Cake cooks up Gingerbread toon house

UK-based kids company Cake and Australia’s Studio Moshi have joined forces to create an animation firm in Dublin, Ireland.

Gingerbread Animation will operate as an “independent and creator-driven animation house” focused on high-quality kids toon content and original projects. It will also offer third-part production services and other solutions.

Cake is best known as coproducer and distributor of series such as CBBC and Netflix series Bottersnikes & Gumble, Angelo Rules and Oscar’s Oasis, while 2D specialist Studio Moshi is behind The Day My Butt Went Psycho and co-developed online short-form series Rock Dog with Frederator Studios.

Gingerbread is already sourcing local Irish talent for new series productions, the international rights of which will go to Cake.

“We are excited to combine Studio Moshi’s production expertise with our joint creative networks and experience to create an entity that will be able to manage its own slate as well as being an attractive partner to third parties,” said Cake CEO and creative director Tom van Waveren. “We are looking forward to taking this proposal into the market and building this business into a creative powerhouse.”

Studio Moshi chief exec and executive producer Andrew Davies said the partnership complemented his firm’s “creator-driven focus and proven animation expertise while also providing a significant increase in our overall creative and production capacity with an upcoming creator-driven series and further plans in place for growth and jobs in Ireland”.

“Culturally, we are both very similar and equally as eager to break new ground creatively on the global stage with Gingerbread Animation focused on fostering new creator talent and producing break-out shows both for ourselves and our international partners,” he added.

Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon and Canada’s Mercury Filmworks recently partnered to open joint venture firm Lighthouse Studios in Kilkenny. This will also focus on 2D animation.