Derek Drymon
Animator, Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director, Comedian & Producer
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Derek Drymon was born and raised in New Jersey and has loved comics and drawing since he was a kid. He took classes at the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts before landing an internship with Disney Feature Animation.
He joined Nickelodeon in 1993, working on shows like Hey Arnold!, CatDog, Action League Now! and Rocko’s Modern Life, where he met Stephen Hillenburg. Together they developed SpongeBob SquarePants, where Derek served as creative director and later supervising producer, and co-wrote and co-produced the first SpongeBob movie.
He went on to be executive producer of the first season of Adventure Time, a story artist on Kung Fu Panda and Shrek Forever After, and head of story on Penguins of Madagascar. He directed Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (2025), and has earned three Emmy nominations.