Curious Pictures
Type | Private |
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Industry | Television, film, commercials, animation, digital, videogames and VFX |
Founded |
1978 (as Stowmar Enterprises) 1981 (as Broadcast Arts) 1993 (as Curious Pictures) |
Headquarters |
Washington, D.C. (1981-1985) San Francisco, California (1996-2000) New York, New York (1985-) Los Angeles, CA (2008-) |
Key people |
Jan Korbelin, Managing Partner Marina Grasic, Managing Partner Camille Geier, SVP/Head of Studio Vadim Turchin, VFX/CG Supervisor |
Owner(s) |
Independent (1981-1994) Harmony Pictures (1994-1999) Intelefim (1999-2002) Independent (2002-) |
Employees | 60 |
Divisions | TV, Film, Games, Commercials |
Website | www.curiouspictures.com |
Curious Pictures (rendered curious?ictures) is an American animation studio and multi-media company set in New York City and Los Angeles that creates and produces television programs, commercials, animation and videogames.
History
In 1981, Steve Oakes and Peter Rosentheal, who had previously worked together on a project I Go Pogo, founded Broadcast Arts, a small studio in Washington DC. The company's first project was a series of station identification shorts for MTV. Following this, the fledgling studio worked on projects for HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, CBS, ABC, and more.[citation needed]
Later, the company moved to New York City. In the next few years, the company produced several hundred commercials, which used multiple animation and special effects techniques. These projects were for companies such as Budweiser, Pillsbury, Kool-Aid, Wendy's, French's, Hasbro, Canon and Hudson. In addition to the commercial work, the studio was the animation studio for the first season of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse".
In 1990, Becky Wible, Robert Niosi and Nicholas Judy of Broadcast Arts created 1-80-1 Productions, a subsidiary company that focused on stop-motion animation.[citation needed]
Broadcast Arts was renamed Curious Pictures in 1993.
Having worked together for several years, the team of now five partners – Susan Holden, Steve Oakes, David Starr, Peter Rosentheal and Richard Winkler- continued producing TV 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 a computer animation department, a shooting stage with two motion control camera systems, a prop and model shop and digital editing rooms. By 1995 Curious was producing upwards of 100 commercial projects annually. The 1996 production of Mo Willems' "The Offbeats" for Nickelodeon's animated sketch show KaBlam!, marked Curious’ first non-advertising television project. In 1998, "A Little Curious" for HBO became the company’s first half-hour series (the latter shorts also aired separately during commercials), followed soon after by another Willems project, "Sheep in the Big City" for Cartoon Network.
From 1995-1999, an office was maintained in San Francisco to support the company’s expansion into cel animation.
Filmography
TV Shows
- Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986)
- Vandemonium Plus (1987)
- Nickelodeon Special Delivery (opening titles) (1992) +
- Daddy Dearest (opening titles) (1993)+
- The Off-Beats (1996-1999, 2006-present)
- The Little Lulu Show (1995-1999)
- Elmo's World (special effects) (1998)
- A Little Curious (1998-2000, 2009–present)
- Sheep in the Big City (2000-2002)
- Hey Joel (2002)
- Codename: Kids Next Door (2002-2008)
- The Wrong Coast (2004)
- Little Einsteins (2005-2009)
- Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation Z.E.R.O" (2006)
- Team Umizoomi (2010-)
- NFL Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core (2010-2011)
- Eureka: Do You See What I See (animation scenes only) (2011)
TV Films and Specials
- Bite & Smile (1989)
- Smoke Alarm (1996)
- The Off-Beats Valentine Special (1999)
- My Scene: Jammin in Jamaica (2003)
- My Scene: Masquerade Madness (2004)
- My Scene Goes Hollywood : The Movie (2005)
- PollyWorld (2006)
- Barbie Diaries (2006)
Commercials
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Video Games
- Rock Band
- Rock Band 2
- Green Day: Rock Band
- The Beatles: Rock Band
- Homefront
- Dance Central
- Dance Central 2
- Grey's Anatomy: The Video Game
- Leela
- Red Dead Redemption
- Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Shorts
- "Foil Man", by Chris Gilligan (assisting only) (1995)
- "The Louie 'n Louie Show", by Gary Baseman (1996)
- "Cartoon Network Shorties" (1998)
Clients
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External links