Nickelodeon Ups Talent Execs on East and West Coasts

Nickelodeon Ups Talent Execs on East and West Coasts

Jill Greenberg Sands Promoted to Vice President, Talent and Casting for Nick Jr., Noggin and The N

Sharon Chazin Lieblein Promoted to Vice President, Talent and Casting for Nickelodeon

NEW YORK, March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon has named talent executives Jill Greenberg Sands and Sharon Chazin Lieblein Vice President, Talent and Casting for their respective brands. The announcement was made today by Paula Kaplan, Senior Vice President, Nickelodeon Talent, to whom they will both continue to report.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060314/NYTU042-ahttp://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060314/NYTU042-b )

"When it comes to casting kids, Jill and Sharon are the best in the business," commented Kaplan. "Their abilities to identify and cast break out talent has led to such hits as Zoey 101, Drake and Josh and Go, Diego, Go!," said Kaplan. "As Nickelodeon continues to move forward and introduces new content for a variety of platforms, Jill and Sharon's skills in identifying up-and-coming talent for our demo will become even more integral to the creative process."

As Vice President, Talent and Casting, Ms. Greenberg Sands will manage the East Coast talent and casting staff. In this capacity she will oversee casting for all pilots, series, specials and on-air promotions for Nick Jr., Noggin and The N. In addition, Ms. Greenberg Sands will be instrumental in creating and implementing talent development strategies and long-term plans for Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon digital networks in order to support various business goals.

In her new role as Vice President, Talent and Casting, Ms. Chazin Lieblein will oversee all casting for Nickelodeon, including pilots, series, specials, dayparts such as TEENick, on-air promotions and more. She will also work in conjunction with the development department to find talent to develop new projects around and with the legal department on all talent contract negotiations. In Los Angeles, she will oversee a team of in-house talent managers for all series regulars on Nickelodeon.

Ms. Greenberg Sands began her career 18 years ago casting extras in films in New York City and then moved on to casting feature films. Her first casting project for Nickelodeon Networks was Nickelodeon's first film Harriet the Spy. During her five years at Nickelodeon Networks, Ms. Greenberg Sands has been responsible for the casting of Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin, South of Nowhere and Beyond the Break on The N, and The Backyardigans, LazyTown and Go, Diego, Go! on Nick Jr. In 2000, Ms. Greenberg Sands received an Emmy Award for Casting, for her work on the cult classic Freaks and Geeks.

Prior to working with Nickelodeon, Ms. Chazin Lieblein was a casting associate with Witt Thomas TV for two years. Since joining Nickelodeon in 1999, Ms. Chazin Lieblein has been responsible for the casting of several hit shows for the network including, Zoey 101; Unfabulous and Drake and Josh. Ms. Chazin Lieblein has been a member of the Casting Society of America since 1998 and a member of its board since 2005.

Nickelodeon, in its 26th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 89 million households and has been the number- one-rated basic cable network for more than ten consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B)

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060314/NYTU042-a
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060314/NYTU042-b
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
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Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Joanna Roses, +1-212-846-7326, or Thamar Romero,
+1-212-846-7491, both of Nickelodeon

Web site: http://www.nick.com/

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