Z Animation (www.zanimation.tv), a new animation production house specializing in television commercials, has opened with offices in Los Angeles and New York City. Founded by exec producer Peter Barg, the company features a roster of 16 directors, graphic artists and illustrators.
The talent group includes the team of Vincent Cafarelli and Candy Kugel, who have been creating award-winning animated shorts since 1987, and their work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and The New York Public Library. They have directed commercials for Burger King, Frito Lay, American Airlines, CIBA Pharmaceuticals, Chef Boy Ar-Dee, Southwest Bell, NBC, ABC, CBS, MTV, HBO and many others. All their commercial work will be done via Z Animation, while they maintain their Buzzco studio in NYC to do films.
Also available is Bruce Schluter, former creative director at R/Greenberg Associates/New York and CG director Larry Bafia. Schluters credits include campaigns for LETHAL WEAPON, INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE MATRIX and spots for BF Goodrich and Gillette. Bafia has directed spots for Coca-Cola, Intel, Kraft, Circle K and Saturn, with film credits that include ANTZ, BATMAN AND ROBIN, MI2 and MARS ATTACKS.
Also on that roster is the directing team of Oscar Grillo and Ted Rockley, who have an accumulated six decades of international animation and illustration fame between them; Oscar-winning clay animator Jimmy Picker (Sundae in New York); Australian animator/creative director/designer/director Neil Goodridge, whose short, PA, took prizes last year at the Animafest, Zagreb and Cartoons-on-the-Bay Festivals; British live-action/animation specialist Gill Bradley; indie filmmaker Jeff Scher, known for his painting on film techniques; and Italian director Rosana Liera, who helmed the short, THE FISH HUNTER, which garnered big prizes at half a dozen festivals last year.
Joining the company are Xeth Feinberg, creator and director of Showtimes QUEER DUCK; 3D and CGI director Jordan Reichek (INVADER ZIM, THE GROOVENIANS); and three-time Emmy-winning director/designer/writer and artist Liz Holzman.
Z has assembled world famous illustrators to provide a crossover between design and direction. That group includes two icons from THE NEW YORKER: Edward Sorel, creator of 41 cover illustrations, and cartoon editor Lee Lorenz. Joining the group are designer/writer Norm Bendell, large format illustrator James Yang, John Cuneo and Nishan Akgulian.
"Z Animation has been built from the ground up to provide a new kind of resource for both advertisers and ad agencies, according to Barg. This is more than just a great mix of talent. By seeing the industry in the perspective of its changing nature and needs, we are creating a need-based synergistic management structure to deliver to agencies an all in one creative visual toolbox for agency producers and creatives."
Barg, most recently head of production for Acme Filmworks, spent 10 years at McCann-Erickson in New York and another 10 at DArcy/St. Louis, producing domestic and international campaigns for AT&T, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Anheuser-Busch, Mars, Inc., Blockbuster and RJ Reynolds.
"Speaking both agency and production languages has been a welcome bonus," Barg states. "While it happens often in live-action, its rare to see a spot animation studio that gets the full picture and can anticipate every need. That concept is the key to the values and philosophy behind Z Animation."
Z Animation can be reached by calling Peter Barg at (310) 235-1476. The company is repped on the west coast by Gilles Debonfilhs at (818) 788-3309 and in New York by David Goldman at (212) 807-6627.
