Film Roman

Film Roman, LLC
Subsidiary of Waterman Entertainment
Industry Animation, motion pictures, television
Founded 1984 (1984)
Founder Phil Roman
Headquarters Woodland Hills, California, United States
Key people
  • Steve Waterman (CEO)
  • Phil Roman
  • (chairman emeritus)
  • Dana Booton
  • (president of production)[1]
Parent Waterman Entertainment
Divisions Film Roman Baja JV
Website www.filmroman.com
Film Roman's former headquarters in Burbank

Film Roman is an American animation studio owned by Waterman Entertainment, the production company of producer Steve Waterman.[2] Founded by veteran animator and director Phil Roman in 1984, it is best known for producing source animation for series such as The Simpsons (1992–2016), King of the Hill and Family Guy for 20th Century Fox Animation, as well as Garfield and Friends and various Garfield animated television specials.[3]

History

Beginning

Phil Roman, veteran alumnus of MGM Animation/Visual Arts and Bill Melendez Productions, founded Film Roman in 1984 as a means to continue the production of the Garfield series of animated prime time television specials, since Melendez's own studio was unable to work on both the Garfield and Peanuts series of specials. Peanuts executive producers Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez and their aforementioned studio had produced the first two Garfield specials (Here Comes Garfield (1982) and Garfield on the Town (1983) respectively, both specials directed by Roman), but due to both Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz' and Garfield creator Jim Davis' concerns about conflicting interests in allocating production priority at Melendez's boutique studio, the production had to be moved. While he was leaving him and Melendez for his already-established studio, Roman was offered the opportunity to produce the next Garfield prime time special, Garfield in the Rough (1984), for CBS by Mendelson, which he accepted and went on to produce and direct all by himself, winning an Emmy in the process.

Formation

In 1985, CBS' head of children's programming Judy Price had commissioned an animated television series based on the Garfield prime time special series, later ultimately titled Garfield and Friends, which took three years for Roman to decide developing and producing the program before it eventually aired on the network's Saturday morning time slot, premiering on September 17, 1988. The aforementioned show 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 his own personal attorney, Michael Wahl, as President and Bill Schultz, Marvel's Director of Development, to join in the company as the fledgling studio's VP of Production and Development. Garfield and Friends 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 a new series, Bobby's World, to the brand new Fox Kids Network, headed up by former Marvel Productions president Margaret Loesch. In 1992 to 2016, Film Roman took over the source production of 20th Century Fox's The Simpsons from Klasky-Csupo who had produced the one-minute teaser cartoon shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show as well as the animation for the first three seasons and the first two episodes of the fourth season (in total 61 episodes).[4][5]

Waterman Entertainment ownership

In 2015, Film Roman was acquired from its parent company Starz Distribution by Waterman Entertainment, the production company of executive producer Steve Waterman.[1] On November 22, 2016, the company formed with Boxel Studios, a Baja California-based animation facility, a joint venture, Film Roman Baja J.V. (also called Film Roman Baja Productions) based in Tijuana.[6]

Location

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 another location at Starz Plaza on Hollywood Way in Burbank, which it shares with the former Hub Network and Hasbro Studios, and finally settling into its present location in Woodland Hills.

Television series

Subcontracted from others:

for 20th Century Fox Television:

for Marvel Animation:

various other studios:

Puppet/CGI shows:

Television specials

Garfield specials

Other specials

Films

Direct-to-video

Theatrical features

Special effects for other movies

Miscellaneous

Web series

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 McNary, Dave (November 12, 2015). "‘Simpsons’ Animator Film Roman Bought by Waterman Entertainment". Variety. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  2. ↑ McNary, Dave (12 November 2015). "‘Simpsons’ Animator Film Roman Bought by Waterman Entertainment". Variety. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Hofmeister, Sallie (April 2, 1998). "COMPANY TOWN; Drawing on Creativity; A Struggling Film Roman Tries to Reanimate Itself". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  4. ↑ Kirkland, Mark (2004). The Simpsons The Complete Fourth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Kamp Krusty" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  5. ↑ Bernstein, Sharon (1992-01-21). "'The Simpsons' Producer Changes Animation Firms". The Los Angeles Times. p. 18. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
  6. ↑ http://deadline.com/2016/11/film-roman-boxel-studios-film-roman-baja-1201858249/
  7. 1 2 3 http://kidscreen.com/2016/11/23/film-roman-boxel-studios-form-animation-jv-in-mexico/
  8. ↑ http://wwg.com/2017/01/22/mega-man-cartoon-sports-a-controversial-new-look/
  9. ↑ WWE Studios and Film Roman announce 'Camp WWE' irreverent animated web series
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