The Gotham Group, FOX Ink Prime-Time Animation Deal

LOS ANGELES, November 16:
The Gotham Group, a management firm involved in the animation industry, has
reached a deal with Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) to produce multiple pilots
for prime-time animated television projects.

The Gotham Group and FOX
programming executives have already begun discussing pilot ideas which could originate
from The Gotham Group’s roster of clients in the animation industry. The deal
is intended to produce a new round of FOX animated hits to match the network’s
success with The Simpsons and Family
Guy.

The Gotham Group’s
clientele includes more than 300 of the animation industry’s top writers,
directors, animators, animation studios and content creators. In addition, The
Gotham Group represents literary clients such as Simon & Schuster’s
Children’s and Young Adult libraries, Harper Collins Children’s Publishers (the
U.S. and the U.K.), Houghton Mifflin, Maurice Sendak Library, William Steig
Library, Dark Horse Comics, Platinum Studio and Vertical Publishing (The
Ring).

The FOX deal follows The Gotham Group’s
announcement that it has joined forces with The Weinstein Company in a deal
valued at a quarter of a billion dollars to produce and distribute animated
feature films for theatrical distribution. The Gotham Group also recently signed a first-look deal with Yahoo!
Studios to produce and distribute original animated content on the Internet. In
addition, Gotham has direct-to-DVD deals with Lionsgate and IDT Entertainment.

“We’ve been interested in
broadening The Gotham Group’s footprint in network television for some time,”
said The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein. “FOX has had enormous success
with its animated TV series and our company is creator-driven with an
unparalleled pool of animation talent, so we expect this partnership to be
fruitful and profitable.”

—By Irene Lew