American animation studio and multi-media company
Curious Pictures
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Curiouslogo.png/220px-Curiouslogo.png) |
Formerly
| Stowmar Enterprises
(1978?1981)
Open Studio
(1981?1982)
Broadcast Arts
(1982?1993)
|
---|
Company type
| Private
|
---|
Industry
| Television
Film
Commercials
Animation
Digital
Video games
VFX
|
---|
Founded
| March 19, 1978
; 46 years ago
(
1978-03-19
)
|
---|
Founder
| Steve Oakes
Peter Rosentheal
|
---|
Defunct
| April 24, 2015
; 9 years ago
(
2015-04-24
)
|
---|
Fate
| Disbanded in 2014, closed in 2015
|
---|
Successor
| Warner Bros. Animation
|
---|
Headquarters
| Crystal City, Virginia
, U.S.
(1978?1981)
Washington, D.C.
, U.S.
(1981?1985)
New York City
,
New York
, U.S.
(1985?2014)
San Francisco
,
California
, U.S.
(1996?2000)
Los Angeles
,
California
, U.S.
(2008?2015)
|
---|
Key people
| Jan Korbelin (Managing Partner)
Marina Grasic (Managing Partner)
Camille Geier (SVP/Head of Studio)
Vadim Turchin (VFX/CG Supervisor)
|
---|
Number of employees
| 60
|
---|
Parent
| Harmony Pictures
(1994?1999)
Intelefim
(1999?2002)
|
---|
Curious Pictures
(stylized as
curious?ictures
) was an American animation studio and multi-media company that was primarily based in
New York City
that produced
television programs
,
commercials
,
animation
and
video games
. The company is known for its flagship work such as the preschool television series
A Little Curious
for
HBO
,
Little Einsteins
for
Disney Junior
and
Team Umizoomi
for
Nick Jr
. Other well-known works include
Sheep in the Big City
and
Codename: Kids Next Door
for
Cartoon Network
.
History
[
edit
]
After working at Stowmar Enterprises, Steve Oakes and Peter Rosentheal co-founded Broadcast Arts in
Washington, D.C.
in 1981. One of the company's first assignment was a series of network IDs for
MTV
, which had set the standard for the network's irreverent humour. This success established the fledgling studio and brought them projects for
WPLJ
,
Showtime
,
Cinemax
,
ABC
, and more. Broadcast Arts moved to
New York City
in 1985. Broadcast Arts produced hundreds of commercials, constantly weaving together multiple animation and special effects techniques for various projects, as well as the animation for the first season of
Pee-wee's Playhouse
. Broadcast Arts changed its name to Curious Pictures in 1993.
Having worked together for several years, the team of five partners, Susan Holden, Steve Oakes, David Starr, Peter Rosentheal, and Richard Winkler, continued producing television commercials, with the intention of expanding to television programming, toy production, and other ventures. In 1994, the company expanded into a 25,000 square-foot studio in
Lower Manhattan
, fully equipping it with a
cel
and
computer animation
department, a shooting stage with two motion control camera systems, a prop and model shop, and digital editing rooms. From 1995 to 1999, an office was maintained in
San Francisco
to support the company's expansion into animated television series.
In 1998,
A Little Curious
for
HBO
became the company's first half-hour series, followed soon after by another project,
Sheep in the Big City
, for
Cartoon Network
. Other television animated prod included
Codename: Kids Next Door
, created by
Mr. Warburton
, for Cartoon Network,
Little Einsteins
for the
Playhouse Disney
, and the last show is
Team Umizoomi
for Nickelodeon.
Filmography
[
edit
]
Television series
[
edit
]
Films and specials
[
edit
]
Video games
[
edit
]
Short films
[
edit
]
- "
Don't Answer Me
" (music video; 1984)
- Bite & Smile
(1989)
- Foil Man
(assisting only; 1995)
- The Louie and Louie Show
(1996)
- Cartoon Network Shorties
(1998)
- Life
(special thanks; 1999)