Chris Savino

Not to be confused with Chris Savido.

Christopher Mason Savino (born October 2, 1971) is an American comic book artist and former animator, best known for creating the animated series The Loud House (2016–present) for Nickelodeon. Prior, Savino worked as a storyboard artist or writer on animated shows such as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Mickey Mouse and Johnny Test.

Chris Savino
Born	Christopher Mason Savino (1971-10-02) October 2, 1971 (age 53)[1] Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S.
Occupations	Comic book artist writer animator
Years active	1991–present
Known for	The Loud House Dexter's Laboratory Cow and Chicken I Am Weasel The Powerpuff Girls My Gym Partner's a Monkey Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil Johnny Test
Children	3
Website	chrissavinoauthor.com

Savino has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Annie Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. In May 2018, The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 gave him a one year suspension due to sexual harassment allegations from Nickelodeon (which he was fired from in October 2017), leading to his animation career being put on halt. Since then, he has moved on to literature.

Early life and education

Savino was born and raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he attended Dondero High School.^[2] He is the ninth of ten children, having five sisters and four brothers.^[3] His biggest influence in the animation world was Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures because of the way its animation style differed from that of the other 1980s animated series.^[4]

Influences

He cited his works from Cliff Sterrett, Charles M. Schulz, Jim Davis, Hank Ketcham, Walt Kelly, George Herriman, Bill Watterson, E.C. Segar, Max Fleischer, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Jay Ward. While he did state he loved to watch cartoons, it was the comic books that drew him in.^[5][6][7]

Career

He began his career in the animation industry in 1991 and has worked for Spümcø, Joe Murray Studio, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network Studios and Disney Television Animation. He was originally the showrunner for the last two seasons of Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and My Gym Partner's a Monkey.^[8] He was also previously a writer for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, and Mickey Mouse. In June 2014, his short for Nickelodeon, The Loud House, was greenlit for a full series, and debuted on May 2, 2016.^[9]

On November 1, 2019, Savino released his debut children's novel, Coal: A Cautionary Christmas Tale, through Amazon Publishing. Later on December of the same year he published the first installment of his graphic novel duology Bigfoot & Gray.

On March 3, 2020, he published his first non-fiction book, a guide to write cartoons entitled Writing Cartoons in 4 Acts (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Midpoint).

Since January 5, 2020, he also publishes the Sunday strip For Brothers.^[10]

Sexual harassment allegations

See also: Weinstein effect

On October 17, 2017, Cartoon Brew reported that Nickelodeon had suspended Savino from their studio due to multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him; rumors of Savino's inappropriate behavior had existed for "at least a decade".^[11][12] As many as a dozen women accused Savino of sexual harassment, unwanted sexual advances, and threats of blacklisting female colleagues who no longer agreed to consensual relationships with him.^[11][13] On October 19, a Nickelodeon spokesperson confirmed that they fired Savino, and that The Loud House would continue production without him, replacing him with story editor Michael Rubiner as executive producer and showrunner.^[13][14]

On October 23, Savino spoke for the first time since the allegations first appeared, saying he was "deeply sorry" for his actions.^[15] On May 30, 2018, he was given a one-year suspension from The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839. As part of his plea bargain with The Animation Guild, Savino was ordered to donate $4,000 to a charity chosen by the guild, complete 40 hours of community service, undergo counseling, and obtain a certificate of sexual harassment training.^[16]

The allegations and his union suspension process were featured in a March 2019 segment on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee titled "#MeToon" that was produced and animated by a crew of all women, and featured interviews with a few of the female animators that were involved in his successful union suspension campaign along with one of his alleged victims.^[17]

Personal life

In October 2019, Savino stated to be a born-again Christian.^[18]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Animator	Notes
1991–1996	The Ren & Stimpy Show	No	No	No	Yes	layout artist
1993–1996	Rocko's Modern Life	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard clean-up/prop designer/character designer
1995	The Baby Huey Show	No	No	No	Yes	layout artist/character prop designer (Season 2)
1995	Hate	No	No	No	Yes	layout artist
1996	The Mouse and the Monster	No	No	No	Yes	character designer
1996–1997	Hey Arnold!	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard director/prop designer/character designer
1997–2001	The Angry Beavers	Yes	No	No	No	character designer 5 episodes only
1997	Space Goofs	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard artist Episode: "Time for a Change"
	Duckman	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard artist
1997–2003	Dexter's Laboratory	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	storyboard artist/animation director
1998	Cow and Chicken	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard artist Episode: "Cow Fly"
	I Am Weasel	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard artist Episodes: "I.R. in Wrong Cartoon" and "Unsinkable I.R."
1998–2005	The Powerpuff Girls	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	storyboard artist
2000	The Cartoon Cartoon Show	No	No	Yes	Yes	creator/storyboard director/model designer/animation layout "Foe Paws" animation layout "Jeffrey Cat: Claw and Odor"
2002–2003	Samurai Jack	Yes	No	No	No
2002	Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?	No	No	No	Yes	Character and Prop models
2003	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard artist Episode: "To Eris Human"
2004–2007	Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends	Yes	No	Yes	No	animation director
2005–2006	Johnny Test	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	storyboard artist; season 1
2005–2008	My Life as a Teenage Robot	Yes	No	No	No
2007–2008	My Gym Partner's a Monkey	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard artist/sheet timer
2008	Ni Hao, Kai-Lan	No	No	No	Yes	storyboard artist/storybook artist
2010–2012	Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	executive producer
2010–2011	My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic	No	No	Yes	No	writer Episodes: "Boast Busters" and "Stare Master"
2013	Mickey Mouse	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	storyboard artist Episode: "Bad Ear Day"
2015	Get Blake!	No	No	Yes	No	writer Episodes: "Get Snatched" and "Get Western"
2016–2018	The Loud House	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	creator/executive producer/storyboard artist
2016	All in with Cam Newton	No	No	No	No	Himself Episode: "All In with Josh"

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Animator	Notes
1999	Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip	No	No	Story	Yes	storyboard artist
2001	The Flintstones: On the Rocks	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	storyboard artist/art director

Internet

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Cartoons VS Cancer[19]	Episode 9: "The One with Chris Savino"	Podcast
2016–2017	Nickelodeon Animation Podcast	Episodes (2 & 40): "Chris Savino", "Inside the Loud House Writers' Room"	Podcast

Awards and nominations

Date	Award	Category	Work	Shared with	Result
2000	Annie Awards	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production	The Powerpuff Girls (for "Dream Scheme")[20]	—	Nominated
2004	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More)	The Powerpuff Girls: 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas[21][22]	Craig McCracken, Brian A. Miller, Lauren Faust, Craig Lewis, Amy Keating Rogers, Robert Alvarez, John McIntyre, Randy Myers, James T. Walker, and Juli Murphy	Nominated
2006		Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More)	My Life as A Teenage Robot: Escape from Cluster Prime	Rob Renzetti, Fred Seibert, Scott D. Peterson, Alex Kirwan, Brandon Kruse, Heather Martinez, Chris Reccardi, Bryan Andrews, and Robert Alvarez	Nominated
2010		Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program	Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil: "Racing the Schoolbus"	Sandro Corsaro and Janelle Momary	Nominated
2011	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program	Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil	Sherm Cohen	Nominated
2012	Annie Awards	Outstanding Directing in a Television Production	Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil[23]	Clayton Morrow	Nominated