Curious Pictures

curious?ictures

Type	Private
Industry	Television programs, film, animation, digital, videogames and toys
Founded	1981 (as Broadcast Arts) 1993 (as Curious Pictures)
Headquarters	Washington, D.C. (1981-1985) New York, New York (1985-) San Francisco, California (1996-2000, 2007-)
Key people	Steve Oakes, President & Co-Founder Peter Rosentheal, Supervising Producer & Co-Founder Jan Korbelin, Managing Partner Marina Grasic, Managing Partner Lewis Kofsky, Partner, Producer, Director of CG/VFX Camille Geier, Head of Studio
Owner(s)	Independent (1981-1994) Harmony Pictures (1994-1999) Intelefim (1999-2002) Independent (2002-)
Employees	28
Divisions	CuriousPixels Computer Animation (1996-1998)
Website	www.curiouspictures.com

Curious Pictures (rendered curious?ictures) is an American animation studio and multi-media company set in New York City and Santa Monica that creates and produces television programs, commercials, animation and videogames for audiences worldwide.

History

Steve Oakes and Peter Rosentheal began their career creating a small studio in the nation's capitol. In 1981 they co-founded Broadcast Arts and tackled the company's first assignment - a series of network ID's for a new music television channel. These ID's became instant classics and set the standard for the network's irreverent humor. This success established the fledgling studio and brought in projects for HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, CBS, ABC, and more - a move to New York City seemed the next logical step.

In the next few years, the company produced several hundred commercials, constantly weaving together multiple animation and special effects techniques for projects for Budweiser, Pillsbury, Kool-Aid, Wendy's, French's, Hasbro, Canon and Hudson. In addition to the commercial work, the studio was the animation studio for the first season of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse".

To continue the evolution of mixed-media, filmmaking and commercials, Broadcast Arts became Curious Pictures in 1993.

Having worked together for several years, the team of now five partners – Susan Holden, Steve Oakes, David Starr, Peter Rosentheal and Richard Winkler- continued producing TV commercials, with the intention of expanding to television programming, toy production, and other ventures. And expand they did! In 1994 the Curious team set up shop in their 25,000 square-foot studio in lower Manhattan, fully equipping it with a cel and a computer animation department, a shooting stage with two motion control camera systems, a prop and model shop and digital editing rooms. Gradually, five directors became a dozen and by 1995 Curious was producing upwards of 100 commercial projects annually. The production of Mo Willems’ "The Offbeats" in 1996 for Nickelodeon, marked Curious’ expansion into the TV business and in 1998, "A Little Curious" for HBO became the company’s first half-hour series (the latter shorts also aired separately during commercials), followed soon after by the next Mo Willems creation, "Sheep in the Big City" for Cartoon Network.

From 1995-1999, an office was maintained in San Francisco to support the company’s diversification into cel animation.

Curious has come a long way from its first spot for MTV in 1981; today with more than 50 brand-name clients, over 1,000 commercials, and an extensive record of relationships with leading advertising agencies and broadcasters worldwide, this small entertainment company is proof that a little curiosity goes a long way.

Filmography

TV Shows

• Pee-Wee's Playhouse (1986-1990)
• Vandemonium (1987)
• The Off-Beats (1995-1998)
• The Little Lulu Show (1995-1999)
• Smoke Alarm (1996)
• The Off-Beats Valentine Special (1998)
• A Little Curious (1998-2000)
• Sheep in the Big City (2000-2002)
• Hey Joel (2002)
• Codename: Kids Next Door (2002-2008)
• My Scene: Jammin in Jamaica (2003)
• The Save-Ums (2003-2006)
• The Wrong Coast (2004)
• My Scene: Masquerade Madness (2004)
• My Scene: Backlot (2005)
• PollyWorld (2005)
• Barbie Diaries (2005)
• Little Einsteins (2005-)
• Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation Z.E.R.O" (2006)
• Shaun the Sheep (2007-)
• Team Umizoomi (2010-)
• NFL Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core (2010-2011)

Commercials

• MTV "Network ID's" (1981)
• ABC "Saturday Morning Intro" (1984)
• WNBC "Sports Machine" (1984)
• Nickelodeon "Morphing Clay" (1987)
• Nickelodeon "Cheese Sandwich" (1987)
• Canon "Clowns" (1988)
• Time "The Revolution" (1988)
• MTV "Top 20 Video Countdown Open" (1988)
• French's "Talking Chickens" (1989)
• Crest "Toothpaste Ghosts" (1990)
• TurboGrafx-16 "Football" (1990)
• Budweiser "Bud Bowl" (1990)
• Disney Channel "Quackertown ID's" (1991)
• WCBS-FM "Rat Race" (1992)
• Kraft "Super Mario" (1993)
• Sony "Information" (1993)
• Cartoon Network "Crazy Owen" (1995)
• Cartoon Network "Mr. Spim's Cartoon Theatre Intro" (1995)
• North Kansas City Hospital "Humpty" (1996)
• Campbell "Bagel Babies" (1996)
• Kraft "Son of Rex" (1996)
• Dannon "Creation Station" (1996)
• Cap'n Crunch "Rollercoaster" (1996)
• Pangea "Memories of Pangea" (1997)
• Tele-TV "Critics Spot" (1997)
• Hershey's "Mr. Right" (1997)
• Kraft "Carwash" (1997)
• Nickelodeon "TV Land Goes West" (1997)
• Cartoon Network "Animate Your World!" (1997)
• Best Buy "Wrestlers" (1997)
• Nick at Nite "Logobelly ID's" (1998)
• Reebok "Foot Soldiers" (1998)
• Labatt's "Beach Chess" (1999)
• Nickelodeon Movies "Snow Day ID" (2000)
• AT&T "Boundless" (2001)
• Kraft "Cheese Channel" (2001)
• Nickelodeon "Toons Caught on Tape" (2001)
• Saturday Night Live "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas" (2001)
• Steve Madden "Chick Walker" (2001)
• Nickelodeon "Remote Matrix" (2002)
• Cartoon Network "Chel White ID's" (2002)
• Nickelodeon "The Promise" (2002)
• Nicktoons TV "Image Campaign" (2002)
• AOL "Running Guy" (2003)
• Nickelodeon "Election Promos" (2004)
• Imodium "It Pays" (2005)
• Best Buy "Soar" (2005)
• TV Land "Family Table" (2005)
• SciFi "Octopus" (2006)
• Comedy Central "Comedy is Dangerous" (2006)
• Charter Communications "Love You" (2010)

Video Games

• Rockband
• Rockband 2
• Homefront
• Dance Central
• Grey's Anatomy

Shorts

• "Foil Man", by Chris Gilligan (assisting only) (1995)
• "The Louie 'n Louie Show", by Gary Baseman (1996)
• "Harasscat" (1998)
• "City-E-Scape", by Mo Willems (1998)
• "When Animals Nap" (1998)
• "Thank a Latte", by Mark Balde (1998)
• "Liberation Alligator" (1998)
• "Miss Understanding" (1998)
• "Lunch of Out", by Filmtecknarna (1999)
• "Sound Hound", by Nick Hewitt (1998)

Clients

American Express AT&T Bravo Canon Cartoon Network CBS Charter Communications Coca-Cola Comedy Central Crest Disney ESPN Fox French's Frito-Lay HBO Kraft

MTV NBC Nickelodeon Nickelodeon Movies Oxygen PBS Showtime Sony SyFy The Learning Channel TV Land Wendy's

External links

• Curious Pictures official website
• CuriousPixels official website circa 1998