Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (also known as Nelvana Limited, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized nelvana in all lowercase) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment since 2000. Founded in 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, it was named after Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first Canadian national superhero, who was created by Adrian Dingle. The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at Polaris, the North Star.
The company is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and it maintained international offices in France, Ireland, and Japan, as well as smaller offices in the top three cities in the United States. Many of its films, shows and specials were based on licensed properties and literature, but original programming was also part of its roster. Although the company specializes in children's media, Nelvana has also co-produced adult animations like Clone High, John Callahan's Quads!, Bob & Margaret, Family Dog or Committed.
Nelvana International distributes five shows―Taina, the first five seasons of The Fairly OddParents,[4] The Backyardigans (a co-production with Nick Jr.), Mr. Young, and the first season of Horrid Henry from February 22, 2007, to February 2008. As of 2001, its library comprised more than 1,650 cumulative half-hours of original programming.[2]
History
Laff Arts
Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert first met as friends and partners at York University, Canada in 1967.[5] They made films with other students. This was Loubert's first experience with filming; he recalled:
"I had been hitchhiking in Europe during the previous summer, and I got a ride with an Italian film director visiting locations. I hadn't heard of him. When I got home I looked up his films – it was Gillo Pontecorvo, a brilliant political filmmaker who had directed The Battle of Algiers. That was the beginning for me."
The fledgling Canadian television and film industry was developing at the time. Loubert, Hirsh, and York University friends Jack Christie and Peter Dewdney founded a small company named Laff Arts that produced small experimental films. They were joined by Vitaphone animator-designer Clive A. Smith in Toronto, Ontario; Smith's interest was in rock n' roll music, and helped produce the Beatles' animated series and 1968 film Yellow Submarine before moving to Canada to work on short films and commercials.
Smith designed the company's business card; on the front was a suited businessman, and inside was the businessman with the pants down.
Franchises
Many of Nelvana's TV shows are based on properties from other companies, most of which started in other forms of media (excluding its namesake superhero, which never received an adaptation of any kind). A great deal of them are based on children's literature and comic books; examples include Blazing Dragons, Stickin' Around, Wayside, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, The Adventures of Tintin, Anatole, Babar, The Berenstain Bears, Franklin, Jane and the Dragon, Little Bear, The Magic School Bus, Pippi Longstocking, Redwall, Rupert, My Dad the Rock Star, and Max & Ruby, as well as Tales from the Cryptkeeper, Beetlejuice, Jacob Two-Two, Sidekick and Teletoon/Nick Jr.'s Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends.
Nelvana has also had considerable success with animated fare based on toys; American Greetings' Care Bears has been the most familiar example of this. Also, there have been series and specials based on Strawberry Shortcake (also from American Greetings), Madballs and My Pet Monster (from AmToy) and Rescue Heroes (from Fisher-Price
Around the world
The Fairly OddParents, created by animator Butch Hartman, was distributed by Nelvana outside the U.S. from 2001 to 2005. This show has been in the top of the ratings for Nickelodeon, YTV and the BBC, and has also been successful among viewers in all European markets, Latin America, Australia, and Canada. Nickelodeon's Taina was also distributed by Nelvana in 2001 and 2002. The series was cancelled in 2002, but had mixed to positive reviews and ratings in late 2001.[72] Nick Jr.'s The Backyardigans, in addition to being distributed by Nelvana outside the U.S., was also co-produced by Nelvana. Disney XD's Mr. Young, in addition to being distributed by Nelvana around the U.S., was produced by Thunderbird Films. On February 22, 2007, it was announced that Nelvana signed a deal to internationally distribute the first season of Horrid Henry outside of the United Kingdom and German-speaking territories.[73] By February 2008, its international distribution deal was replaced by Little Bird Rights.[74]
Notable personnel
Apart from its three founders, there have been several key personnel from Nelvana's past and present, a great deal of whom have left the company. Some of the better-known people who have worked for the studio at one point or another include animators Wayne Gilbert, Peter Hudecki, Tom McGillis, Jennifer Pertsch, Vincenzo Natali, Arna Selznick, Natalie Turner, and John van Bruggen, and voice actors Tara Strong, Cree Summer, Maurice LaMarche, and Michael Cera. The British and Canadian duo of Alison Snowden and David Fine won an Academy Award for animation before starting to work for Nelvana.
Former Nelvana employees Roger Allers, Charles Bonifacio, Ralph Palmer, Kori Rae, Joe Ranft, David Soren, and Ralph Zondag went on to become staff members at Walt Disney Feature Animation and DreamWorks Animation starting in the 1980s. Allers went on to direct The Lion King and Open Season. Lenora Hume, from the company's early years, was the senior vice-president of DisneyToon Studios and Pixar.
Influence in popular culture
The "Nelvana Independent Short Film Grand Prize", given out at the Ottawa International Animation Festival from 2004 to 2006, was sponsored by the company. The recipients of this prize were 2004's Ryan, the Chris Landreth biography about Canadian animator Ryan Larkin;[77] 2005's Milch, from director Igor Kovalyov;[78] and, in 2006, Joanna Quinn's Dreams and Desires: Family Ties.[79]
See also
- Cinema of Canada
- History of Canadian film
- History of Canadian animation
- List of Nelvana programs
Related Canadian companies
- National Film Board of Canada
- Cookie Jar Group (formerly Cinar, bought and folded into DHX Media, now WildBrain, in 2012)
- CinéGroupe
Bibliography
- Stoffman, Daniel (2001). The Nelvana Story: Thirty Animated Years. Toronto, Ontario: Nelvana Publishing Company (ISBN 1-894786-00-9).
External links
“www.nelvana.ca”
- Stamp of the superheroine after whom the company was named
- "Three Men and a bear: Nelvana at 25" by Marc Glassman, Take One (September 22, 1996)
- "Nelvana has found the formula for success" by Sheldon Kirshner, Canadian Jewish News
References
- Ivan Kocmarek. Patrick Loubert and Michael Hirsh • Comic Book Daily Comic Book Daily, 2015-10-07, retrieved 2023-09-18^
- James Fitzgerald. Nelvana's 30th Anniversary Profile KidScreen Magazine, 2001-05-01, retrieved 2006-07-01^
- Alex Dudok de Wit. Nelvana At 50: Mapping Out The Studio's Future With President Pam Westman