Canadian production company CinèGroupe and animation producer Film Roman Studios have entered into a strategic alliance to produce new animated programming. CinèGroupe head of U.S. entertainment Ken Katsumoto and Peter Schankowitz, president of television programming and development at Film Roman, made the announcement on Wednesday, March 27, 2002. The first joint production will be announced next week. Through the alliance, the companies have agreed to pool their resources on a non-exclusive basis with an eye towards producing numerous projects over the course of the coming year. This represents another significant step for Film Roman, which earlier this month saw founder Phil Roman and his company Phil Roman Entertainment return to Film Roman’s North Hollywood studios.