RIP ‘Spongebob’ Creator Stephen Hillenberg

RIP ‘Spongebob’ Creator Stephen Hillenberg

November 27th, 2018

Jerry Beck

Stephen Hillenberg, the creator of Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants passed away yesterday, November 26th, from complications from ALS. To say he was one of the nicest guys in animation would be an understatement. He will be sorely missed.

He was not only a cartoonist and animator, but a marine biologist and teacher as well. Born in Lawton, Oklahoma and raised in Anaheim, California, Hillenburg became fascinated with the ocean as a child and developed an interest in art. He started his professional career in 1984, instructing marine biology, at the Orange County Marine Institute, where he wrote The Intertidal Zone, an informative comic book about tide-pool animals, which he used to educate his students. In 1989, two years after leaving teaching, Hillenburg enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts to pursue a career in animation. He was later offered a job on the Nickelodeon animated television series Rocko’s Modern Life (1993–1996) after his success with short films The Green Beret and Wormholes (both 1992), which he made while studying animation at Cal Arts. Hillenburg studied under Jules Engel, the founding director of the program, whom he considered his “Art Dad” and mentor.

At one point during his tenure with the Orange County Marine Institute, Hillenburg started going to animation festivals such as the International Tournée of Animation and Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation where films made by CalArts students were shown. His first professional job in the animation business was as a director on Rocko’s Modern Life (1993–1996), Nickelodeon’s first in-house cartoon production.

Hillenburg met the show’s creator, Joe Murray, at the 1992 Ottawa International Animation Festival, where Wormholes and Murray’s My Dog Zero were both in competition. Murray, who was looking for people to direct Rocko’s Modern Life at the time, saw Hillenburg’s film and offered him a directorial role on the television series. Aside from directing, he also produced, wrote for some episodes, and served as the executive story editor.

It was during the latter days of Rocko’s production, Hillenberg expanded on his marine comic book, The Intertidal Zone, turing it into a pitch for a show starring “Spongeboy”. Nickelodeon threw its faith behind Hillenberg and SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on Saturday morning May 1st, 1999. A huge hit from the get-go, it soon become a signature show for Nickelodeon. Hillenberg supervised the series as show-runner. It’s success led to The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) which he directed. After 60 episodes and the feature, Hillenberg stepped down from the daily operation of the show, but remained involved in an advisory role. He returned in 2014 to executive produce and co-write The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015).

Earlier this year, Asifa-Hollywood awarded Hillenburg its Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement at the 45th Annie Awards.

On a personal note: I knew Steve on and off throughout the years during my various roles at Nickelodeon. As I used to say – he was one of the “good ones”. I’ll never forget that Stephen insist I write the authorized coffee table book, eventually published as The Spongebob Squarepants Experience, in 2013. I got a call one day, out of the blue, from the publisher – “Stephen asked us to ask you to write it”. I couldn’t say no. Why would I? Thanks Steve. Rest in peace now. Neither Spongebob Squarepants and Stephen Hillenberg will ever be forgotten.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.