Meredith Metz believes that the main part of keeping talented people at a studio is to truly make they feel valued.

“The competition [for creative talent] is pretty intense right now. It's a small group – the artists everyone is working with is a limited set. If you’re an animator, you’re going from Nickelodeon to Disney to us very easily. The marketplace for ideas is being generated by a limited set of people.” In an effort to expand that set, Ouweleen admits, “we’re looking to creators outside animation, people with a point of view, but not necessarily from Cal Arts.

“We have a set way of working. When you go to atypical or first-time creators there’s a lot of upside and a bit more work. It’s more challenging but it’s a way to add a new voice to Cartoon Network.”

As befits Adult Swim’s niche audience, Weidenfeld is searching a different talent pool. “Most of my a job is being a headhunter – finding people I want to work with that are making or have made shows I like and saying, ‘do you want to do something?’ It's how most of our shows get made.

“It’s a small group of funny people. It's like a family – a lot of these guys know each other. They've worked on Conan together, Mr. Show together, they've gone through Kimmel. You've got all these writers who are moving in a certain circle. You've just got to tap into that and figure out who you want to work with.”

Weidenfeld also reads unsolicited pitches and receives between five and 10 a week, a number that will likely grow after this article is published. “What I like to think is a lot of these people who I send notes back to will like the fact a network has responded personally to them and told them to keep honing their skill and keep writing. It might help make their project eventually become a show I like or at least not depress them as much as some kind of shitty one line that says, ‘this isn't for us’.”

A development exec with winning a track record is fair game for other networks hoping the exec’s mojo will work magic for them as well. According Ouweleen, "there’s definitely a lot of churn” at the moment, while Weidenfeld acknowledges, “anyone with Adult Swim on their résumé is on a lot of peoples’ radar.” In this environment, convincing a valuable member of the team not to jump ship can take a bit of work.

“We’ve managed to hold on to people we believe in and people who add value to the process,” says Disney’s Metz. “Like any job you have to offer a tangible horizon for them – that they feel valued, compensated for their work, feel they’re making a difference in a project. I think that’s what keeps creative talent at a studio. We had a couple of people at different ranks depart. One moved to London for a job – that was a location driver.”

Wiebe also believes in retaining and rewarding talented staffers, but acknowledges “we have decisions that are high above us in terms of head count. I would never hold it against them for doing what’s best for their career. The two companies I’ve left to pursue other opportunities – the same thing was happening there, they couldn’t promote at the time. I always left with great relationships. It’s such a small community here and the animation side is even smaller. You cannot afford to make any enemies or burn any bridges in your relationships here.”

Gal’s ‘driver’ for leaving Disney in favor of Nickelodeon was the prospect of taking a major career step up to director of development. “I was the manager of creative affairs at Disney. There were a number of development execs – it was a much larger team. The opportunity at Nick was to be the principal animation development person and play a larger role in determining what shows get made, how they’re made and what talent we work with. It was a big step up in terms of responsibility and the scope of what I do. Finally, Nickelodeon has traditionally done fully animated pilots; at Disney most pilots were animatics or Leica reels. I was excited by the opportunity to work on a smaller slate of projects and put more time, energy and focus into each one.”

“Getting promoted and moving up is based on showing your superiors you already understand the next level,” Wiebe cautions. “No one wants to promote you to a position where you have to learn everything after you’re there. They want someone who is ready to go. To get promoted you not only have to do your current job as well as possible, but be prepared as well as possible for the next one.”

Gal concludes a note both idealistic and pragmatic. “I think the only way to do development is to give people room to pursue projects they’re passionate about. Some will turn out great, some will not. That’s part of development too – in order to have projects that are home runs out of the ballpark, you have to have some that fail.”

Joe Strike lives in New York City and writes for and about animation; he’s this close to finishing his children’s novel.