Mattel TV Studios hires Amazon, Jim Henson & Bad Robot alums

Sidney Clifton (Source: Mattel)

Barbie and Hot Wheels owner Mattel has made three senior appointments to its TV studio.

Sidney Clifton has been named as head of creative for animation; Cory Bennett Lewis has been appointed as head of production; and Amy Suh becomes head of creative for live action – scripted & unscripted.

All three will report directly to Michelle Mendelovitz, the former Disney, Apple TV+ and Sony Pictures Television exec who joined as global head of Mattel Television Studios in November 2023.

Cory Bennett Lewis (Source: Mattel)

Clifton has more than 20 years of experience as an an executive producer and development executive and most recently served as producer and SVP of animation and mixed media at The Jim Henson Company.

Prior to that she held roles at Deluxe Animation Studios, Riot Games, Bento Box Entertainment and Film Roman Animation, while her credits include Slumberkins, Marvel’s animated Black Panther, Me, Eloise!, The Happy Elf, Hellboy: Sword Of Storms, Hellboy: Blood And Iron, Stan Lee’s The Condor And Mosaic.

Lewis, meanwhile, most recently served as head of production at JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot, where she worked on winning animated short The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse, as well as franchises including Star Wars, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Alice in Wonderland, Jack Ryan and Cloverfield.

She has also managed and produced projects including Lovecraft Country for HBO, Lisey’s Story and Little Voice for Apple and Castle Rock for Hulu.

Suh most recently served as a senior development executive in co-production development for Amazon Studios, where she worked on upcoming series such as Noir and Silk, as well as Blumhouse’s Kay Scarpetta. She also brought in and spearheaded development for The Better Sister.

Prior to that, she was a senior executive on the genre development team where she worked on shows including Paper Girls and Night Sky. Before joining Amazon, Suh was a Sony Pictures Television executive where she worked on scripted drama projects including the horror anthology series Them and the young adult series Party Of Five.

Amy Suh (Source: Mattel)

“We are thrilled to welcome Sidney, Cory and Amy to Mattel,” said Mendelovitz. “Their breadth of experience working with top-tier talent across multiple genres and proven expertise creating series for global audiences make them perfectly suited for Mattel Television Studios’ next phase of growth.”

Mattel Television Studios is premiering 16 series and specials this year with 14 currently in production, and more than 30 in development. The toy giant is looking to mine its legacy IP for the screen, with projects including recent reboots for its Barney, Monster High and Masters Of The Universe franchises.

Barney is to return as a new animated pre-school series, while the doll franchise Monster High spawned an animated series on Nickelodeon last year, and Masters Of The Universe has launched two Netflix shows in recent years – She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power and Masters Of The Universe Revelation.