Lyrick Studios

1988-1994: Beginnings and formation

The company's origins traces back to when Barney & Friends became a huge success. The show was owned and produced by The Lyons Group, a company that was created by Richard C. Leach, who previously produced its predecessor, Barney & the Backyard Gang. Both series were created by his daughter-in-law, Sheryl Leach. In 1994, Leach had begun production on a new series titled Wishbone, which was produced by Big Feats! Entertainment. Because of the emerging video business,[11] it led to the creation of Lyrick Studios, which was formed under its parent company Lyrick Corporation. Leach's vision for Lyrick Studios was to expand the offerings of quality children's entertainment products.[12] Both The Lyons Group and Big Feats! Entertainment became subsidiaries of the new company.[13][14]

1995-2000: Acquisitions and expansion

In the late 1990s, Lyrick turned its primary focus on distribution of children's TV shows and films. They acquired the distribution rights for VeggieTales and The Wiggles, and also acquired the book publishing rights for some Humongous Entertainment video game characters, such as Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish and Pajama Sam.

In 1999, Lyrick planned to expand their existing headquarters to add 400,000 square feet. The first phase of the campus was expected to cost $6 million, which consisted of a two-story 60,000-square-foot building. The goal of the building expansion was to unite the company's operations in one spot.[5]

2001: HIT Entertainment acquisition

Leach, who was now in his seventies, was ready to slow down and wanted to resolve ownership of Lyrick, although none of his children wanted to run the company.[15] In 2001, the company was acquired and folded into HIT Entertainment for $275 million, with eventual Lyrick CEO, Robert Lawes, being the driving force of the acquisition.[16] Leach decided that HIT Entertainment was a good fit for Lyrick as he believed the two companies shared the same values about creating quality programs for the preschool market.[17] The deal included that 'Lyrick Studios' was to be retained as a consumer brand for existing Lyrick properties, however, the Lyrick Studios name disappeared a few months after, as Lyrick merged into HIT Entertainment. Richard C. Leach was to be appointed a non-executive director of HIT on completion. However, he died of a heart attack on May 29, 2001 at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.[18]

On June 6, 2001, it was announced that Lyrick and HIT were to operate as one company as reorganization of management occurred. Rob Lawes, who was the newly appointed Chief Executive of Lyrick Corporation and CEO of Lyrick Studios for four months, became chief executive of HIT Entertainment while Steve Ruffini, who was the CFO of Lyrick Studios, became the CFO of HIT.[19] Although the merger was complete, the Lyrick Studios logo wouldn't be phased out until the end of August of that year.

Aftermath

Due to the HIT acquisition of Lyrick and the death of Lyrick founder Richard C. Leach, it made Big Idea, owners of VeggieTales, wary of giving the distribution rights to a company that, as its founder Phil Vischer stated, "was no longer interested in working with properties they didn't own."[20] In December 2001, Big Idea announced that they would be switching their general market distribution to WEA. The following month, Lyrick sued Big Idea for breach of contract and the case went to trial in April 2003.[21] Lyrick argued that their draft agreement with Big Idea was binding, while Big Idea argued that the terms were still under negotiation and they never formally signed a contract. The court agreed with Lyrick, awarding Lyrick Studios $11 million in punitive damages, but the verdict was overturned on appeal two years later, and the Big Idea appeal was affirmed at the Supreme Court when they declined to take the case.[22][23]

Lyrick Publishing

Lyrick Publishing was the publishing arm of Lyrick Studios. They had a publishing division called Big Red Chair.[24] Employing about 80 individuals, the company shut down in 2001 due to the acquisition with HIT Entertainment as the division had been losing money. Books published by the division were transferred to HIT Entertainment and Scholastic, Inc.[25]

Programs

Movies/TV Films

Unrealized projects

In November 1998, it was announced that BJ of Barney & Friends was going to have his own animated spin-off series titled BJ and the Radical Rumblebutts which would've been produced by Lyrick Studios and Toronto's Portfolio Films.[30] However, the project never came to fruition.