Mipcom: 9 Story Media Group’s Toronto Animation Studio Rebranding as Brown Bag Films (EXCLUSIVE)
CANNES — On Monday Toronto-based 9 Story Media Group announced it is rebranding its Canadian animation studio to Brown Bag Films, a well-established and respected name in children’s animation in the U.K.
9 Story Media Group will remain as the parent company with distribution handled by 9 Story Distribution International.
In 2015, 9 Story acquired the Dublin and Manchester-based Brown Bag Films and has since worked to integrate the two branches with its Toronto studio. Going forward, Brown Bag will be the company’s center for all 2D and 3D animation across the three locations. Tanya Green will maintain her position as VP of production for Brown Bag Films in Toronto; Fillian Higgins will continue to act as VP of Brown Bag Films Europe. Sarah McQuire will serve as director of operations in the U.K. Brown Bag’s current creative director Darragh O’Connell will continue in that position for all three branches while Cathal Gaffney will stay as managing director for Brown Bag Films and COO of 9 Story Media Group.
In the U.K., Brown Bag has produced Disney Junior U.K.’s Bafta and Emmy-nominated “Doc McStuffins” and Emmy-nominated “Octonauts,” as well as Nick Jr’s “Nella The Princess Knight” and Daytime Emmy-winning “Peter Rabbit.” Recently the company premiered “The Magic School Bus: Rides Again,” an updated version of the classic series based on the children’s books.
9 Story creates, produces and distributes family programming. The company’s international distribution arm has a catalog which includes children’s classics such as”Barney,” “Arthur,” “Garfield and Friends.” 9 Story maintains a staff of nearly 600 creative and corporate professionals.
“Since becoming our group COO in 2016, Cathal Gaffney has been harmonizing our three studios to operate under a unified set of standards,” Vince Commisso, President & CEO of 9 Story Media Group, said in a statement.
“All three locations have benefited tremendously from sharing best practices, talent and infrastructure. The combined studio entity becomes a powerful creative hub from which to produce some of the best animation in the world,” he added.
“9 Story has an incredible history of producing best-in-class animation, and pushing the boundaries of technology. Brown Bag Films now is a global force with the best talent in the industry across 2D and 3D animation,” echoed Cathal Gaffney, COO of 9 Story Media Group and managing director of Brown Bag Films.
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