Baboon Animation Inc. and indie animation and creative studio Custom Nuts announced partnership during Mipcom 2023.
Tokyo/LA-based Custom Nuts is one of the global experts in making Asian sensibilities global. Its founder Silas Hickey, as Turner/Warner senior development director APAC, developed the two most successful series in Asia, among many others. One of them, Chhota Bheem, reigns as Netflix APAC’s most-viewed kids’ cartoon ever.
“Silas and Matthew bring absolute top-class expertise, deep, first-hand experience in IPs from countries across Asia, and funny, funny cartoon comedy,” said Baboon Animation CEO Mike de Seve.
“There are no better writers anywhere than Baboon,” said Hickey. “We’re thrilled that each of us is a complementary piece to the other,” mentioned Baboon Animation development manager Emily Kaye.
Custom Nuts executives Hickey and Matthew Howison will sign a deal with Baboon’s CEO, Mike de Seve, merging a deep pool of world-class writing and visual talent. The partnership follows on from an earlier slate-development deal Custom Nuts has with Beyond Entertainment, now part of the Banijay Group.
“Our incoming investor base is excited by the greatly enhanced firepower of talent and global capability that this partnership brings,” said Howison.
“Expect some extremely funny cartoons to come out of this partnership,” added Baboon Animation series head Joe Vitale.
Baboon’s creative development team, with 31 Emmys collectively, has guided more than 20 series to successful global distribution and broadcast. Their credits include the billions-viewed Angry Birds Toons, Gigantosaurus and Pocoyo.