Aug 1, 2013

DreamWorks Promotes Large-Scale TV Animation Plan

DreamWorks Animation announced yesterday the appointment of veteran Nickelodeon executive Marjorie Cohn to head DreamWorks Animation's television division. Cohn left Nick last April after 26 years with the company. She will join two former Nick TV executives at DreamWorks, the well-liked Mark Taylor, who ran Nick Rodeon Animation Studios and is now head of television production at DreamWorks, and Peter Gall, head of development.

Sources told Cartoon Brew that DreamWorks is launching in a big way. They have a new studio in Glendale and are planning a number of new series based on original movies, as well as shows based on classic properties acquired through the Classic Media acquisition (now known as DreamWorks Classics). Among the classics owned by DreamWorks are "Casper the Friendly Ghost," "Where's Waldo," "Lassie," "The Lone Ranger," "Postman Pat," "George of the Jungle," "Rocky & Bullwinkle", and (my personal favorite) "Roger Ramjet".

DreamWorks is actively recruiting showrunners and artistic talent from other studios, and if it goes ahead with its current plan to produce 1,200 episodes of new content over five years, it will need to hire several hundred crew members, putting it on par with Cartoon Network, Disney, Nick Cartoon Network, Disney, and Nick, and would immediately become one of LA's largest corporate-owned television studios.

DreamWorks attempted to launch TV studios in the 1990s ("Invasion America," "Toonsylvania") and 2000s ("Father of the Pride"), but neither was successful. This new TV initiative is different in scope and ambition. Whereas previously DreamWorks had signed individual series to various networks, it now has extensive content deals with both Netflix and the German children's broadcaster Super RTL, allowing for rapid expansion.

Jeffrey Katzenberg's grand plans are not yet clear, but with the DreamWorks Classics library and new shows in production, the studio appears to have enough content to eventually launch its own television network. It's a good thing, too, because DreamWorks is set to shake up the Los Angeles animated TV industry for the next few years.