Christopher Mason Savino is an American cartoonist, writer, director, storyboard artist, songwriter, producer and former animator. He is the creator of The Loud House and the creator of characters of the Casagrande family that soon developed into a show of its own. While he was responsible for pitching the spin-off series,[1] he never worked on it due to being fired before the show was in production. He was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, which Royal Woods, the city The Loud House takes place in, is based on.
He has worked at Spümcø, Joe Murray Studio, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network Studios, and Disney Television Animation, and has also worked on the live-action short called Bigfoot & Gray: On the Run, and a cancelled animated film called Adventures in Milk.
The Loud House[]
In 2013, Savino pitched The Loud House, a concept based on his own life experiences growing up in a large family (he's the ninth of ten children), as part of Nickelodeon's annual Animated Shorts Program. Besides his main job, he was also a member of Nickelodeon Animation Studio's Artist Collective, where veterans of the animation industry help train and nurture new talent that arrives at the studio.
Besides his usual duties, he would also draw all the title card art, and other still-frame pictures, which are drawn in a rougher style than the rest of the show. He also took it upon himself to direct every episode of the series (except on a few occasions and before his firing).
On October 19, 2017, Cartoon Brew reported that Savino had been dismissed from Nickelodeon over sexual misconduct allegations from 12 women, the allegations had dated back to 2007. As a result, he is no longer involved with The Loud House.[2] Savino responded to the allegations on October 23, 2017, saying he is "deeply sorry" for what he has done.[3] On May 30, 2018, Savino was given a one-year suspension from The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839.[4] "Tea Tale Heart" is the final episode Chris was credited as co-executive producer as Michael Rubiner takes over his role starting with "The Loudest Thanksgiving".
Although Chris Savino was the head director for this series, there have been times where he wasn't the director of an episode. All of the episodes he didn't direct were instead directed by Kyle Marshall, or by a very small margin, someone else.
Mickey Mouse — writer, director, storyboard artist (2013)
The Loud House — creator, story, writer, storyboard artist, executive producer, director (2013, 2016–2018)
Trivia[]
Like Lincoln, Savino comes from a large family—he's the ninth of ten children (five sons and five daughters).
Five of the Loud sisters were named after Savino's own sisters. They are Lori, Lisa, Lynn, Luan, and Lana.[5] All of their middle names are Marie, which is Lori and Lisa's middle name.[6]
Luna and Lola were named after Savino's two pet dachshunds.
Lucy and Lily were two of the names that Savino and his first wife, Bethany, came up in case they had any daughters. They had three sons but no daughters - Vincent, Nick, and Chris Jr.
Additionally, he said he would befriend Bullwinkle Moose if he could because his "puns are the only ones that would give [him] a run for [his] money."[9]
If he could, he would only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day for the rest of his life.[9]
Savino is the second Nickelodeon employee to have been publicly fired from Nickelodeon, the first being Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi.
After being fired by Nickelodeon, Savino deactivated various social media accounts, which included his Instagram account, and he later stopped working for television animation companies after his firing from Nickelodeon in 2017, being a big reason why he never worked on anything outside of Nickelodeon ever again.
On October 23, 2017, Savino briefly opened a Facebook account to publicly post his apology regarding the allegations.
On May 30, 2018, Savino was suspended from the Animation Guild for a year over the allegations.
In September and October 2019, Savino spoke out in an interview and released audio from a church gathering, acknowledging and apologizing in both for his actions and behavior and the pain he had caused his accusers, family, friends, fans, and colleagues. He also stated he has become a born-again Christian, has written several novels (which he is releasing independently) as well as some cartoon pitches and pilot scripts, and is hoping for a second chance to return to the animation industry in the future.
In 2017, his first wife, Bethany, divorced him after he was fired from the show because of the sexual allegations and inappropriate behavior towards the women employees at several industries. So then on after the divorce, Bethany stated on Instagram that she is now taking care of the three sons that both she and Chris have raised. Sometime before June 2022, he married a woman named Ian.[10]
He disagrees with the idea of the characters aging up in Season 5 due to the internal timeline elements that this led to.[11]
Savino actually did quite like how A Loud House Christmas and The Really Loud House casted the characters he created since they were written in a way similar to a sitcom. In fact, he once pitched one episode of the cartoon in live-action, as well as one containing puppets voiced by the characters, but only as one-off gags.[11]
