FilmFair

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FilmFair Productions
FilmFair Animation
Industry Television production and film studio
Fate Library sold to Altschul Group Corporation (FilmFair)
Sold to and absorbed by Cinar Films (FilmFair London)
Founded 1968 (56 years ago)
Defunct 1996 (28 years ago)
Headquarters Los Angeles; London
Key people
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Parent Independent (1968-early 80's)
Central Independent Television (early 1980's-1991)
Caspian Group (1991-1996)
Cinar Films
(1996-2014)
Wildbrain
(2014-present)

FilmFair Animation was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop-motion films using puppets, clay animation, and cutout animation.

History

Foundation

FilmFair was founded in 1959 by American animator Gus Jekel in Los Angeles. After working with Walt Disney Productions and other Hollywood animation studios in the 1930s, Jekel incorporated FilmFair because he wanted the freedom to create live-action work as well. The studio was in "Animation Alley", a stretch of Cahuenga Boulevard that runs through Studio City in northern LA.[1]

Jekel's company produced television advertisements—some animated, others live-action—and was extremely successful; even Disney was a client.[2][3]

In the late 1960s, Jekel asked an English colleague, Graham Clutterbuck, to start a European office for FilmFair. Clutterbuck had been producing and coordinating television ads for European advertising agencies, and had just lost his job as director general of Les Cinéastes Associés in Paris. Although he was not well-acquainted with animation, Clutterbuck accepted the job offer. Clutterbuck established FilmFair's European office in Paris. It was there that he met Serge Danot, who pitched his ideas for a children's series, but Clutterbuck turned him down. Soon after, Danot signed a contract with the BBC to produce the series The Magic Roundabout. He invited Clutterbuck to watch them film. While there, Clutterbuck met the series' co-creator, Ivor Wood.[2] Later, the two men agreed that Wood would make animated films for FilmFair. The success of The Magic Roundabout paved the way for more stop-motion animation at the BBC. Soon, Wood came up with the idea for The Herbs, which premiered on BBC1 in 1968.[2]

FilmFair London

By this time, Beatlemania had made England a cultural hotspot. Clutterbuck found it too difficult to attract English talent to France, so he moved the office to London.[2] There, Barry Leith joined the company as director of animation. Wood and Leith collaborated on The Wombles, but Wood also had a few ideas for animating Michael Bond's stories about Paddington Bear. Bond was enthusiastic about Wood's artistic vision, and began scripting the first series.[4] BBC1 premiered Paddington in 1976 to great acclaim. FilmFair produced new episodes of the programme for three years, and it expanded into a considerable media franchise.

FilmFair continued to produce successful stop-motion programmes through the mid-1970s. The company's first classically animated series, Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings, premiered in 1976. It was adapted from a series of children's books written and illustrated by Edward McLachlan.[5] The company's first series not directed by Wood was The Perishers (1978), a classically animated series directed by Dick Horn.

As FilmFair London continued to produce animated television series for the BBC and ITV, they eventually reached an international audience through broadcast syndication and home video distribution.

Acquisitions

In the early 1980s, Central Independent Television bought a controlling share of the European branch of FilmFair. Graham Clutterbuck died of cancer on 30 April 1988; FilmFair dedicated Bangers and Mash (1989) to his memory.

In 1991, Central sold FilmFair to Storm Group (aka the Caspian Group), one of FilmFair's video distributors. Altschul Group Corporation (AGC) bought FilmFair's American branch in 1992, as part of campaign to acquire more than a dozen film companies. Discovery Communications (now Discovery, Inc.) bought AGC's film catalogue in 2003.[6] After the merger of Discovery, Inc. with WarnerMedia in April 2022, the assets are now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

In 1996, the Caspian Group sold FilmFair London's catalogue and production amenities to the Canada-based company Cinar Films, whose purchase included all associated distribution, publication, licensing, and merchandising rights.[7] In 2000, Cinar executives were implicated in a financial scandal, and again in 2001. In 2004, the company rebranded to the Cookie Jar Group, which in turn was acquired by WildBrain (formerly DHX Media) in 2012, thus acquiring the rights to the European FilmFair properties and making DHX the largest independent producer of kids programming with 8,550 half hours up from 2,550.[8]

FilmFair productions

Animated TV series

Title Original
broadcast		 Network Animation Director(s)
The Herbs 1968 BBC1 stop motion Ivor Wood
Hattytown Tales 1969–73 Thames Television stop motion Ivor Wood
The Adventures of Parsley 1970 BBC1 stop motion Ivor Wood
The Wombles 1973 and 1975 BBC1 stop motion Ivor Wood; Barry Leith (dir. of animation)
Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings 1974–1976 Thames Television traditional Ivor Wood
Paddington 1975–1986 BBC1 stop motion Ivor Wood; Barry Leith (dir. of animation)
The Perishers 1978–79 BBC1 traditional Dick Horn
Moschops 1983 Central stop motion Martin Pullen
The Adventures of Portland Bill 1983 Central stop motion John Grace
The Blunders 1986 Central traditional Ian Sachs
The Shoe People 1987 TV-am traditional Clennell Rawson
Edward and Friends 1987 SeeSaw stop motion Martin Pullen; Jo Pullen; Jeff Newitt
Windfalls 1988 Central stop motion Jenny Kenna
Stories of the Sylvanian Families 1988 Central stop motion Jo Pullen; Martin Pullen
Bangers and Mash 1988 Central traditional Ian Sachs
Huxley Pig 1989–90 Central stop motion Martin Pullen
Nellie the Elephant 1990–91 Central traditional Terry Ward
The Dreamstone 1990–95 Central traditional Martin Gates
Rod 'n' Emu 1991 Central traditional Ian Sachs; Dick Horn
The Gingerbread Man 1992 Central stop motion Martin Pullen
The Legend of White Fang 1992–94 The Family Channel traditional Steve Majaury; Alain Sion
Astro Farm 1992–96 Central stop motion David Johnson
The Legends of Treasure Island 1993–95 Central traditional Dino Athanassiou; Simon Ward-Horner

Television specials

Title Premiere Network Animation Director
Paddington Goes to the Movies 1980 BBC1 stop motion Barry Leith[9]
Paddington Goes to School 1984 BBC1 stop motion Martin Pullen[10]
Paddington’s Birthday Bonanza 1986 BBC1 stop motion Glenn Whiting[11]
Totally Minnie 1988 NBC traditional Scot Garen
World Womble Day 1990 Central stop motion Martin Pullen[12]
The Wandering Wombles 1991 Central stop motion Martin Pullen[12]
Brown Bear's Wedding 1991 Central traditional Chris Randall (anim.)[13]
White Bear's Secret 1992 Central traditional Chris Randall (anim.)[14]

Pilots

Title Premiere Animation
The Further Adventures of Noddy[15] 1983 stop motion

See also

References

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  10. ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Paddington Goes to School at IMDb
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  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Brown Bear's Wedding at IMDb
  14. ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). White Bear's Secret at IMDb
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

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External links


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