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Starting in 2020, Erik became Head of Story for two Peanuts specials, “Snoopy Presents: It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown” and “Snoopy Presents: Lucy’s School.” He returned to the Peanuts Specials in 2023 to serve as Head of Story on “Welcome Home, Franklin.” He then directed the final Peanuts special in the series, title TBA. 

This video compares the initial storyboard to the final version of the scene in which Peppermint Patty and her team interrupt Charlie Brown’s team to intimidate them before the big game.

Back in 2020, I was Head of Story for two Peanuts specials. While supervising the storyboard team and collaborating with the director, my hugely talented friend Raymond Persi, I also took on a few sequences to board. Raymond gave me a lot of freedom to play around with the staging, add some gags, and slug the timing on Storyboard Pro.

UPDATED March 02, 2024 | Note:  This is a direct import from various Wikis and Fandoms with corrections by the author, Erik Wiese. 

Erik Wiese was with SpongeBob from the beginning. He was Stephen Hillenburg’s first official hire and worked on the pilot, “Help Wanted,” doing character development and creating model sheets of the entire cast. He also created turnarounds, walk cycles, and lip assignments with Alan Smart. Erik is credited with coming up with Mr. Krabs’s four-frame walk cycle. Additionally, he animated two shots in act three of the pilot.

Wiese wrote and storyboarded on season one, storyboarded on seasons two and three, and returned as a writer and board artist on season four. He returned briefly for season nine for one episode. He also worked on the first two SpongeBob movies, first as a storyboard artist and character layout artist (keyframe poses) for Act Three. For the second movie, he was Head of Story for Sponge Out Of Water.

After ten years away from the SpongeBob franchise, Erik has returned to storyboard on  the fourth movie, “The Search for SpongeBob,” directed by Derek Drymon. 

Season 1 of SpongeBob SquarePants featured an episode called SB-129. This episode follows Squidward as he accidentally freezes himself and is sent to the far future. Part 1.

Below, a short animatic clip from the SpongeBob movie “Sponge Out Of Water”

UPDATED: March 06, 2024 

Note:  This is a direct import from various Wikis and Fandoms with corrections by the author, Erik Wiese. 

• Erik served as an Executive Producer, Writer, and Director on Sonic Prime for Netflix. He also storyboarded with his team seven out of the twelve episodes he directed.

• Erik Wiese and co-director Logan McPherson are nominated for Best Direction in an animated series at the Leo Awards for the episode “Avoid The Void.”

• Erik Wiese has been a fan of Sonic since the release of Sonic The Hedgehog 2. It was the great cartoon animation that initially drew him to the game. Later, he became a fan of the character and fast gameplay. He bought a TV for his studio at Cal Arts so that he and his friends could play Sonic whenever they weren’t working on their student films.

• Although he is credited as the Executive Producer of Sonic Prime’s third season, he clarified that he didn’t operate daily in that capacity. He is credited because he established the show’s look, and as a result, he is given credit throughout the series. While the third season was in production, he directed a Peanuts Special for Apple+, which WildBrain also produced.

• Erik Wiese is the sole director of the episodes that are credited to him as “Directed by” on Sonic Prime. The other later credits in the credits roll, such as “episodic director” and “associate director,” were support roles that executed his creative direction after he locked the animatic. After that, Wiese launched direction to the cinematographers, animators, and effects team, with the associate directors and episodic directors there to convey Erik’s direction and deliver the weeklies to Erik for his review and approval. Once the animation was close to completion, Erik launched post-production and took the episode to final lock.  

• His participation in Season Two involved writing and directing the season premiere. He gave creative notes on scripts and animatics for the entire season. 

• He briefly returned to co-direct (with Kiran Sangherra) the last three episodes of Season Three while acting as Head of Story for the Peanuts special, “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home Franklin,” for Apple+. However, Wiese did not do the final animatic lock nor the final picture lock.

• He designed the Sonic Prime poster, which was later used for the Season One DVD release after being rendered by Planet Marza Animation.

• Erik’s favorite episodes are “Escape From New Yoke” (S1.E3) and “Avoid The Void” (S2.E1).

• Netflix combined the original first and second episodes into a one-hour special, thereby making the complete episode list 23, instead of 24.

Parrot Analytics:  Sonic Prime is 15.5x the demand of the average TV series (March 2024)

• Animation  Magazine Press Release
• Animation Magazine Sneak Peak
• Polygon Sonic Prime “So Good” review
• Netflix top ten Sonic Prime Premiere
• IGN Sonic Prime review 8/10
• IMDB audience reviews
• Netflix Top 10 Report: Best Launch For Animated Series

This video was the very first trailer for Sonic Prime. 

Netflix launched the show by releasing the first one-hour episode of Sonic Prime, “Shattered,” on YouTube a week prior to its Netflix premiere. Erik directed and co-wrote the premiere episode.

EPG: During an attempt to save the day, Sonic collides with the Paradox Prism, transporting him to a parallel world known as New Yoke City.

The video below is a compilation of select scenes from “Escape From New Yoke,” including Erik and the story team’s boards. (All story artist credits are listed at the end).

Below is a sample clip of Erik’s storyboard for “Avoid The Void,” the premiere episode of season two, which he wrote and directed.

Netflix released the Season Two premiere, “Avoid The Void,” free on its YouTube channel just a couple of weeks before the entire season premiered to overwhelmingly positive reviews. 

• The shorts, named Minions and Gru’s Diary, were originally created for the Chinese market and first aired in Asian markets in 2018. Their premiere in China garnered 300 million views.

• The shorts were later renamed to Minions and Friends (小黄人和萌友/小黄人与格鲁日记).

• They were played in-store at Universal Studios Japan gift shops.

• Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the decision to release the shorts in Western territories was made in 2021.

• This was Illumination’s first web series.

• Several episodes exclusive to the Chinese market haven’t aired in Western territories. These episodes have promotional tie-ins with Chinese brands and are unavailable to watch in the U.S.

• Several episodes cross over with the Secret Life of Pets world. These shorts only aired in China.

• Title cards were produced for each episode, but were removed later for Western markets.

All four seasons can be viewed on the Illumination YouTube Channel.

Erik Wiese was a writer for one episode, season one (S1.E12.) He also came up with the show title “Detours.”

Below, two clips from S1.E12, written by Erik Wiese.

Erik was a writer and story artist for three seasons of the show.

I created, wrote, and boarded an episode in which Samurai Jack inhabits a giant samurai statue to fight an evil robot created by Aku, inspired by my love for Kauji movies and giant anime robots.

I’m a big fan of techno and electronica music, and back when I was working on Samurai Jack, I was still going to underground raves. Chris Mitchell and I proposed the idea to Genndy that Aku would send an evil DJ to a rave to unleash his wicked beats and hypnotize the crowd to create chaos throughout the streets.

Erik Wiese directed several commercials for “Minions: The Rise Of Gru” marketing campaign.

Erik directed an online 2D Minions commercial/public service announcement for Starbucks.

Erik contributed storyboards for the music video “There’s Something Special” directed by Brad Abelson.

Wiese worked as a character layout artist at Spumco, creating key poses, and as an overseas animation supervisor for Bjork’s “I Miss You” music video.

Erik was a script writer on Zip Zip, season one. 

UPDATED March 02, 2024

Note:  This is a direct import from various Wikis and Fandoms with corrections by the author, Erik Wiese. 

•The cartoon series “The Mighty B!” was originally going to be called “SuperScout,” but Nickelodeon’s legal department requested a name change to avoid any potential legal issues with the Girl Scouts of America.

• Erik Wiese, who directed the series, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award and won a Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society.

• Wiese originally co-created the show with his wife, Cynthia True. Further development with Amy Poehler. A reference picture of Cynthia True as a 7-year-old Brownie is featured in the Nickelodeon book. 

• The name “Wiese” appears on the customer list at Mr. Wu’s Restaurant in “Doppelfinger.”

• He has a cameo in “Bee Nice” as a man disguised as a puppy. 

• Wiese has mentioned that “Bat Mitzvah Crashers,” “Toot Toot,” “Name Shame,” “Bee Patients,” and “Bess-E” are some of his favorite episodes of the series.

• Happy is his favorite character. 

• His name is also seen on Bessie’s birth certificate in the “Name Shame” episode.

• Katie Rice, an artist on the series, praised Wiese’s leadership, stating that he allowed artists to draw in their own style while also encouraging them to produce high-quality artwork.

Both seasons of the Mighty B! are on Paramount Plus. Follow this link to watch.

Below, a clip from “Wrong Side of the Bed”

Erik was a storyboard artist on the first season of Danny Phantom, starting with the pilot “Mystery Meat.”