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Frederator Studios

From Alfawiki
Frederator Studios
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryAnimation production
FoundedJanuary 6, 1997; 29 years ago (1997-01-06) in North Hollywood, California, United States
FounderFred Seibert
Headquarters
New York City and Burbank, California
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Fred Seibert (Founder, former Chief Creator Officer), Michael Hirsh (CEO)
ParentKartoon Studios via Wow Unlimited Media
Websitefrederatorstudios.com

Frederator Studios is a U.S.-based animation production company for television, established by Fred Seibert in January 1997. It functions as a branch of Frederator Networks, Inc., which belongs to Kartoon Studios' Canadian parent firm Wow Unlimited Media. The studio's tagline is "Original Cartoons since 1998."

Seibert and Frederator have been behind many highly praised animated works designed for broad audiences. The company maintains offices in both New York City and Burbank, California.

In 2016, Canadian studio Rainmaker acquired Frederator, integrating it into Wow! Unlimited Media. Seibert held the position of Chief Creator Officer there until August 2020. After his exit, he launched FredFilms in February 2021.

Origins and initial period

Prior to creating Frederator, Fred Seibert co-founded Fred/Alan, Inc. in 1983 with his college associate Alan Goodman. In 1988, they joined forces with Albie Hecht at Chauncey Street Productions to develop television content for networks such as Nickelodeon, MTV, A&E, and CBS. Fred/Alan ceased operations in 1992.

Seibert then became president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in 1992, where he developed What a Cartoon!, a series presenting 48 animated shorts on Cartoon Network. Following the merger of Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting in 1996, he departed from the studio.

On January 6, 1997, Frederator Incorporated was established, initially working out of a temporary space at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio located in North Hollywood, California. Its first project was the short cartoon incubator series Oh Yeah! Cartoons, which gave rise to three full series: The Fairly OddParents (its inaugural official show), ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot. The program showcased 51 original shorts created by talents such as Butch Hartman, Rob Renzetti, Seth MacFarlane, among others. Oh Yeah! Cartoons was inspired by Seibert’s earlier work on What a Cartoon! at Hanna-Barbera, which produced popular series like Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, and The Powerpuff Girls. To date, Frederator has developed 16 television series along with more than 200 miniseries and webisodes. By 2013, the company had formed partnerships with Sony Pictures Entertainment and YouTube for content creation.

In 2002, Frederator partnered with Susan Miller’s Mixed Media Group, Inc. to establish the preschool-oriented venture Bolder Media, which produced the Nick Jr. show Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! created by animator Bob Boyle.

Additionally, Frederator originated the TV series and competition known as The Nicktoons Film Festival (later renamed Nicktoons Network Animation Festival) for Nicktoons Network, premiering on October 24, 2004.

In 2004, future Tumblr founder David Karp interned at Frederator’s Manhattan office and developed their initial blogging system. By 2007, Karp launched Tumblr from a rented workspace within Frederator’s Park Avenue South location alongside chief engineer Marco Arment. Seibert was among Tumblr’s earliest contributors.

On November 1, 2005, Frederator introduced Channel Frederator, dubbed "the first cartoon podcast." Named by David Karp who managed its early production and editing, this weekly animation platform featured submissions worldwide and rapidly became one of Apple iTunes’ leading video podcasts. Subsequent spin-offs included The Wubbcast targeting preschool audiences (January 2006) and ReFrederator, which showcased classic public domain cartoons (April 2006). Channel Frederator served as a prototype for Seibert’s media venture Next New Networks, eventually achieving close to four million monthly video views.

On June 25, 2007, Frederator revealed plans to launch Frederator Films, dedicated to producing animated feature films with budgets under $20 million. Their initial feature project was arranged through Paramount Pictures, co-produced alongside J. J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. Furthermore, they secured an exclusive first-look agreement with Sony Pictures Animation for two additional animated features.

Growth into online animation

Frederator Studios ventured into original web-based cartoons by collaborating with animator Dan Meth, launching The Meth Minute 39 on September 5, 2007. This series comprised 39 shorts, including the widely shared "Internet People." Following this, the spin-off series Nite Fite premiered in October 2008, and together these projects accumulated over 35 million views.

The anthology series Random! Cartoons, which aired on Nicktoons in 2009, served as a springboard for two television shows: Fanboy & Chum Chum and Adventure Time—the latter marking Frederator's inaugural production for Cartoon Network—as well as the web series Bravest Warriors.

In February 2012, Frederator Studios integrated into Frederator Networks with the debut of Cartoon Hangover, a YouTube-funded channel and adult-oriented label. A year and a half later, they introduced the Channel Frederator Network, an MCN designed to assist independent YouTube animators with distribution and revenue generation. Early productions on Cartoon Hangover included Pendleton Ward’s Bravest Warriors, James Kochalka’s SuperFuckers, and Too Cool! Cartoons, an incubator series. The premiere of Bravest Warriors took place on November 8, 2012, followed by SuperFuckers on November 30.

July 2013 saw the release of the initial segment of the short film Bee and PuppyCat, created by Natasha Allegri, as part of Too Cool! Cartoons. Its success spurred a Kickstarter campaign in November 2013 that raised $872,133, setting a record at that time for the highest-funded animation and web series project on the platform.

Additionally, Frederator launched Frederator Books, a digital-only ebook publisher, which debuted with "The Lieography of Babe Ruth" in March 2013.

By 2014, Frederator expanded its multi-channel network with The Channel Frederator Network, which brought together over 200 independent animation YouTube channels. This network has surpassed one billion views overall and maintains an average of more than 30 million monthly views. Prominent channels under this umbrella include FilmCow (with over one million subscribers), Cartoon Hangover (also exceeding one million subscribers), and Simon's Cat (boasting more than 2.8 million subscribers), ranking as YouTube’s second-largest animation channel. Frederator oversees advertising, distribution, marketing, and licensed merchandise for these channels.

By 2016, Frederator formed a partnership with Mexican studio Ánima Estudios to establish Átomo Network, a YouTube network focused on Spanish-language animated content.

Rainmaker acquisition; Wow Unlimited merger; Kartoon Studios ownership

In December 2016, Canadian company Rainmaker Entertainment, formerly known as Mainframe, acquired Frederator Networks. Together with Ezrin Hirsh Entertainment (EHE), they consolidated under the holding company Wow Unlimited Media, Inc..

Fred Seibert stepped down as CEO of Frederator Studios in August 2020. He was succeeded by Michael Hirsh, co-founder of the Canadian animation studio Nelvana.

On October 27, 2021, Genius Brands—now operating as Kartoon Studios—announced an agreement to purchase Wow Unlimited Media for C$66 million (approximately US$53 million), finalizing the deal in April 2022.

In January 2023, half of the ownership rights to both Bravest Warriors and Bee and PuppyCat were transferred to Japanese company Toho International.

Television series

For Nickelodeon:

For Nicktoons:

  • Nicktoons Film Festival (2004–2009) (produced in partnership with Nickelodeon Animation Studio)
  • Random! Cartoons (2008–2009) (created alongside Nickelodeon Animation Studio)
  • Ape Escape (2009) (co-produced with Hawaii Film Partners, Project 51 Productions, and Showcase Entertainment)

For Netflix:

For HBO Max:

Additional productions

YouTube series

Channel Frederator:

  • The Meth Minute 39 (September 5, 2007)
  • Cartoon Conspiracy (April 24, 2014)

Cartoon Hangover:

Films

See also

External links

  • Official website
  • Frederator profile on IMDB
  • Interview titled "Fred Seibert predicts the 'next golden era of animation' online" from the Los Angeles Times, dated December 18, 2013
  • Interview "Fred Seibert: The visionary behind kids' television shaping a new wave of unconventional animation" featured in Adweek
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