Vanessa Coffey is an American film producer best known for her work on ''

Rugrats ''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of toddlers; most prominently— Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and twins Phil and Lil, a ...

'', ''

The Ren & Stimpy Show ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' (also known as ''Ren & Stimpy'') is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Originally produced by Spümcø for Nickelodeon, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to Dece ...

'', ''

Doug Doug is a male personal name (or, depending on which definition of "personal name" one uses, part of a personal name). It is sometimes a given name (or "first name"), but more often it is hypocorism (affectionate variation of a personal name) which ...

'' and ''

Rocko's Modern Life ''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric stee ...

''. Coffey has won two

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

s and a

CableACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Am ...

Career

Marvel Animation

Coffey's film career began at Marvel Animation working on television shows including ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, ...

'', '' G.I. Joe, Muppet Babies'' and ''

Defenders of the Earth ''Defenders of the Earth'' is an American animated television series produced in 1986, featuring characters from three comic strips distributed by King Features Syndicate—Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, and Mandrake's assistan ...

.'' Coffey later moved to Murakami-Wolf-Swenson where she worked on the development of the television show ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (named after It ...

.''

Nickelodeon and Nicktoons

Coffey says that after leaving Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, she did not want to do animation anymore because everything was either modeled after pre-existing comic strips or a vessel for selling related products. Coffey decided that she wanted to bring back original animation and called Debbie Beece at

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

. Coffey was told that Nickelodeon could not afford animation at the time, but she could produce a special for them. She produced ''Nick's Thanksgiving Fest'' in 1988 as an independent contractor. It was only the second time that the studio had done animation. After the success of the special, Nickelodeon contracted with Coffey to develop

Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...

with original, creator-driven ideas. Coffey developed three ideas to fill the 90-minute time slot allocated to Nicktoons – ''Rugrats'', ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' and ''Doug''. All three shows were successful and are credited with beginning Nickelodeon's "

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

of cartoons". Coffey calls the variety of the three shows "a balanced meal" for kids. Between the pilots and series' production, Coffey was hired as Nickelodeon's Vice President of Animation. Of being able to create original programming for Nicktoons, Coffey says, "I was in the right place at the right time."

Arlene Klasky Arlene Phyllis Klasky (born May 26, 1949) is an American animator, graphic designer, producer and co-founder of Klasky Csupo with Gábor Csupó. In 1999, she was named one of the "Top 25 Women in Animation" by ''Animation Magazine''. She is mos ...

, co-creator of ''Rugrats'', and

Jim Jinkins James Jinkins (born August 8, 1953) is an American animator, cartoonist, and children's author. He is best known as the creator of the animated ''Doug (TV series), Doug'' television series which was later the basis for a Doug's 1st Movie, feature ...

, creator of ''Doug'', credit Coffey for enabling them to get their shows off the ground and into the homes of millions around the world.

Awards and nominations

Filmography

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffey, Vanessa American film producers American animated film producers American women film producers Film producers from Tennessee Nickelodeon executives Daytime Emmy Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) CableACE Award winners Living people 21st-century American women