About Studio Smokescreen
Studio Smokescreen is an independent, Black-owned animation studio dedicated to leading significant changes in diversity and inclusion across the animation industry. Led by co-founders, brothers Kris Wimberly and Chase Wimberly, the full-scale Los Angeles-based “bridge” studio, the first of its kind, is designed to elevate marginalized and underrepresented talent striving to break into roles on big studio projects. Smokescreen provides a training ground for diverse individuals to gain experience through hands-on contributions to a variety of independent and commercial projects along with opportunities to hone their craft while being mentored and vetted by current industry professionals. Equipped with fresh, relevant resume experience provided by Smokescreen, these diverse voices will be catapulted into positions previously out of reach.
Meet the Studio Smokescreen Team
Kris Wimberly
Co-Founder and Head of Creative
Kris Wimberly is Co-Founder and Head of Creative for Studio Smokescreen, an independent, Black-owned animation studio dedicated to leading significant changes in diversity and inclusion across the animation industry. The full-scale, Los Angeles-based “bridge” studio, the first of its kind, is designed to elevate marginalized and underrepresented talent striving to break into roles on big studio projects.
Kris is a classically trained director and storyboard artist who currently serves as Supervising Director on Disney’s upcoming “Sofia the First: Royal Magic,” a sequel to the Emmy® and Humanitas Award-winning “Sofia the First.”
Kris’ additional credits include Disney’s hit animated series, “Firebuds,” HBO Max’s “Close Enough,” Disney’s “Elena of Avalor,” Universal’s “Curious George 4: Royal Monkey,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” and Cartoon Network’s “Teen Titans Go!” He specializes in comedy and action-comedy and has worked on animated productions of nearly every type – from 2D, CG and Flash Animation to script-driven and storyboard-driven, and across preschool, kids and primetime television series, as well as feature films.
A graduate of California State University, Fullerton, Kris worked as a custodian at Disneyland while working his way up the ranks to pursue his passion for animation.
Chase Wimberly
Co-Founder and Head of Operations
Chase Wimberly is co-founder and Head of Operations for Studio Smokescreen. Chase is currently a member of Amazon’s Corporate Business Development team, supporting Worldwide Operations. Prior to this role, he served as chief strategy officer at Multiply/Answers Corporation where he was responsible for creating growth and corporate value through strategic M&A, business development relationships, and capital raising.
Chase brings over 12 years of experience in M&A, strategy and corporate development, having completed over 80 M&A transactions resulting in $1.5 billion in exit value for leading private equity firms including Apax Partners. He has over 20 years of experience in the internet industry working in various roles across business development, product management, online marketing, and as an entrepreneur. Chase is a graduate of Stanford University and UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Director of Development
Melvin Benson
Melvin Benson is Director of Development for Studio Smokescreen. Mel works alongside studio leadership to develop, package and sell original concepts and secure creator-driven development and production partnerships. He has also been instrumental in discovering service business opportunities with major brand partners including Sanrio and Hello Kitty.
Prior to Studio Smokescreen, Mel served as Business Development Manager for Coverfly where he helped mentor emerging writers, scouted new scripts and talent, and led industry events, panels, and competitions.
Prior to Coverfly, Mel was Development Manager, Originals for Atomic Cartoons where he led the charge on animated series, including Will Arnett’s “Super Team Canada” and Netflix Jr.’s “Wonderoos.” He also served as an associate producer on “The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom” video game, based on the New York Times’ Best Selling book series and Netflix series, “The Last Kids on Earth.”
A graduate of Syracuse University, his first job out of school was a production assistant on ABC’s “Castle.” He then went on to work as an executive assistant at Fox Animation Features where he had the opportunity to work on films including “Ferdinand” and early development on “Hair Love.”
Mel is a pop-culture-obsessed Boston native who resides in Los Angeles with his recently adopted dog, Shadow.
Our pool of talent contains experience stretching across these top tier studios and more.
Recent Press
The creative team for the Disney sequel series will feature key members from Firebuds, including co-EP Krystal Banzon, supervising director Kris Wimberly, and producer Craig Simpson.