- Born
- Died
- Janice Burgess was the creator of The Backyardigans (2004) and the story editor for Nickelodeon's revival of Winx Club (2004). She joined Nickelodeon in 1995 as executive-in-charge of production and worked at Nick Animation for almost 20 years. When writing for both The Backyardigans and Winx Club, Burgess drew inspiration from action and adventure movies. Burgess said, "I wanted to bring some of that fantastical nature to young children, but to do it in a way that is safe, hopefully not scary, and not 'imitatable' except in your head."
The character of Uniqua on The Backyardigans was partially based on Burgess herself. In an interview, Burgess stated, "Uniqua is me. Or at least who I was as a kid. She's a ringleader. Out of the five, Uniqua is the main character, and we use her in every story."
- IMDb mini biography by: Nick Press
- Planning to become an art historian, she graduated from Brandeis University in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in art history.
- In the early 1990s, Burgess held positions at the Children's Television Workshop, including as an assistant travel coordinator for 3-2-1 Contact and project manager for Ghostwriter. For the latter, she coordinated the efforts of a tie-in magazine and teacher materials with the content and goals of the television show. It was during this job that she was notified of an opening at Nickelodeon; Burgess joked that she interviewed for the job "about 11,000 times.
- She frequently played in her backyard, and she later used those memories as inspiration for The Backyardigans. "I really remember it as a wonderful, happy, safe place... you could have these great adventures just romping around. From there, you could go anywhere or do anything.
- Janice Burgess was given the opportunity to transition to a creative role by the senior vice president of Nick Jr, Brown Johnson. She asked Burgess to develop an idea for a new Nick Jr. show, and Burgess produced a pilot episode called "Me and My Friends" at Nickelodeon Studios Florida in 1998. The pilot was a live-action, full-body puppet show that featured music and dance. It was not picked up for a full series, but several months after the rejection, Brown Johnson asked Burgess to retool the concept. She liked the characters and music from Burgess's pilot and felt the show would work better in animation.
- Burgess served as executive producer for The Backyardigans throughout its run of four seasons. The series received eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and Burgess won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program.
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