The producers spent eighteen months preparing the new show, something unprecedented in children's television.[42] The show had an "impressive" budget of $28,000 per episode.[43] After being named executive director of the CTW,[44][note 5] Cooney began to assemble a team of producers:[26] Jon Stone was responsible for writing, casting, and format; David Connell took over animation and volume; and Samuel Gibbon served as the show's chief liaison between the production staff and the research team.[46] Stone, Connell, and Gibbon had worked on Captain Kangaroo together, but were not involved in children's television when Cooney recruited them.[note 6] At first, Cooney planned to divide the show's production of five episodes a week among several teams, but she was advised by CBS vice-president Mike Dann to use only one. This production team was led by Connell, who had gained experience producing many episodes in a short period of time, a process called "volume production", during his eleven years working on Captain Kangaroo.[48][49]