Nickelodeon Animation Studio

Coordinates: 34°10′30″N 118°18′56″W / 34.174918°N 118.315692°W / 34.174918; -118.315692

Nickelodeon Animation Studio

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Animation
Founded	1990
Founders	Vanessa Coffey Mary Harrington
Headquarters	Studio City, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (1990–1998) Burbank, California, U.S. (1998–present)
Products	Television Movies
Owner	National Amusements Paramount Pictures (Feature Films)
Parent	Viacom Media Networks (Viacom)
Divisions	Nick Digital Nickelodeon Digital Advertising
Website	goggle.com

Nickelodeon Animation Studio, also known in Burbank as Nickelodeon Studios Burbank, is an American animation studio owned and operated by Viacom through its television network Nickelodeon. The studio produces many of the network's most popular animated series, including SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Harvey Beaks, The Loud House, Bunsen Is a Beast, and Welcome to the Wayne. It also produces programs for Nicktoons Network, Nick at Nite, TeenNick, and Nick Jr. as well.

The Nickelodeon animation division foundations begin with the creation of three original animated programs in 1991, Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show. After a falling-out with Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi in 1992, Nickelodeon founded Games Animation to produce future animated endeavors, including their first fully in-house series Rocko's Modern Life. Games produced much of the mid-1990s output of the network, in partnership with notable companies such as Frederator Studios. In 1998, the studio moved from Studio City, California to Burbank in celebration of a new facility, and was renamed Nickelodeon Animation Studio.

Aside from Nickelodeon and its sister channels, the studio has also produced cartoon series for other Viacom-owned networks including Spike.

History

1991–1998: Games Animation

Games Animation logo used on early episodes of Hey Arnold!.

The Nickelodeon Animation Studio's earliest beginnings lie in the roots of the channel's Nicktoons endeavor. In 1990, Nickelodeon appointed Vanessa Coffey as Executive Producer of Animation, charging her with the quest of seeking out new characters and stories that would allow the channel a grand entrance into the animation business.^[1] The high cost of high-quality animation discouraged the network from developing weekly animated programming. Although most television networks at the time tended to go to large animation houses with proven track records to develop Saturday-morning series, often generally pre-sold characters from movies, toys or comics, Nickelodeon desired differently. Inspired by the early days of animation and the work of Bob Clampett, Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, Nickelodeon set out to find frustrated cartoonists swallowed up by the studio system.^[2] Nickelodeon president Geraldine Laybourne commissioned eight six-minute pilots at a cost of $100,000 each before selecting three. Seeking the most innovative talents in the field, the products of this artists' union – Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show – represented twelve years of budget-building toward that end.^[1]

However, despite the best efforts, relations became strained with Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi. In fall 1992, Nickelodeon and Vanessa Coffey fired Kricfalusi. Nickelodeon asserted that the termination was due to production delays, whereas Kricfalusi suspected the real reason was that the network was uncomfortable with more crude humor.^[3] Nickelodeon objected to most of his proposed plotlines and new characters—including George Liquor, an Archie Bunker-ish "All-American Male." After Kricfalusi and Nickelodeon missed several promised new-episode delivery and air dates, the network—which had purchased the rights to the Ren & Stimpy characters from Kricfalusi—negotiated a settlement with him.^[3] The creative tug of war was closely watched by both animators and the television industry and covered in the national press.

In response, Nickelodeon formed its own animation studio, Games Animation.^[4] The series was moved to Games and put under the creative supervision of Bob Camp, one of Kricfalusi's former writer-director partners.^[3] Nick's plan was to hire bright, young animators and let them do almost anything they want.^[4] Coffey soon stepped down as animation vice president for Nickelodeon, to pursue her own projects. She was replaced by Mary Harrington, a Nickelodeon producer who moved out from New York to help run the Nicktoons division that was a near-shambles after Kricfalusi was fired.^[4]

In 1992, animator Joe Murray was approached by Nickelodeon with intentions of developing a new animated series for Games Animation. Murray's Joe Murray Productions and Games Animation rented office space on Ventura Boulevard in the Studio City neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.^[5] The production moved to a different office building on Vineland Avenue in Studio City. Executives did not share space with the creative team.^[6][7] Games Animation's first in-house production, Rocko's Modern Life, premiered on the network in 1993.

The initial duty was to continue producing The Ren & Stimpy Show as Nickelodeon dropped Spümcø and its creator John Kricfalusi from their duties on the show. At the time, Games was located in an office building in Studio City, California. Apart from The Ren & Stimpy Show, Nickelodeon's other Nicktoons were done out-of-house at Jumbo Pictures (whose next deal with Nickelodeon would be a live-action/puppet series Allegra's Window for Nick Jr.) in New York City and Klasky-Csupo (who entered mainstream popularity as animation producers from Fox's longest-running animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1987 to 1992 when animation production duties were given to Film Roman, as well as Everett Peck's Duckman which was produced by Nickelodeon's sister company Paramount Television and aired on USA Network in 1994 through 1997).

Games Animation never had an official logo. Instead, every show the studio worked on had its own customized Games Animation logo. In 1993, Nickelodeon greenlit its first fully original in-house series, Rocko's Modern Life, produced by Games Animation with partnership of Joe Murray Studio. Games worked on the show for three years and employed over 70 people during the course of its run. The show was cancelled in 1996 by Nickelodeon due to its creator Joe Murray wanting to spend more time with his family. Following the cancellation, Games Animation produced the pilot of Hey Arnold!, along with its first 26 episodes.

1998–2016: Nickelodeon Animation Studio

In 1996, Albie Hecht, then-president of Film and TV Entertainment for Nickelodeon, met with Nickelodeon artists for a brainstorming session on the elements of their ideal studio, and, with their feedback (and some inspiration from the fabled Willy Wonka chocolate factory), created "a playful, inspirational and cutting edge lab which will hopefully give birth to the next generation of cartoon classics." He added, "For me this building is the physical manifestation of a personal dream, which is that when people think of cartoons, they'll say Nicktoons."^[8] Nickelodeon and parent company Viacom threw a bash to celebrate the opening of the new Nicktoons animation studio on March 4, 1998. During the launch party, a gathering of union labor supporters formed a picket line to protest Nickelodeon's independent hiring practices outside the studio's iron gates.^[8]

Located at 231 West Olive Avenue in Burbank, California, the 72,000-square-foot (6,700 m²) facility, designed by Los Angeles architecture firm AREA, houses 200–300 employees and up to five simultaneous productions. It also contains a miniature golf course (with a hole dedicated to Walt Disney), an indoor basketball course/screening room, an artists' gallery, a studio store, and a fountain that shoots green water into the air.^[8] The Nicktoons studio houses five, project driven production units. Each has its own color and design environment and includes a living room, writer's lounge and storyboard conference room. The studio also has a Foley stage (for recording live sound effects), a post-production area, sound editing and mixing rooms and an upstairs loft area with skylights for colorists.^[8]

In September 1999, Nickelodeon opened a major new digital animation studio at 1633 Broadway in Manhattan. The New York studio primarily took over production of Nick Jr. animated properties.^[9] At the same time, the Los Angeles facility animated the intro for The Amanda Show.

It was reported in 2005 that the studio was up for sale; this was later corrected, as the owner of the building was selling it.^[10]

2016–present: Nickelodeon Studios

In 2016, Nickelodeon's animation facilities moved into a five-story glass structure that will be part of a larger new studio complex next to the current Burbank facilities, which became part of the studio as a means of bringing animated productions currently produced elsewhere in Southern California under a single production facility.^[11] Because it houses both animated and live-action productions, the studio has been renamed to simply Nickelodeon Studios.^[12] (not to be confused with the original Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida.) The studio also houses the Nickelodeon time capsule, first buried in Orlando, Florida in 1992 at the original Nickelodeon Studios and later at the Nickelodeon Suites Resort in 2006, which has moved to the new studio by the latter's closure on June 1, 2016.^[13] The new studio opened on January 11, 2017.

List of Nickelodeon Animation Studio productions

TV series

Nickelodeon (Main shows)

Nickelodeon (Licensed shows)

Nicktoons Network

Nick Jr. Network

Digital series

Short pilots

Nickelodeon (Greenlit to series)

Nickelodeon (Not greenlit to series)

Produced for other Viacom-owned networks

TV movies and specials

Theatrical films

See also

• Cartoon Network Studios, the animation division of Cartoon Network
• Disney Television Animation, the animation division of Disney Channel
• Warner Bros. Animation

References

External links

• Nickelodeon Animation Studio official site
• Nickelodeon Animation Studio on IMDb

Animation industry in the United States
Companies/studios	Active 21st Century Fox 20th Century Fox Animation Blue Sky Studios Fox Television Animation Ace & Son Augenblick Studios Bento Box Entertainment Blur Studio CBS Corporation CBS Animation Comcast DreamWorks Animation Big Idea Entertainment DreamWorks Classics Harvey Entertainment Jay Ward Productions Illumination Entertainment Universal Animation Studios The Curiosity Company DHX Media WildBrain Disney Disney Television Animation DisneyToon Studios Industrial Light & Magic Lucasfilm Animation Marvel Animation Pixar Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios Film Roman Floyd County Productions Fred Wolf Films Frederator Studios Frederator Films Fuzzy Door Productions Hasbro Hasbro Studios Jim Henson's Creature Shop Kinofilm Klasky Csupo Laika Little Airplane Productions Man of Action Studios Marza Animation Planet Mattel Hot Animation Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation Mexopolis Mondo Media 6 Point Harness PorchLight Entertainment Powerhouse Animation Studios Prana Studios Radical Axis Reel FX Creative Studios Renegade Animation Rough Draft Studios SD Entertainment ShadowMachine Sony Adelaide Productions Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Imageworks Splash Entertainment Sprite Animation Studios Spümcø Stoopid Monkey Threshold Entertainment Time Warner Cartoon Network Productions Cartoon Network Studios Williams Street Williams Street West Warner Bros. Animation Titmouse, Inc. United Plankton Pictures Vanguard Animation Viacom MTV Animation Nick Digital Nickelodeon Animation Studio Paramount Animation World Events Productions Defunct 70/30 Productions Adventure Cartoon Productions Amblimation Animation Collective Animation Lab Animation Magic Cambria Productions Cartoon Pizza Circle 7 Animation Cookie Jar Group Crest Animation Productions Curious Pictures DePatie-Freleng Enterprises DIC Entertainment DNA Productions Famous Studios Filmation Fleischer Studios Fox Animation Studios Golden Films Hanna-Barbera Jetlag Productions Kroyer Films Laugh-O-Gram Studio Marvel Productions MGM Animation/Visual Arts MGM Cartoons MGM-Pathé Communications Pacific Data Images Rankin/Bass Productions Ruby-Spears Screen Gems Cartoons Skellington Productions Soup2Nuts Sullivan Bluth Studios Sunbow Entertainment Terrytoons United Productions of America Van Beuren Studios Walter Lantz Productions Warner Bros. Cartoons Will Vinton Studios Zodiac Entertainment
Industry associations	The Animation Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 839 ASIFA-Hollywood
Awards	Academy Awards Annie Award Daytime Emmy Award Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Primetime Emmy Award
History	Silent era Golden age World War II Television era Modern era
Genres	Animated Infomercial Animated sitcom Buddy film Comedy-drama Superhero fiction Western
Related topics	American comics History of American comics Tijuana bible Humorous Phases of Funny Faces Flash animation
Category