Kilkenny Animation Studio Unveils New Partnership

Cartoon Saloon, an animation studio based in Kilkenny, has teamed up with Canadian animation studio Mercury Filmworks, it has been announced. The partnership will see a new 2D-focused animation studio created in Ireland – Lighthouse Studios.

The joint venture is supported by Ireland's Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland and will create more than 140 jobs in the next three years. Shortly, Lighthouse Studios plans to announce development and production projects, as well as a hiring initiative encompassing production management, designers, animators, effects artists, compositors, technical directors, 3D modelers, riggers, lighting and texture artists and IT administrators.

Lighthouse Studios will provide children's and family animated content development and end-to-end production services – from script writing, design, storyboard, animation and compositing to post production services – to a global client base.

Specialising in 2D animation, with some CGI integration and utilising the latest technologies, the studio's production pipeline will mirror Mercury Filmworks' Canadian operation. However, Lighthouse Studios will operate autonomously with its own management team, reporting to a Board of Directors comprised of executives from both Mercury Filmworks and Cartoon Saloon.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O'Connor TD, said: "This is terrific news and I warmly welcome the additional 140 jobs which will be created in Kilkenny.

"I am always keen to pursue as wide a range of Foreign Investment projects as possible and this launch today shows that we have the creative talent to attract companies like Mercury Filmworks to Ireland.

"Ireland has a strong record in film making, including animation, and I have no doubt that this partnership between Mercury Filmworks and Cartoon Saloon will go from strength to strength."

Clint Eland, CEO, Mercury Filmworks, said: "We have enormous respect for Cartoon Saloon and could not be happier to announce this collaboration. They are one of today's most creative and well respected animation companies with goals, perspectives, and philosophies that complement our own.

"Conceived as a studio with its own unique identity, Lighthouse Studios is neither wholly Mercury Filmworks nor Cartoon Saloon, but rather the best parts of each, transplanted in the rich Irish soil and nurtured by its own talented team of artists into a studio with its own unique and distinct creative perspective."

Paul Young, CEO, Cartoon Saloon, added: "All of us at Cartoon Saloon are delighted to be in partnership with Mercury, as we have long admired their work. And now, together, we plan to make Lighthouse Studios and Kilkenny a centre of excellence for animation."

(JP)