| Type | Public, Subsidiary of Starz Media, LLC |
|---|---|
| Industry | Animation, motion pictures, television |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Burbank, California, USA |
| Key people | Phil Roman, founder |
| Parent | Independent (1984-1991) MCA (1991-1996) Universal Studios (1996-1998) Bunny Bee Corp. (1998-2003) IDT Media (2003-2007) Liberty Media (2007-present) |
| Divisions | Studio Corp. Caesar Pictures Number 20 Animation Phil Roman Entertainment |
| Website | www.filmroman.com |
Film Roman is an animation studio founded by Phil Roman, best known for producing the animation for The Simpsons, King of the Hill for 20th Century Fox, as well as the Garfield and Peanuts animated TV specials.[1]
Film Roman is a division of Starz Media, a division of Liberty Media, and was originally founded by Bill Melendez Productions director Phil Roman in 1984 as a means to produce the series of animated Garfield prime-time TV specials, since Melendez's own studio was unable to work on both the Garfield series and Peanuts specials. Melendez's studio had produced the first two Garfield specials (directed by Roman), but due to the wishes of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz' concerns about conflict of interest in allocating production priority at Melendez's boutique studio, the production had to be moved. Peanuts executive producer Lee Mendelson offered Roman, who was leaving Melendez to start his own studio, the opportunity to produce the next (3rd) primetime animated Garfield special for CBS, which Roman accepted, and went on to produce and direct, winning an Emmy in the process.
In 1985 CBS' head of children's programming Judy Price ordered the long running Garfield & Friends series, which started aring three years later, in September 1988. This was Film Roman's first regular series. In 1986 in an effort to expand and diversify the studio, Roman hired Marvel Productions VP of Business Affairs, and Roman's personal attorney, Michael Wahl as President and Bill Schultz, Marvel's Director of Development, to join as the fledgling studio's VP of Production and Development. Garfield was expanded to an hour on CBS' number one rated Saturday Morning block and the studio grew to increase its capacity.
In 1988 the new management team developed, sold and produced two new series to the brand new Fox Kids Network, headed up by former Marvel Productions head Margaret Loesch. The studio went on to grow and produce many popular animated series now seen all around the world. (see list below)
The original studio was located on Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake, California, where Roman was also joined by Melendez producer Lee Mendelson. Years later, the studio moved to a new location on Chandler Blvd. in Studio City, before settling into its present location off Hollywood Way in Burbank.
Starz Media announced on October 11, 2010 that it has reached a deal to sell Film Roman to a private investment group led by former company president Scott D. Greenberg. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.[2]
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