The Skydance and Disney alum will lead efforts to adopt new technologies for the studio, especially those involving AI, mo-cap, and real-time rendering.
Skydance and Disney alum Jonathan Schneider has joined the “internet-first” animation studio Invisible Universe as president of studios, according to Variety. Schneider will lead efforts to adopt new technologies, especially AI, mo-cap, and real-time rendering as well as help build new business verticals for the studio.
Schneider previously served as a creative executive at Nickelodeon before his decade-long tenure with Disney’s television animation studio. From there, he pivoted to Skydance as senior VP, operations and business strategy.
“Jonathan is a bit of a Hollywood unicorn in that he has straddled both creative and operations at executive levels for some of the biggest companies in media,” Tricia Biggio, co-founder and CEO of Invisible Universe, said in a statement. “He shares the vision for Invisible Universe to continue redefining what it means to launch new franchises for this next generation.”
Invisible Universe was founded in 2018 and is backed by Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, Serena Williams, Jennifer Aniston and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC. The studio focuses on creating animated social media franchises which can be brought to film, TV, games, merchandise, publishing, and beyond. Most notably, their character-driven YouTube series Dance with Qai Qai will soon expand to books and toys.
“Invisible Universe is pioneering what it means to be an animation studio in a digital-first world, blending technology and new approaches to storytelling to develop franchises,” Schneider said.
Cybersecurity specialist by day, investigative journalist by night.
