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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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Derek Drymon | |
|---|---|
 Drymon in 2026 | |
| Born | Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | School of Visual Arts |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1986–present |
| Known for | |
Derek Drymon is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, director, comedian, and producer. He has worked on numerous animated cartoon productions.
Derek Drymon was born in New Jersey.[1] 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.[2] Drymon attended the School of Visual Arts (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.[3]
Drymon obtained an internship with Disney on the strength of his life drawings.[3]
Drymon was discovered by Nickelodeon in 1992. He moved to California to work as an animator for Nickelodeon. In 1994, Drymon also began working as a storyboard artist and writer for Rocko's Modern Life.[4] It was here he met five of his future employers, Chris Savino, Tim Hill, Mark O'Hare, Nick Jennings, and Stephen Hillenburg; Hill was a writer, Hillenburg was a co-producer and storyboard artist. In 1996, Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants. Drymon performed many duties on SpongeBob SquarePants, including being a writer on all episodes, the creative director, and, on his last season with the show, supervising producer.[5] Drymon also worked on the Cartoon Network animated series Camp Lazlo. Drymon worked on Tim Hill's side project, the popular KaBlam! skit Action League Now!, as a storyboard artist. He also wrote the Emmy Award-nominated episode of CatDog "Doggone".[6]
Drymon met Stephen Hillenburg on the Nickelodeon cartoon Rocko's Modern Life. 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 the supervising producer in season 3 until being replaced by Paul Tibbitt as the supervising producer and Vincent Waller as the creative director starting in season 4. Along with Stephen Hillenburg, Drymon approved the writers' ideas and outlines for episodes and controlled the creative and production process on SpongeBob.[citation needed]
Drymon was eventually promoted to executive producer on Adventure Time, and become a lead writer and director for DreamWorks Animation, Illumination Entertainment, Sony Pictures Animation and Rovio Animation. During the first three seasons of SpongeBob, Drymon being creative director allowed him to work with executive story editor Merriwether Williams and the rest of the writing team.
Staff writer Kent Osborne 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. 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 season 3 of SpongeBob.[citation needed]
Drymon hired a large amount of the staff writers, including Sam Henderson, a friend and fellow alumnus of SVA, along with Kent Osborne and Walt Dohrn.[citation needed]
From 2008 to 2017, Drymon worked as a storyboard artist for DreamWorks Animation, working on films such as the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek Forever After, Puss in Boots, Turbo, Penguins of Madagascar, and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
Drymon was an executive producer (with Fred Seibert) on the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time, created by Pendleton Ward for the show's first season. He was no longer credited on episodes starting with the second season.[7]
On September 17, 2020, Drymon was set to co-direct Hotel Transylvania: Transformania with story artist Jennifer Kluska.[8]
In April 2023, Drymon was announced as the director of the fourth SpongeBob SquarePants theatrical film titled The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.[9]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1993–1996 | Rocko's Modern Life | assistant storyboard artist (season 1–3) / additional writer (season 4) / assistant director & storyboard artist (season 4) |
| 1996–1997 | Hey Arnold! | storyboard artist / director |
| 1996–2000 | KaBlam! | storyboard artist (Action League Now!) |
| 1998 | CatDog | storyboard director / storyboard artist / storyboard supervisor / writer |
| 1999–2004 | SpongeBob SquarePants | creative director (season 1–3) / writer (season 1–3) / storyboard artist (Help Wanted) / supervising producer (season 3) |
| 2007 | Diggs Tailwagger | creator / director / writer / executive producer (pilot) |
| 2008 | Camp Lazlo | writer / storyboard director ("Samson Needs a Hug" episode) |
| 2010 | The Cartoonstitute | creator / writer (“Danger Planet” and “Stockboys of the Apocalypse” pilots) |
| Adventure Time | executive producer (season 1) | |
| 2017 | Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer | writer ("Crab Hands" episode) |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | My Life with Morrissey | Bad Comedian | |
| 2004 | The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie | The Screamer / Fisherman | writer / storyboard artist / executive producer / sequence director co-written with Tim Hill, Stephen Hillenburg, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer and Paul Tibbitt |
| 2008 | Kung Fu Panda | additional storyboard artist | |
| 2009 | Monsters vs. Aliens | additional story artist | |
| 2010 | Shrek Forever After | story artist | |
| Megamind | special thanks | ||
| 2011 | Hop | storyboard artist | |
| Kung Fu Panda 2 | additional story artist | ||
| Puss in Boots | additional story artist | ||
| Night of the Living Carrots | storyboard artist | ||
| 2013 | Turbo | Worker Snail #2/FAST Network Trackside Reporter | story artist |
| 2014 | Penguins of Madagascar | head of story | |
| 2015 | The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water | writer, "Squeeze Me" | |
| 2016 | Kung Fu Panda 3 | story artist | |
| 2017 | Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie | storyboard artist | |
| 2019 | Santa's Little Helpers (Minion Mini–Movie) | director | |
| 2021 | Monster Pets | Tinkles / Zombie / Gillmen | director |
| 2022 | Hotel Transylvania: Transformania | Human Zombie (Cameo) | director co-directed with Jennifer Kluska |
| 2025 | The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants | director / story artist |
| Month | Title | Issue | Story | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr. 2011 | SpongeBob Comics | No. 2 | "Picture This!" | United Plankton Pictures | Story |
| Jun. 2011 | No. 3 | "Squidward and the Golden Clarinet" | |||
| Oct. 2011 | No. 5 | "Day Off / Off Day" | |||
| Aug. 2012 | No. 11 | "Dear Diary" | |||
| Oct. 2012 | No. 13 | "Drawn In" and "The Curse of the Flying Dutchman" | |||
| Nov. 2012 | No. 14 | "For the Love of Chum" | |||
| Dec. 2012 | No. 15 | "Connect the Dots" | |||
| Jan. 2013 | No. 16 | "The Treasure of Captain Goldfish" | |||
| Apr. 2013 | No. 19 | "Morning Melody" | |||
| May 2013 | No. 20 | "Sponge Monkey" | |||
| Oct. 2013 | No. 25 | "The Dutchman's Challenge" | |||
| Jan. 2014 | No. 28 | "Curse of the King Krabbe" | |||
| "My Life as a Crossing Guard" | |||||
| Feb. 2014 | No. 29 | "Scaredy Snail" | |||
| May 2014 | No. 32 | "Showdown at the Shady Shoals: Part 1" | |||
| Jun. 2014 | No. 33 | "Showdown at the Shady Shoals: Part 2" | |||
| Jul. 2014 | No. 34 | "Showdown at the Shady Shoals: Part 3" | |||
| Aug. 2014 | No. 35 | "Showdown at the Shady Shoals: Part 4" | |||
| Sept. 2014 | No. 36 | "Showdown at the Shady Shoals: Part 5" | |||
| Oct. 2014 | No. 37 | "Dreams of the Dreaming Dreamer" | |||
| Feb. 2015 | No. 41 | "Star of the Show" and "Snow Job" | |||
| Apr. 2015 | No. 43 | "Fry Cook 2.0" | |||
| Jun. 2015 | No. 45 | "Patrick's Itch" | |||
| Oct. 2015 | No. 49 | "Patty Thing!" | |||
| Nov. 2015 | No. 50 | "Mash-Up Pants" | |||
| Apr. 2016 | No. 55 | "The Ballad of Barnacle Bill: Part 1" | |||
| May 2016 | No. 56 | "The Ballad of Barnacle Bill: Part 2" | |||
| Jun. 2016 | No. 57 | "On the Lam" |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Derek Drymon is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, director, comedian, and producer. He has worked on numerous animated cartoon productions.
Paul Harrison Tibbitt IV is an American animator, writer, and voice actor, best known for his work on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. After its creator Stephen Hillenburg and creative director and supervising producer Derek Drymon resigned in 2004, Tibbitt took his position of showrunner and supervising producer for the show's fourth through ninth seasons. He also took over as the voice of Potty the Parrot, whom Hillenburg had voiced until his resignation. Tibbitt made his feature film directorial debut directing The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. He studied in the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. In 2015, Tibbitt stepped down as supervising producer and showrunner. It was also announced that Tibbitt would leave the series after season 9 to work on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (which was produced and released by a separate crew with limited involvement from the show's crew), but he was fired and his directing and writing position was taken by Tim Hill.
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg that debuted on Nickelodeon in the United States on May 1, 1999. The regular voice cast consists of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, Carolyn Lawrence, Mary Jo Catlett and Lori Alan. Most one-off and background characters are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, Sirena Irwin, Bob Joles, Mark Fite, Thomas F. Wilson and Carlos Alazraqui. Throughout the show's run, it has employed numerous guest stars from many ranges of professions. Repeated guests include Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marion Ross, John O'Hurley and Michael McKean. SpongeBob SquarePants chronicles the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. Many of the ideas for the show originated in an unpublished, educational comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which Hillenburg created in the mid-1980s. He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, another Nickelodeon animated series which Hillenburg directed. While creating the show, Hillenburg, with colleague Derek Drymon, was also conducting auditions to find voices for the show's characters. He turned to Kenny, who had worked with him on Rocko's Modern Life, to voice the title character. The cast members receive residuals every time a new episode they appeared in has aired, which Carolyn Lawrence described as "a very complicated mathematical calculation." Lawrence said in 2008 that it was a "declining scale" and the entertainment industry were "still in negotiations... both sides are still talking." She further stated that "they're still trying to work it out." Kenny and Catlett were the first cast members to receive award nominations for their performance on SpongeBob SquarePants. They each received Annie Award nominations in 2001, but did not win. In 2010, Kenny won the Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in a Television Production, making it the first time a cast member had won this type of award. Bumpass was the first cast member to be nominated for an Emmy Award, receiving a nomination in 2012. In 2018, Kenny won both an Annie Award and an Emmy Award for his performance as SpongeBob.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 American animated adventure comedy film co-written and directed by Stephen Hillenburg. Based on the television series SpongeBob SquarePants created by Hillenburg, the film features the series' regular voice cast, including Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass and Mr. Lawrence, who are joined by Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson and Jeffrey Tambor, with David Hasselhoff appearing in live action as himself. In the film, SpongeBob with Patrick sets out on a quest to Shell City to retrieve King Neptune's stolen crown, exonerate his boss Mr. Krabs, stop Plankton, and prove his manhood. Hillenburg accepted an offer for a film adaptation of SpongeBob SquarePants from Paramount Pictures in 2002, after turning it down multiple times the previous year. He assembled a team from the show's writing staff, including himself, Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer and Paul Tibbitt, and structured the film as a mythical hero's journey that would bring SpongeBob and Patrick to the surface. The film was originally intended to serve as the series finale, but due to its financial success, the show continued. Tibbitt took Hillenburg's place as showrunner afterwards. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 14, 2004, and was released in the United States on November 19 by Paramount. It received generally positive reviews and grossed $141 million on a $30 million budget. It is the first in a series of SpongeBob films.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
