Despite ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19, when we hear about companies laying off or furloughing its employees, production company Wow! Unlimited Media is planning to double the size of its animation team.
As per Playback Daily’s report, Wow! executives are eyeing opportunities in lockdown by falling back on the learnings of the past two months that will allow the company to significantly expand its production pipeline.
Wow! senior leaders believe they’ll be able to double its animation team as demand for animated content continues to grow while live-action production remains stopped.
The company transitioned its entire 400-person Vancouver team to work from home within a week of lockdown protocols coming into effect in March. Now, due to the growing demand for animation, Wow! Is looking to build out its domestic and international workforce.
Wow! Unlimited Media CEO Michael Hirsh said during an investor call announcing the company’s year-end results, “We think we have a great opportunity to scale the business.”
In 2019, the company’s animation subsidiary Mainframe Studios launched a global digital pipeline, which allows studios from overseas to connect virtually in real-time and work within a secure environment. The plan is now to adapt this in the work-from-home model so that the prodco can further expand its production pipeline, double its manpower without the need to take out additional space.
The company is currently in production of more than 200 half-hours of episodic animation content and seven animated movie specials. Among the projects is an animated series, Madagascar: A Little Wild—based on the animated film Madagascar—for DreamWorks Animation.
Wow! said it is operating at “full capacity” and is engaged in active discussions with various partners about taking on additional projects and has also been working on the service project since last year and is due to complete it in 2022. Its other projects include season four of Castlevania, Octonauts and Made by Maddie.