Sphere, one in all Canada’s main producers and distributors of tv and movie content material, will convey its English-language youngsters’s factual, scripted and animation items underneath one Youngsters and Household banner. The unified division can be headed by Marlo Miazga, Sphere Media’s President, Unscripted and Documentaries. Miazga can even proceed in her position overseeing all different non-scripted output from Sphere’s Toronto workplace.
This transfer follows the announcement that Sphere Animation President Jacques Bilodeau can be retiring later this yr, after a 30-year profession on the forefront of Canada’s animation trade. Bilodeau based pioneering digital studio Oasis Animation in 2003, which grew to turn into the most important 2D animation manufacturing studio in Quebec. In 2019, Oasis was acquired by Sphere and rebranded Sphere Animation. During the last twenty years, Bilodeau has been liable for a string of hit animation sequence, principally not too long ago Sphere’s Pink Ketchup and Riley Rocket, in addition to Saving Me for BYUtv
Earlier than he stands down, Bilodeau will work with Miazga to fold Sphere Animation into the brand new Youngsters and Household unit, which goals to construct on Sphere Media’s profitable observe document in producing award-winning youngsters’s content material to turn into a serious participant on this house. Miazga, who will proceed to guide Sphere’s Media’s Toronto unscripted and factual divisions, can be supported in her new position by Andrea Griffith, who has been promoted from her present position as Director of English Unscripted Content material to Youngsters and Household’s Vice-President of Growth and Content material.
Ghislain Cyr, founding father of Sardine Productions which was subsequently acquired by Sphere in 2022, will turn into Artistic Director. Judith Beauchemin, Sphere’s Animation’s Vice-President of Operations, can even transition to the brand new unit, the place she’s going to function Vice-President of Manufacturing and Submit.
“Jacques has undoubtedly been a basic contributor to the success story of Sphere,” mentioned Bruno Dubé, Sphere’s President and CEO. “As a colleague, entrepreneur, skilled and artistic, I’m profoundly grateful to him for giving us such a big time in his illustrious profession. These footwear can by no means be crammed, however I’ve watched Marlo’s stewardship over the previous couple of years of an modern, various and award-winning slate of youngsters and household exhibits. I do know she is ideal for the job of making one thing new with the cohesion and oversight wanted for the ambitions we maintain.”
Miazga commented, “Pulling collectively the mixed inventive genius that exists in our areas will exponentially improve our total potential and present the world what a power we might be once we come collectively. This highly effective mixture of one of many world’s most acknowledged animation service suppliers with the capability for good unique IP creation means we are able to now confidently stake our declare as a serious world participant on this sector.”
Sphere Youngsters and Household is a part of a strategic plan that began final April, when the corporate rebranded its specialist items underneath the Sphere banner and reorganized its inside groups to harness synergy and collaboration, and create a extra productive and environment friendly working atmosphere. The rationalization additionally noticed Sphere open new animation services to service its rising slate of kids’s programming. The brand new studio in Ottawa — identified for its dynamic TV, movie and animation industries and pool of extremely expert artists — added greater than 100 animators to Sphere’s workforce.
