Ex-Nick exec joins Saban Brands

Former Nickelodeon senior VP Rick Magallanes is joining Saban Brands.

Magallanes left Nick Animation Studio earlier this year as part of the wide-ranging restructure at the Viacom network, and now becomes Saban’s senior VP, development and production.

His hire comes just over a week after Sanrio president and COO Janet Hsu was revealed as Saban’s first CEO, and soon after company president Elie Dekel decided to leave.

Magallanes will drive Saban’s content development and production efforts, working on titles such as Popples, Cirque du Soleil – Luna Petuniaand Emojiville. He is credited as a co-developer of Nick’s reworked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

He will also aid the creation of new projects, forge production pacts and identify and vet potential content acquisitions.

“Rich has been a key player in some of Nickelodeon’s biggest television shows over the past two decades from SpongeBob SquarePantsto Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” said Joel Andryc, interim President at Saban Brands.“He is a highly talented executive, and we are excited to see his creativity and innovation come to life through our entertainment properties.”

With Magallanes senior VP, development and production, the current incumbent of that post, Brian Casentini, is switching to senior VP, Power Rangers

In the post, Casentini will oversee all creative for the key revenue-driving Power Rangers brand, serving as a producer on a new live-action feature film and executive producing the TV series, which is now on Nick and in its twenty-second season overall.