Behind the Scenes

Kay Wilson Stallings

Senior Vice President, Creative Development, Sesame Workshop

As Sesame Workshop’s Senior Vice President, Creative Development, Stallings oversees global creative development and pilot production of all original Sesame content for multiple platforms. She also explores new production models and partnerships to develop new programs, processes and talent for the creative group.

In 2017, Stallings created and directed the first annual Sesame Street Writers’ Room, an intensive eight-week competitive fellowship dedicated to discovering, nurturing, and increasing diverse voices in children’s media. Held at Sesame Workshop’s New York City office, the fellowship offers seven to ten emerging writers from underrepresented racial backgrounds the chance to hone original scripts while meeting with industry writers, producers, agents, and executives; one to two winning fellows per year have a chance at creative development deals from Sesame Workshop.

Prior to joining Sesame Workshop, Stallings was Senior Vice President of Production and Development at Nickelodeon. In her 16 years with the company, she oversaw development of all original series production for Nickelodeon Preschool and Nick Jr., Nickelodeon’s digital channel, including pre-buys, acquisitions, and the global shorts programs. Stallings developed more than 20 series while at Nickelodeon including Wonder Pets, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Fresh Beat Band, Shimmer and Shine, and Blaze and the Monster Machines.

Stallings holds a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor’s degree from Mac Murray College.

Dustin Ferrer

Co-Creator & Co-Executive Producer, Esme & Roy

Ferrer is a two-time Emmy Award-winning writer for Peg + Cat; she has also been nominated three times for her work on Wonder Pets and 3rd and Bird! Ferrer worked as a story editor at Nickelodeon’s Shimmer and Shine and has written for many preschool programs including Muppet Babies, Team Umizoomi, Bubbleguppies, Miles from Tomorrowland, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Wallykazam.

Amy Steinberg

Co-Creator & Co-Executive Producer, Esme & Roy

Steinberg got her start at Nickelodeon, where she was a producer on Blue’s Clues and Team Umizoomi. In addition to Esme & Roy, Steinberg co-created Chickiepoo and Fluff: Barnyard Detectives (Nickelodeon) and Words with Puffballs (Sesame Studios). She has also worked as a producer of preschool content at Scholastic and Sockeye Media.

Millie Davis

“Esme”

Davis is a Canadian actress who is best known for her roles as “Ms. O” in the PBS Kids series Odd Squad, “Summer” in the film Wonder, and “Gemma Hendrix” in the series Orphan Black.

Patrick McKenna

“Roy”

McKenna began his acting career with Toronto’s famous Second City Theatre Company.  He then took to the road as a stand-up comedian, headlining at universities and clubs throughout North America, including opening for both Dionne Warwick and Smokey Robinson.

McKenna appeared on television in the Red Green Show for fifteen seasons as the loveable, nerdy, techno-geek, Harold, while simultaneously performing in five seasons of the acclaimed dramatic series, Traders. For this work, McKenna earned two Gemini awards for “Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Comedic Series” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Series” in the same year.

Currently, McKenna co-stars in two hospital series: Hard Rock Medical for TVO and APTN, and Global Television’s newest drama, Remedy. With any remaining free time, McKenna continues to guest-star in dramatic and comedic series from Murdoch Mysteries to The Mercer Report, and has recently entered the world of cartoons, lending his voice to no less than five regular animated series.

Next, you can see McKenna star in the soon-to-be-released feature films, A Masked Saint and Margarita.