Laika is expanding into live-action with two new hires. Alex Maggioni has been named as the company’s new head of TV, while Zac Locke will be its head of business affairs.
Both will report to Matt Levin, Laika’s president of live-action film and series.
“Alex is an incredible executive with impeccable taste, expertise and deep relationships built over decades in the business,” Levin said in a Tuesday press release. “We deeply admired her most recent work at Amblin and could not imagine anyone better suited to lead us into this exciting new chapter in TV. Zac is that rare combination of creative dealmaker, strategic thinker and wonderful colleague. We are thrilled he’ll be bringing his rich and diverse experience, his deep passion for storytelling and his entrepreneurial drive across both our live-action film and TV endeavors.”
Maggioni most recently served as Amblin Television’s senior vice president and head of development, a position she held from 2014 to 2023. During her time in the role, she oversaw over 300 hours of programming across broadcast, cable and streaming — including Paramount+’s “Halo,” Apple TV+’s “Masters of the Air,” Max and Cartoon Network’s “Tiny Toons,” Syfy’s “Resident Alien” and FX’s “The Americans,” just to name a few. Prior to Amblin, Maggioni held senior executive positions at Sunswept Entertainment, E! Networks and UBU Productions.
“Laika has an incredible track record of creative excellence in the feature film space,” Maggioni said in a statement. “I can’t wait to work with the team to bring that same commitment to compelling, emotional and character-driven storytelling to the TV series format.”
As for Locke, he was most recently senior vice president of business and legal affairs for Topic Studios, the award-winning entertainment studio from First Look
Media. In that position, Locke drove development, financing, production and
distribution for several of Topic’s narrative verticals, including film, scripted television, non-fiction series, documentaries and podcasts. He was also formerly the senior vice president of business and legal affairs at Blumhouse Productions and vice president of business and legal affairs at Participant Media.
“I’d always admired Laika from afar, specifically the studio’s dedication to story, artistry and artisanship,” Locke said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to be part of the team to help imbue that DNA into creating bold, inventive and emotional live-action film and television at such a special place.”
Laika is best known for its five feature films, “Coraline,” “ParaNorman,” “The Boxtrolls,” “Kubo and the Two Strings” and “Missing Link.” In addition to being in production on its sixth animated movie, “Wildwood,” the company has several live-action projects in development, such as “Crumble” from Brian Duffield and “Seventeen,” which is based on John Brownlow’s novel of the same name.
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