Jam Filled Entertainment

Jam Filled Entertainment is a Canadian animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario (with additional facilities in Toronto and Halifax), and a subsidiary of Boat Rocker Media.

The company is known for animating several Nicktoons series such as The Loud House and its spin-off The Casagrandes, and Pinky Malinky, as well as the Cartoon Network series DC Super Hero Girls and Final Space. Its Toronto studio, formerly known as Arc Productions and Starz Animation, has worked on CGI films and series such as Chop Socky Chooks, Gnomeo & Juliet, Thomas & Friends, and VeggieTales.

History

Jam Filled Entertainment was founded in Manotick in 2007 by Kyle MacDougall, Phil Lafrance, and Jamie Leclaire. In January 2011, Jam Filled moved to a new location in Ottawa.

On August 3, 2016, Boat Rocker Media acquired Jam Filled Entertainment, with the company maintaining its management as a subsidiary. On August 22, Jam Filled then acquired the assets of Toronto-based Arc Productions out of receivership, reopening the studio as a subsidiary to expand the company into 3D animation.

In September 2019, Jam Filled announced the opening of a new 10,000 square foot studio in Halifax, dedicated to 2D animation projects.

On March 24, 2025, Blue Ant Media announced that it would acquire Jam Filled from Boat Rocker as part of a reverse takeover arrangement.

Filmography

Jam Filled Entertainment

Television series

Films

Jam Filled Toronto

The Toronto branch of Jam Filled Entertainment was originally established as Dan Krech Productions on June 24, 1985, as one of the first visual effects companies in Toronto. In 1987, DKP became the first company in Canada to have an in-house digital suite. DKP had produced visual effects and animation for over 2,000 commercials and long-form projects by 2000, many of them for U.S. companies. DKP moved to a new facility on Queen Street East in March 2001. American telecommunications company IDT Corporation acquired DKP Effects on March 16, 2004, leading to the company being renamed DKP Studios.

On May 26, 2006, Liberty Media bought IDT Entertainment from IDT, including Anchor Bay Entertainment and Film Roman, and merged it with the Starz cable network to form Starz Media. Under its new management in 2007, the studio began a "Starz Shortz" program which has produced Bundle of Joy, Enter the Sandbox, Ormie and Lovebirds. In 2007, Starz Animation took over animating Shane Acker's feature 9 from Attitude Studio, Luxembourg. In 2010, the studio opened a major VFX wing to create all the effects for the new Starz Channel/Graham King Productions miniseries, Camelot, Alcon Entertainment's Dolphin Tale, and producer Avi Arad's family feature, Robosapien: Rebooted.

In April 2011, Liberty Starz sold Starz Animation to a Canadian consortium, and it was renamed Arc Productions. Under the new owner, the studio was planning to do more proprietary production.

On July 29, 2016, Arc Productions entered receivership and closed down its studio, locking out 500 employees after telling them there was a payroll glitch and no one had been paid. At the time of closure, Arc had been working on the film Blazing Samurai. On August 22, 2016, Jam Filled Entertainment acquired Arc's assets out of receivership, reopening its Toronto studio and rehiring most of its staff.

Dan Krech Productions

DKP Effects

DKP Studios

Starz Animation

Logo of Starz Animation

Arc Productions

Logo of Arc Productions

References

Uses material from the Wikipedia article Jam Filled Entertainment, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.