Sergio Pablos is a Spanish^[1] animator, director and screenwriter. While at the helm of his company (The SPA Studios), Pablos developed several concepts for animated feature films, most notably the original ideas upon whichDespicable Me (Universal Pictures andIllumination in 2010) andSmallfoot (produced by theWarner Animation Group in 2018) were based.

Most recently, the SPA Studios has produced Netflix's first original animated feature film,Klaus, written and directed by Pablos.

Sergio Pablos is fromMadrid. After working as a key animator onOnce Upon a Forest (1993), he moved toParis, France, to pursue a career opportunity atWalt Disney Animation Studios where he worked onThe Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) andHercules (1997). Pablos was then promoted to a Supervising Animator position at Disney Feature Animation in Burbank, handling the character of Tantor the elephant onTarzan (1999), and Dr. Doppler onTreasure Planet (2002), the latter of which garnered him a nomination for Best Character Animation at theAnnie Awards.

Pablos' first job in animation with Disney Studios in Paris was as a character designer onA Goofy Movie (1995). From that connection he moved toWalt Disney Animation Studios and began learning the ropes, working as animator or contributing to character designs on several major 2D animation productions, includingThe Hunchback of Notre Dame (character of Frollo),Hercules (character of Hades),Tarzan (character of Tantor the elephant), andTreasure Planet (character of Doctor Doppler). He was nominated for anAnnie Award for his work onTreasure Planet.^[2] Subsequent to his departure from Disney, he was hired as character design supervisor onStuart Little 3: Call of the Wild for Columbia.^[3]

After several more years working in animation production, Pablos created theDespicable Me franchise based on his original screen storyEvil Me and his own art design.^[4] He took the package unsolicited to Universal Pictures where he became the first of several screenwriters on the project as well as executive producer. In 2010,Despicable Me—starringSteve Carell,Jason Segel,Russell Brand,Kristen Wiig,Miranda Cosgrove,Will Arnett, andJulie Andrews—was a box office success, received a Golden Globe nomination, and became one of animation's highest-grossing movies. Pablos continued work as a character designer on another animated feature,Rio for 20th Century Fox, which was released the following year. He received his second Annie Award nomination forRio.^[2] After the release ofDespicable Me 2 in 2013,theatrical markets (worldwide box office) andancillary markets (home media, cable, merchandising,books,video games, TV series,theme parks, etc.), pushed franchise total revenues to over ten figures.^[5][6][7] He was the writer for the filmWarner Animation Group'sSmallfoot. He then formedThe SPA Studios inMadrid, Spain, where he made his directorial debut withKlaus.

In Summer 2022, it was announced that Pablos was set to write and direct another film,Ember. However, in December 2022, it was reported byNetflix that it was canceled due to its lengthy production. Pablos still has the rights to the film, and would be able to shop the film to other production companies.^[8]

Pablos shares his time between the U.S. and Spain where he is CEO and Creative Director of The SPA Studios in Madrid.^[5]

• Sergio Pablos atIMDb

• Annie Award winners
• Living people
• People from Madrid
• Spanish animated film directors
• Spanish animators
• Spanish film directors
• Spanish screenwriters
• Walt Disney Animation Studios people
• Illumination (company) people
• Netflix people
• Netflix Animation people

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