Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel, the creators of Adult Swim’s popular show Smiling Friends, and their producer Aron Fromm, have formed a new Los Angeles-based studio named ZAM.
Zam will offer high quality animation, vfx , production and post-production of all types, according to Cusack, Hadel and Fromm. The studio will specialize in client services for television, feature film and commercial projects, as well as creating original content.
“Zam will focus on what matters most in animation – high-quality work made by people who understand the process, are obsessed with craft and have a knack for producing cartoons that recapture the magic of years past,” Cusack, Hadel and Fromm said in statement.
“Animation really was better back in the day,” the trio note on their website. “It wouldn’t cost a dime more to make today’s cartoon feel less stiff and sterile, but current animation productions are so decentralized and bureaucratized, that creatively they lack vision. ZAM has one clear mission: to fix that! In an industry overrun with waste, bloat and derivative work, we strive to bring back what matters — bold, high-quality animation made by people who actually understand the process!… ZAM can work in any medium.”
The studio is handling all specialty and mixed media animation, live action, compositing and vfx for the third season of Smiling Friends, which premieres Sunday, October 5 on Adult Swim and Monday, October 6 on HBO Max. Among the other shows handled by Zam are Smiling Friends shorts, Smiling Symphonies, Billy Idol Should Be Dead, and bumpers for Rick & Morty and Adult Swim.
You can learn more at Zamstudios.net.
Sources: Deadline.com, ZAM Studios
