Jeff Kline was executive producer of both Transformers: Prime and the first season of Transformers: Rescue Bots. He was an executive producer of Transformers: Robots in Disguise. With Magic: The Gathering, Kline replaces Russo Bros in leading the creative team on the Netflix Series.
In 2013, Kline founded Darby Pop Publishing, a comic book publishing company, and entered into a distribution agreement with IDW. He created Darby Pop’s first title, Indestructible, with the first issue release in December 2013. Other Darby Pop titles include The 7th Sword, City: the Mind and the Machine, Doberman, and Dead Squad. In October 2015, Darby Pop announced a collaboration with Bruce Lee Entertainment to produce Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises, which chronicles the return of the beloved actor, philosopher, teacher, and martial artist in a present-day, all-ages comedy/action/adventure co-written by Kline and Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce. In January 2018, Darby Pop announced another collaboration with Bruce Lee Entertainment: Bruce Lee: The Walk of the Dragon by Nicole Dubuc (Star Wars: Rebels, My Little Pony, Transformers: Rescue Bots).
Darby Pop Productions produced Jingle Bell Rocks, a documentary about Christmas music, distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories. While Kline was executive producer, PBS children’s series Dragon Tales was nominated for the Outstanding Children’s Animated Program Daytime Emmy in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
In 2018, Kline served as Executive Producer and Head Writer on a new series of Woody Woodpecker animated shorts for YouTube.
Over the past few years, Kline also co-developed and Executive Produced both Transformers: Rescue Bots and G.I. Joe: Renegades for Hasbro Studios and The Hub as part of an exclusive multi-year pact.
Previously, Kline has been Showrunner on a slew of fan-fave animated series including Jackie Chan Aadventures (Kids WB), Men In Black: The Animated Series (Kids WB), Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles (Syndicated), Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (Fox Kids), and Godzilla: The Series (Fox Kids).
Magic: The Gathering: Kline Replaces Russo Bros on Netflix Series
Netflix, Hasbro, and Entertainment One’s upcoming CG-animated series adaptation of Magic: The Gathering is seeing a major change in creative leadership. Magic: the Gathering, Netflix’s CG-animated series adaptation of the popular tabletop trading-card game, has put in place a new creative team led by executive producer Jeff Kline overseeing the creation of an all new storyline and expand on the stories of the Planeswalkers, Magic’s unique magic-wielding heroes and villains.. Magic: The Gathering Arena on PC and mobile and fiction across the web, comics and a New York Times bestselling novel. It boasts combined 40 million fans with The Magic: The Gathering tabletop card game was created by Richard Garfield and was released in 1993. It is credited as the first trading card game, ever. Since then, the game has inspired a digital version of itself, an esports league, a comic book series, and a best-selling novel.
Magic: the Gathering has been published in 11 languages in over 70 countries, and the game has over 35 million active players worldwide. For the Magic: the Gathering TV adaptation, Netflix in 2019 partnered with Hasbro, the Rhode Island-based toymaker, and Wizards of the Coast, the Seattle outfit that publishes both the Magic card game and Dungeons & Dragons. Hasbro, which has owned Wizards of the West Coast since 1999, subsequently acquired independent studio Entertainment One which will represent the company on the series.
“I’m grateful to the Russos for bringing me into the world of Magic: The Gathering – specifically, over dinner at one of their go-to Cleveland restaurants,” Jeff Kline said. “Magic is one of those rare intellectual properties with such a wellspring of mythology that “picking and choosing” is half the battle. Every single person working on the series understands how beloved this universe is – and feels both the exhilaration and tremendous pressure that comes with translating Magic across mediums.”
Credits Include:
- 2022 Magic: The Gathering: Developer
- 2018 Woody Woodpecker (animated series): Executive Producer; Head Writer
- 2015-2017 Transformers: Robots in Disguise: Executive Producer (seasons 1 and 2), Developer
- 2012-2016 Transformers: Rescue Bots (animated series): Executive Producer (season 1); Developer
- 2010–2013 Transformers: Prime (animated series): Executive Producer; Developer
- 2010-2011 G.I. Joe Renegades (animated series): Executive Producer; Developer
- 2006–2007 Banana Splits (live-action series): Consulting Producer
- 2007–2010 My Friends Tigger and Pooh (animated series): Executive Producer
- 2007 Super Sleuth Christmas Movie (animated special): Executive Producer
- 2004–2005 Soccer Moms (live-action series): Executive Producer
- 2001 Get Ed (animated pilot): Creative Consultant
- 2002–2003 Dragon Tales: Let’s Start a Band (animated special): Executive Producer
- 2002 That Was Then (live-action series): Executive Producer; Writer
- 2003 Stuart Little: The Animated Series (animated series): Creative Consultant
- 2001 Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (live-action pilot): Executive Producer; Writer
- 2001 Harold and the Purple Crayon (animated series): Executive Producer; Developer
- 2000-2005 Jackie Chan Adventures (animated series): Executive Producer; Developer
- 1998–1999 Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (animated series): Co-Executive Producer; Developer
- 1999-2000 Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (animated series): Co-Executive Producer; Developer
- 2001 Max Steel (animated series): Co-Executive Producer; Developer
- 1999-2005 Dragon Tales (animated series): Executive Producer
- 1998–2001 Godzilla: The Series (animated series): Co-Executive Producer; Developer
- 1997 Lawless (live-action series): Producer
- 1997-2001 Men in Black: The Animated Series (animated series): Co-Executive Producer; Developer
- 1997 Extreme Ghostbusters (animated series): Supervising Producer; Developer
- 1997 Channel Umptee-3 (animated series): Producer
- 1994 Fortune Hunter (live-action series): Writer
- 1996 Jumanji (animated series): Developer