Film Roman

Film Roman, LLC

Type	Public, Subsidiary of Starz Media, LLC
Industry	Animation, motion pictures, television
Founded	1984
Headquarters	Burbank, California, USA
Key people	Phil Roman, founder
Parent	Independent (1984-1991) MCA (1991-1996) Universal Studios (1996-1998) Bunny Bee Corp. (1998-2003) IDT Media (2003-2007) Liberty Media (2007-present)
Divisions	Studio Corp. Caesar Pictures Number 20 Animation Phil Roman Entertainment
Website	www.filmroman.com

Film Roman is an animation studio founded by Phil Roman, best known for producing the animation for The Simpsons, King of the Hill for 20th Century Fox, as well as the Garfield and Peanuts animated TV specials.^[1]

Film Roman is a division of Starz Media, a division of Liberty Media, and was originally founded by Bill Melendez Productions director Phil Roman in 1984 as a means to produce the series of animated Garfield prime-time TV specials, since Melendez's own studio was unable to work on both the Garfield series and Peanuts specials. Melendez's studio had produced the first two Garfield specials (directed by Roman), but due to the wishes of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz' concerns about conflict of interest in allocating production priority at Melendez's boutique studio, the production had to be moved. Peanuts executive producer Lee Mendelson offered Roman, who was leaving Melendez to start his own studio, the opportunity to produce the next (3rd) primetime animated Garfield special for CBS, which Roman accepted, and went on to produce and direct, winning an Emmy in the process.

In 1985 CBS' head of children's programming Judy Price ordered the long running Garfield & Friends series, which started aring three years later, in September 1988. This was Film Roman's first regular series. In 1986 in an effort to expand and diversify the studio, Roman hired Marvel Productions VP of Business Affairs, and Roman's personal attorney, Michael Wahl as President and Bill Schultz, Marvel's Director of Development, to join as the fledgling studio's VP of Production and Development. Garfield was expanded to an hour on CBS' number one rated Saturday Morning block and the studio grew to increase its capacity.

In 1988 the new management team developed, sold and produced two new series to the brand new Fox Kids Network, headed up by former Marvel Productions head Margaret Loesch. The studio went on to grow and produce many popular animated series now seen all around the world. (see list below)

The original studio was located on Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake, California, where Roman was also joined by Melendez producer Lee Mendelson. Years later, the studio moved to a new location on Chandler Blvd. in Studio City, before settling into its present location off Hollywood Way in Burbank.

Starz Media announced on October 11, 2010 that it has reached a deal to sell Film Roman to a private investment group led by former company president Scott D. Greenberg. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.^[2]

Television

As Film Roman

• Garfield and Friends (1988–1994)
• Bobby's World (1990–1998)
• Mother Goose and Grimm (1991–1993)
• The Simpsons (1992–present; since season 4)
• Mighty Max (1993–1994)
• The Critic (1994–1995)
• The Mask: The Animated Series (1995–1997)
• The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (1995–1997)
• The Baby Huey Show (1995-1996)
• The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper (1996-1998) (animation sequences)
• C Bear and Jamal (1996–1999)
• Richie Rich (1996)
• Bruno the Kid (1996–1997)
• Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996)
• King of the Hill (1997–2010)
• The Mr. Potato Head Show (1998)
• Family Guy (1999–2000; seasons 1-2 only)
• Mission Hill (1999–2002)
• X-Men: Evolution (2000–2003)
• The Oblongs (2001–2002)
• Free For All (2003)
• Tripping the Rift (2004–2007)
• Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (2006–2010)
• Eloise: The Animated Series (2006)
• Slacker Cats (2007)
• The Goode Family (2009)
• The Super Hero Squad Show (2009–present)
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010–present)
• Dan Vs. (2011–present)
• Beavis and Butt-head (2011-present)
• Napoleon Dynamite (2012-present)

As Studio Corp.

• Golden Warriors (2011)

Television specials

The Garfield specials

• Garfield in the Rough (1984, the studio's inaugural production)
• Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985)
• Garfield in Paradise (1986)
• Garfield Goes Hollywood (1987)
• A Garfield Christmas (1987)
• Happy Birthday, Garfield (1988)
• Garfield: His 9 Lives (1988)
• Garfield’s Babes and Bullets (1989)
• Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989)
• Garfield’s Feline Fantasies (1990)
• Garfield Gets a Life (1991)

Other specials

• Nick and Noel (1993)
• A Cool Like That Christmas (1994)
• Izzy's Quest for Olympic Gold (1995)
• The Story of Santa Claus (1996) (co-production with Arnold Sharpio and CBS Productions)
• The Magic Pearl (1997)
• Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (2000)
• American Dad (2004) (Pilot episode only)

Direct-to-video

• The Happy Elf (2005, co-production with IDT Entertainment)
• Hellboy Animated (2006–2007)
• Dead Space: Downfall (2008, co-production with Electronic Arts)
• The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) (Planned for theatrical release)
• Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic "Prologue", "The Arrival", "Entry to Hell" (2010, co-production with Electronic Arts)
• Dead Space: Aftermath (2011, co-production with Electronic Arts)

Theatrical feature films

• Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992, co-production with Turner Pictures, WMG and Turner Entertainment)
• The Simpsons Movie (2007, co-production with 20th Century Fox, co-animation with Rough Draft Studios)

Rides

• The Simpsons Ride (at Universal Orlando & Universal Studios Hollywood)

Notes

1. ^ "COMPANY TOWN; Drawing on Creativity; A Struggling Film Roman Tries to Reanimate Itself". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/02/business/fi-35134. Retrieved 2010-12-23. 
2. ^ "'Simpsons' animation studio Film Roman sold to group led by its ex-president" The Los Angeles Times, 10-11-2010

External links

• Official website
• Film Roman at the Internet Movie Database