Biography

Robert Marianetti, along with business partner David Wachtenheim, is a creative behind W/M Animation a full-service animation company based in New York that has produced and directed award-winning work for clients ranging from Cartoon Network, HBO, Disney/ABC, Universal, ESPN, Fox TV, Comedy Central, NBC, Sesame Workshop and Coca Cola. Before teaming up to form W/M Animation, David and Robert worked separately as writers, directors and producers with various animation studios in New York and Los Angeles, including work on the first season of Beavus and Butthead.

Shortly after its creation in 1999, W/M Animation became the premier animation production company for Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse, created by Robert Smigel, for over 9 seasons. Their animation has won numerous awards including First Place at the Ottawa International Film Festival in 2004 for Saddam and Osama and in 2006 for Journey to The Disney Vault, which they also co-wrote. In 2001, W/M served as Animation Creative Directors and Producers on the Comedy Central cult classic TV Funhouse. Starting in 2004, they went on to direct and design the pilot and 13 episodes of the series Stroker and Hoop for Adult Swim. In 2008 they designed and directed the CG television pilot for Happy Madison/Fox TV's The Animals. For the children's market W/M Animation has created animation for such beloved institutions as Cartoon Network (over 24 interstitials), Sesame Street (the unforgettable and powerful letters 'K' and 'Q') as well as Schoolhouse Rock.

In 2014, Robert finished production on a half hour animated musical, My Depression (The Up and Down and Up of It), based on a picture book by the critically acclaimed writer and composer, Elizabeth Swados. Robert and David not only directed and animated the film but also co-wrote the script (as well as a few songs) for Sheila Nevins' HBO Documentary unit. The film had its world premiere April of 2014 at The Tribeca Film Festival where it was nominated for the Best Documentary Short prize, and it's broadcast premiere on HBO in July 2015. The New York Times review in July 2015 called it a "half-hour gem" and praised its "charming and whimsical" approach to dealing with such a difficult topic.

Through June of 2015, Robert and David moved into feature animation, completing work for Sony Pictures Animation as Heads of Story on the animated feature Hotel Transylvania 2, executive produced and written by Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel.
- IMDb mini biography by: W/M Animation

His current project is Leo, an animated Adam Sandler project for children to be released on November 22nd, 2023. It brings together Sandler and the film's directors Robert Smigel, Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim who previously worked together on Hotel Transylvania 2: Smigel as writer, and Marianetti and Wachtenheim as heads of story. Smigel, Marianetti and Wachtenheim previously worked together on SNL's Saturday TV Funhouse, as well as the separate program TV Funhouse.
- IMDb mini biography by: Source: Wachtenheim Marianetti Productions and Netflix

In late 2018, Robert and his business partner David Wachtenheim began preliminary work on a then untitled feature film project for Adam Sandler and Happy Madison. In May 2020 the film was titled LEO and Netflix and Adam Sandler selected Robert and David as co-directors, along with Robert Smigel. Marianetti, Wachtenheim and Smigel had previously collaborated on many seasons on NBC's SNL TV Funhouse cartoons, on TV Funhouse on Comedy Central as a stand alone series, and on Sony Pictures' Hotel Transylvania 2. LEO premiered on Netflix on November 21st, 2023. Their firm, Wachtenheim/Marianetti, also provided the end titles animation for the feature film.
- IMDb mini biography by: Wachtenheim/Marianetti

2023 saw the release of the Netflix feature film "Leo" that was directed by Robert Marianetti, David Wachtenheim and Robert Smigel and starred Adam Sandler. The film was well received by critics and audiences alike, staying in the Netflix Global Top Ten for two months and spending weeks in the Netflix U.S. Top Ten after debuting at number one.
- IMDb mini biography by: Robert Marianetti