The west coast Titmouse has migrated eastward. To Manhattan, in fact. The Hollywood-based animation shop founded by Chris P and his wife Shannon opened a second office in 2010, initially to take a crack at Superjail! season 2. The TriBeCa-based shop has since taken on a bunch of commercials and TV series gigs, often working in concert with the Hollywood team. It’s a busy time for Shannon and Chris P, but not too busy to answer some questions for us about bi-coastal business, studio rivalries and bringing jobs back home:

AARON SIMPSON: Why did you decide to open a NY studio?
CHRIS P: Really, it was an easy decision to make. I came up in NY. I went to SVA and worked primarily at MTV in the mid-to-late nineties. I always thought I’d work in New York or at least be bi-coastal – a concept I’d recently given up on. I had resigned myself to a life in LA. When Shannon and I got the call from Adult Swim that they were interested in Titmouse starting a studio in NY, we jumped at the chance. Holy Shit! It might just be possible! We still kept in touch with a bunch of East coast artists. A lot of our family lives in New York and New Jersey. If we had been asked to start a studio in another city, it would have been a way harder decision. New York feels like home. It just made sense.
Read the rest of this entry »

On October 2nd, Adult Swim will reveal their latest animated series, Brad Neely’s China, IL, which has an 10 episode pick-up. Titmouse, Inc is handling the animation out of their LA-office. Mike Mayfield, who I was lucky to work with years ago on his pilot Boogies, is serving as the Supervising Director, Grif Kimmins is the Animation Director on the series, while Daniel Weidenfeld (EP of Super Deluxe, brother of Adult Swim exec Nick Weidenfeld) is co-EP of the show. The original 4-part web series was produced in Neely’s signature ‘slideshow’ format, but the TV series is being “fully” animated in Flash. Gone is Neely’s organic, inky line quality, and that’s going to take some getting used to, but I’m thinking we’re in for something special next month. Here’s a behind-the-scenes assembly, hot out of the oven:

The pilot for Adult Swim’s upcoming series Black Dynamite airs tomorrow on the telly box, but you can already watch it on the web, which is what you’re currently using, in case there was any doubt. Production is being handled at Titmouse.

via

Scott Sanders’ 2009 feature Black Dynamite is making the unlikely move into TV on August 8th. The live-action feature, while a critical success, grossed less than $300,000 at the box office after a run in only 70 theaters. That didn’t stop the Adult Swim team from greenlighting an animated series (the end credits of the feature were animated), which is being produced out of Titmouse and directed by Carl Jones. Here’s the teaser:

Big congrats to the Titmouse team (both East and West!) and Superjail! co-creators Stephen Warbrick and Christy Karacas on the return of their show this Sunday. Best Friends Forever, the first episode of season 2, arrives at midnight on Adult Swim. Here’s a clip from the new installment, which is jam-packed with loads of “full-animation” – not the tweened stuff we more commonly see on Flash-animated series.

For more on the series, check out our exclusive CHF interview with co-creators Stephen Warbrick and Christy Karacas.