Curious Pictures

Curious Pictures (stylized as curious?ictures) was an American animation studio and multi-media company set in New York City and Los Angeles that created and produced television programs, commercials, animation and video games. Its flagship work was the preschool television series A Little Curious for HBO. Other well-known works include Sheep in the Big City and Codename: Kids Next Door for Cartoon Network, Little Einsteins for Disney Junior, and Team Umizoomi for Nick Jr.

Curious Pictures
TypePublic
IndustryTelevision, film, commercials, animation, digital, video games and VFX
FateDisbanded
FoundedMarch 19, 1978 (as Stowmar Enterprises)
July 25, 1981 (as Open Studio)
May 30, 1982 (as Broadcast Arts)
April 2, 1993 (as Curious Pictures)
FounderSteve Oakes
Peter Rosentheal
DefunctOctober 16, 2014
Headquarters
Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia (1978–81)
Washington, D.C. (1981–85)
New York, New York (1985–2014)
San Francisco, California (1996–2000)
Los Angeles (2008–14)
Key people
Jan Korbelin, Managing Partner
Marina Grasic, Managing Partner
Camille Geier, SVP/Head of Studio
Vadim Turchin, VFX/CG Supervisor
Number of employees
60
ParentHarmony Pictures (1994–1999)
Intelefim (1999–2002)
DivisionsTV, film, games, commercials

History

After working at Stowmar Enterprises, Steve Oakes and Peter Rosentheal co-founded Broadcast Arts in Washington, D.C. in 1981. The company's first assignment was a series of network IDs for MTV, which set the standard for the network's irreverent humor. This success established the fledgling studio and brought them projects for WPLJ, Showtime, Cinemax, ABC, and more. Broadcast Arts moved to New York City in 1985. Broadcast Arts produced hundreds of commercials, constantly weaving together multiple animation and special effects techniques for various projects, as well as the animation for the first season of Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Broadcast Arts changed its name to Curious Pictures in 1993.

Having worked together for several years, the team of 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. In 1994, the company expanded into a 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. Over the years, more directors began working for Curious, and by 1995 Curious was producing over 100 commercial projects annually. The 1996 production of Mo Willems' "The Offbeats" for Nickelodeon's animated sketch show KaBlam!, marked Curious’ expansion into the TV business. In 1998, A Little Curious for HBO became the company’s first half-hour series, followed soon after by another Willems project, Sheep in the Big City for Cartoon Network. Other TV animated products included Codename: Kids Next Door, created by Tom Warburton, for six seasons on Cartoon Network and Little Einsteins for Playhouse Disney and Team Umizoomi for Nickelodeon.

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

Filmography

Television series

Commercials

Films and specials

Video games

Shorts
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