABC Australia’s children’s channels. Other roles include VP of Programming and Development at HIT Entertainment and Content and Acquisitions Manager for CBeebies. His kids’ TV credits include The Deep, Little Lunch, and Mike the Knight.

Orion Ross

Vice President, Animation

The Walt Disney Company EMEA

Orion and his London-based team develop and produce animated content originated in Europe and Africa, working with independent studios and producers across the region, for Disney’s global platforms including Disney+, Disney Junior and Disney Channel. Prior to joining Disney’s London team, Orion lived in Hong Kong and worked as a producer for Star TV before his appointment as Creative Director for Cartoon Network’s Asia Pacific channels. He grew up in Colorado and graduated from Harvard University.

Recent and upcoming projects include the Disney+ Originals Chip ’n’ Dale: Park Life, Dragon Striker, The Doomies and the African sci-fi anthology Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire; pre-school series PJ Masks, Gigantosaurus and Kiya & The Kimoja Heroes; original children’s series Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, 101 Dalmatian Street, The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti, Viking Skool, Counterfeit Cat, Furiki Wheels and Space Chickens in Space; and the BAFTA-winning Disney XDFC shorts program.