Corner Stone Pictures and OBX Capital Group have formed a new joint venture, Corner Stone Animation. The new company will operate as a subsidiary of Corner Stone Pictures in Sherman Oaks, California.
Corner Stone ceo Jon Knutson said the new venture is uniquely positioned to handle all aspects of financing and animation production as well as product merchandising, manufacturing and distribution. "With their in-house design and development teams along with their years of experience with sourcing, manufacturing and distribution capabilities, our new venture will have complete control of all aspects of not only animation programming but will also include the necessary elements of getting product from concept through distribution as well," he said.
Helping to develop this joint venture will be OBX Production's md John Cummings who was most recently vp of distribution for MGM Domestic Television. "Production has already started with the educational children's cartoon series, BETSY'S KINDERGARTEN ADVENTURES, targeted for children 1-6, with a full line of products being designed and merchandised to be launched simultaneously with the release of the series," said Cummings. "We are on a fast pace of continuing to put together the team that will complement each other in both the animation and the merchandising sides of our business," he added.
"We've formed a great relationship with OBX in our feature film production, so we're very excited about our partnership on our animation venture," said Michael Pietrzak, svp of production for Corner Stone Pictures. "Their depth of experience in manufacturing, merchandising, and distribution is a welcome and valuable asset to Corner Stone Animation."
"The combination of Corner Stone's seasoned management and production team and our experience in merchandising and distribution gives us the ability to launch children entertainment properties in a way that no other company can," Cummings said. "Instead of simply discussing a business plan that would include merchandising, DVD distribution and financing, we are actually executing our entire plan with our own resources."
Corner Stone Pictures (www.cspics.com) is a multimedia entertainment company, which develops, produces and distributes a broad range of motion picture, sound track and TV youth-oriented animation content through the following operating subsidiaries: Corner Stone Pictures Llc., Retirement The Movie Llc., Retirement Productions Llc., Spaghetti Park The Movie Llc. and Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures Llc.
Cary, North Carolina-based OBX Capital Group (www.obxcapital.com) is a strategic business and private equity firm working with both public and private companies in a wide range of industries. OBX Capital focuses on companies that have significant market potential with uniquely positioned offerings.
