FatKat animation was an animation studio located in Miramichi, New Brunswick. It was owned and operated by Gene Fowler and his employees. This company was started in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was taken over by Trainingscape which saw the creation of over 40 training films for various companies.
In the winter of 2003, Trainingscape disbanded and that was when Fowler decided to move FatKat to his hometown of Miramichi. FatKat worked on television shows such as Happy Tree Friends, Caillou, Carl Squared, Family Guy, and Odd Job Jack. As they have had major clients such about I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Pepsi, Microsoft and Toyota.
FatKat's was, at one point, considered the largest animation studio in Atlantic Canada and the fastest growing animation studio in Canada. However, after government funding for the studio dried up under the Harper government,[1] the 2007-2010 economic crisis occurred and the fact that the business plan didn't actually set a goal of making money,[2] FatKat eventually dwindled until its closure was announced in May 2009.[3][4]
At the time of closure, the company was down to employing only 3 people, even though it had received 1 million in government grants since 2005 under the government.[5] Fowler has formed a much-smaller successor studio Loogaroo [2], in Miramichi,despite the fact that he had declared insolvency with Fatkat animation.[3]
The company was formed from animators who left Helix Animation 10 years ago.