Frederator Studios
| This article relies on references to primary sources. (August 2011) |
Company logo as of 2009 |
|
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cartoon and animation production |
| Predecessor(s) | Fred/Alan |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder(s) | Fred Seibert |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
| Number of locations | 2 offices (2013) |
| Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | frederator.com |
Frederator Studios is an independent American animation studio founded by Fred Seibert in 1997, with its first series launching in 1998. The studio focuses primarily on artists who write their own shorts, series, and movies. Their slogan is "Original Cartoons since 1998." The studio has locations in New York City and Burbank, California.[1]
Contents |
History[edit]
The company was formed as Frederator Incorporated in 1997 (its first cartoons were released in 1998), and was housed at a temporary location of the Nickelodeon Animation Studio, in North Hollywood, California.[2] Frederator's debut production was the cartoon short incubator, a television series called Oh Yeah! Cartoons, which later spun off three series: The Fairly OddParents, ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot, in addition to 51 original short cartoons by a group of creators including the first films by creators like Butch Hartman, Rob Renzetti, Tim Biskup, Larry Huber, Pat Ventura, Seth MacFarlane, and Carlos Ramos. Oh Yeah! Cartoons was based on Seibert's What a Cartoon! series of shorts from Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and Cartoon Network, which brought Hanna-Barbera its first hit series in 10 years, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, and Courage the Cowardly Dog.
In 2002, Frederator created a joint venture for preschool cartoons with producer Susan Miller's Mixed Media Group, Inc. and produced their first preschool series, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!.
Frederator Studios created a television series and competition The Nicktoons Film Festival (now known as the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival) for the Nicktoons network, which debuted October 24, 2004.
On November 1, 2005, Frederator launched the first cartoon podcast,[3] named Channel Frederator. This weekly animation network features submitted films from around the world, and quickly became one of the top video podcasts on Apple Inc.'s iTunes. In quick succession, The Wubbcast was launched for pre-schoolers in January 2006, and ReFrederator featuring vintage public domain cartoons in April 2006. Channel Frederator is now part of media company Next New Networks and reaches almost 4,000,000 video views monthly.
In 2006 David Karp interned at Frederator Studios at its 22 West 21st Street offices in the Flatiron District of New York City's Silicon Alley. In 2007 he co-launched Tumblr in a building a block from Federator on 21st.[4][5] Seibert was one of Tumblr's first bloggers.[6]
On June 25, 2007 Variety article announced the studio had formed Frederator Films, dedicated to creating animated feature films budgeted under $20 million.[3] Frederator's first feature is set up at Paramount Pictures, co-produced with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions. They have also set up their first two animated features in a first look production arrangement for Sony Pictures Animation.[7]
The studio produced its first original internet cartoons with independent animator Dan Meth. The Meth Minute 39 launched on September 5, 2007, featuring 39 of Meth's original character shorts. (The first cartoon was "Internet People," a video on the viral video sites YouTube and MySpaceTV that featured some of the best internet memes and internet people.) A spin-off, Nite Fite, debuted in October 2008. These series have totaled over 35,000,000 video views to date.
Random! Cartoons, the latest Frederator series of short cartoon series, began airing on Nicktoons in 2009;[8] it spawned two TV series, Fanboy and Chum Chum and Adventure Time, as well as the web series, Bravest Warriors.
Frederator announced its new YouTube funded channel and adult production label, Cartoon Hangover in February 2012.[9] Frederator is producing two animated series exclusively for the Internet: Bravest Warriors, created by Pendleton Ward and SuperF*ckers, created by James Kochalka.[10] Bravest Warriors premiered on November 8, 2012 and SuperF*ckers premiered on November 30, 2012. Each series consists of twelve five-minute episodes and will air through 2013. Frederator also announced a fifth cartoon shorts incubator, which will feature 39 shorts dubbed Too Cool! Cartoons.[11]
In 2013, Frederator launched a digital-only ebook company, Frederator Books. Frederator Books published its first title, "The Lieography of Babe Ruth" in March 2013.[12]
Productions[edit]
Television series[edit]
For Nickelodeon:
- Oh Yeah! Cartoons (1998–2001)
- The Fairly OddParents (2001–present)
- ChalkZone (2002-2008)
- My Life as a Teenage Robot (2003-2009)
- Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (2006-2010)
- Fanboy & Chum Chum (2009–2012)
For Nicktoons:
- Nicktoons Film Festival (2004-2009)
- Random! Cartoons (2008-2009)
- Ape Escape (2009)
For Cartoon Network:
- Adventure Time (2010–present)
Online series (Cartoon Hangover)[edit]
Shows:
- Bravest Warriors (November 8, 2012)
- SuperF*ckers (November 30, 2012)
Shorts:
- Our New Electrical Morals (April 4, 2013)
- Rocket Dog (May 2, 2013)
- Ace Discovery (May 30, 2013)
- Bee + PuppyCat (2013)
- Dead End (2013)
- Doctor Lollipop (2013)
Movies[edit]
- A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! (2011, co-production with Billionfold, Inc. and Pacific Bay Entertainment)
- A Fairly Odd Christmas (2012, co-production with Billionfold, Inc. and Pacific Bay Entertainment)
- Samurai Jack (TBA; co-production with Warner Bros., Cartoon Network Studios, and Bad Robot Productions)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "About". Frederator Studios. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
- ^ The Frederator launch
- ^ a b Welcome. Channel Frederator Blog. October 25, 2005.
- ^ Karp, David; Alexandria, Julie (May 27, 2008). David Karp and Tumblr (Video). Wallstrip. Event occurs at 1:30. Retrieved February 24, 2013. "Sometime in 2006, we had a couple of weeks between contracts and said 'Let's see what we can do, let's see if we can built this thing', and we threw together the first working version of Tumblr."
- ^ ""Tumblr: David Karp's $800 Million Art Project" Forbes, January 2, 2013". Forbes.com. 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
- ^ http://archives.frederatorblogs.com/frederator_studios/2007/11/01/killing-them-softly/
- ^ Mclean, Thomas J. Seibert, Sony Team for Toon Features Animation Magazine. Fri, Sep. 11, 2009.
- ^ "Frederator Launches New Cartoon Hangover Channel" Animation Magazine, February 21, 2012
- ^ "Frederator Launches New Cartoon Hangover Channel" Animation Magazine, February 21, 2012
- ^ "Come Work With Us!" June 14, 2012
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/user/CartoonHangover
- ^ frederatorbooks.com
External links[edit]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This animation-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |