Being a post about productions happening in L.A.'s Cartoonland, the following will have omissions and possibly errors, because they happen. And because I'm no longer plugged into the day-to-day hubbub of animation production, but have to rely on spies and stoolies willing to talk. Also, too, the internet. ...
BENTO BOX
Bob's Burger
The Awesomes (Atlanta)
Legends of Chamberlain Heights
various pilots
The studio has two Southern California locations in Burbank and North Hollywood. Also facilities in Atlanta and Canada.
CARTOON NETWORK STUDIOS
Wee Bare Bears
Ben 10 (newer version)
Power Puff Girls
Samurai Jack (10 episodes -- in post production)
Steven Universe
Mighty Magiswords
OK KO (Let's Be Heroes)
Summer Camp Island
Various unannounced series, including a prime time offering.
Clarence (wrapping up)
Regular Show (wrapping up)
Adventure Time (wrapping up)
Uncle Grandpa (wrapping up)
CN's L.A. County Studio snugs up against the Burbank Police Department in Burbank, California. CN also has a studio in Atlanta. Many "Adult Swim" offerings are done by non-signator sub-contractors because "doing it on the cheap" is an operating philosophy.
DISNEY TELEVISION ANIMATION
Mickey Mouse shorts
Star Vs. The Forces of Evil
Pickle and Peanut
Sofia the First (wrapping)
Elena of Avalor
Duck Tales
Country Club
Olaf's Frozen Adventures
Mickey and the Roadster Racers
Milo Murphy's Law
Big Hero 6: The Series
Muppet Babies (CG)
Three Caballeros
The Lion Guard
Wicked World
Disney TVA is located in Glendale on Sonora Avenue ... and next to the Burbank Airport in what is known as "Media Center North". The division is outsourcing more of its shows as a cost-cutting move (studio overhead ain't cheap). L.A. subcontractors include Wild Canary, Rough Draft Studios, and Titmouse/Robin Red breast.
DISNEY TOON STUDIOS
Planes 3
Animation veteran Mark Dindall is at work on "Planes 3".
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
Larrikins
Captain Underpants (wrapping in Canada)
How to Train Your Dragon 3
Shrek 5
B.O.O. - Bureau of Otherworldly Operations
Puss in Boots 2
Madagascar 4
With the purchase of DreamWorks Animation by Universal, changes are ongoing, with various management changes (Chris deFaria comes aboard; Chris Meledandri will be a more active consultant, focusing in "Larrikins" to start with). Expect changes at both DreamWorks Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios. At both places there have been layoffs over the past few months.
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION TV
All Hail King Julian
The Adventures of Puss in Boots
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Vegitales (Louisiana)
Dinotrux
Voltron
Home
Dragons, How to Train
(new version)Harvey Girls
Trolls
Spirit Riding Free
DWA tv continues to produce a variety of series for Netflix distribution. The division is located in Glendale on multiple stories of a skyscraper on Central Avenue. It has been a large employer of animation and CG artists since it was created four-plus years ago.
FOX ANIMATION
The Simpsons
Family Guy
American Dad
Fox Animation hs two locations: one in Burbank at the Pinnacle on Alameda, and a larger facility on Wilshire (los Angeles) where "American Dad" and "Family Guy" are produced.
FUZZY DOOR PRODUCTIONS
Seth MacFarlane's production company, headquartered in Beverly Hills, developing various live-action and animated projects.
HASBRO
Stretch Armstrong
Transformers (winding down
Micronauts (scripts in L.A., most of production at Hasbro subsidiary Boulder in Ireland)
My Little Pony (scripts in L.A., production in Canada)
Hasbro recently moved to the Yahoo complex next to the Burbank Airport. Before the move they were further north in a building shared with Film Roman/"Simpsons".
MARVEL ANIMATION
Spiderman (newer iteration)
Avengers
Guardians
Marvel Animation, a Disney subsidiary, has two animation facilities in Glendale, on and near Flower Street. Marvel Animation will be moving to a new location on Main Street in Burbank the middle of the year.
NICKELODEON
Bunson Is A Beast
Fairly Odd Parents (last of new episodes wrapping in Canada)
Sponge Bob Square Pants
Loud House
Harvey Beaks
Ninja Turtles (new version)
Shimmer & ShinePinky Malinky
Glitch Tech
Hey Arnold (long form)
Rocko (long form)
Henry Danger
Nickelodeon has recently consolidated animation staff from Third Street in Burbank and Brand Boulevard in Glendale to its new skyscraper on Olive Avenue in Burbank.
RENEGADE
Tom & Jerry
Renegade is a non-signator animation studio in Glendale California. It has done sub-contract work for WB Animation, also provided content for the website "ABC Mouse".
SHADOW MACHINE
Bojack Horseman
Shadow Machine is located in the east Valley, yet another non-Guild studio.
SPLASH ENTERTAINMENT
Run by Mike and Liz Young (and a non-Animation Guild studio), Splash is located in Warner Center out in the west San Fernando Valley. Recent projects: "Norm of the North" (feature) and "Kulipari: An Army of Frogs (series). If you know what they are currently working on you are more knowledgable than Hulett.
STARBURNS INDUSTRIES
Rick and Morty
Animals
Starburns in located in Burbank; "Rick and Morty" is a Guild show, its other projects are non-Guild.
TITMOUSE/ROBIN RED BREAST
Big Mouth
Nikko and the Sword of Light
Moonbeam
Son of Zorn
Future-Worm!
Goldie and Bear
Hanazuki: Full of Treasures
Megalopolis
The Venture Brothers
Super Jail
Titmouse/Robin Red Breast is located on Lexington Avenue in Hollywood, with anothe facility in New York. They were an early sub-contractor for DreamWorks Animation tv, and have also worked on a variety of Disney shows, Netflix shows, some of which are listed above.
2 STOOPID BUDDIES STUDIOS
Super Mansion
Robot Chicken
2 Stoopid Buddies is yet another east San Fernando Valley studio, located in Burbank. It's a non-Guild studio.
UNIVERSAL CARTOON STUDIOS
Curious George
Chipmunks*
Land Before Time*
In the past few weeks, UCS moved to the DreamWorks Animation campus in Glendale. At least, the Curious George unit did.
WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS
Wreck-It Ralph 2
Gigantic
Frozen 2
Zootopia 2
Let's take it for granted, Hollywood culture being Hollywood culture, that any feature that grosses $1 billion or more will automatically generate a sequel before many years have passed. No self-respecting conglomerate will do anything different. (What do you think this is?! 1943?)
WARNER ANIMATION GROUP (WAG)
The Lego Movie Sequel
Scooby-Doo
Smallfoot
The Lego Ninjago Movie
The Lego Batman Movie (completed)
Warner Animation Group recently lost one of their top execs (Chris deFaria) to DreamWorks Animation; the Time-Warner division is located in Hollywood near Melrose, on the Warner Bros. lot, and on the Warner ranch.
WARNER BROS. ANIMATION
Unikitty
Bee Cool Scooby Doo
Wabbit
Bunicula
Justice League Action
Mike Tyson Mysteries
Teen Titans Go!
DC Girls
Green Eggs and Ham
Wacky Races
Warner Bros. Animation has locations at three Burbank locations: the Warner Ranch, the Pinnacle, and the Burbank Studio (formerly NBC Studios).
Trends in Los Angeles animation? Television animation is roaring and will continue to roar. The big drivers here are the new media players Netflix and Amazon. Both are ramping up their kids' content. My informants tell me that Amazon is going to be doing a lot more children's programming in the coming moths/years.
Theatrical animation, on the other hand, is in a holding pattern. As stated above, both DreamWorks Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios have laid off staff. Retrenchment is the order of the day. Illumination Entertainment, which does most of its production in Paris, continues to hire freelance board artists at favorable pay rates in Los Angeles to work on features.
But overall? It looks as though animation employment will be robust in Southern California for some time to come. (And look for this post to be updated over the next few days).
Cool Steve, thanks for the great blog!
ReplyDeleteI just can't stop, I guess. It's a disease.
ReplyDeleteLove it! Thank you.
ReplyDelete