Having honed their skills on a variety of genres of projects from commercials to all manner of long-form service work, and having worked all over the geographical and stylistic map, Canadian animation companies are flourishing.

Many animation shops are now expanding in size and capacity, taking on new forms of work and high-profile jobs, with many stepping up to the production plate as independent producers. Herewith, a sampling of some of Canada’s new cartoon coconspirators.

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While relocating to Toronto was always in the back of his mind, it was an offer from Disney to set up its Canadian studio that convinced Andy Knight, creative director and cofounder of Red Rover, to pack up his family and business and move it all back to his original home.

After he completed work on Disney’s Twisted Tales and Jack and the Beanstalk, a Disney series of short films for video release, out of Red Rover’s London, Eng. office, the cartoon kings approached Knight to direct the animated made-for-video feature Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, the first project out of Disney’s Canadian studio.

In London, Red Rover had established a solid reputation for storyboarding and animation for features, working on such projects as Francis Ford Coppola’s Pinocchio, whereas in Canada the company is moving further into the realm of commercial work while also looking to expand into more feature films and series.

Now airing on teletoon in Canada and soon to be seen on Fox in the u.s., Ned’s Newt is a Red Rover/Nelvana coproduction about a boy and his giant newt. Knight sparked Nelvana’s interest in the series with some character designs and a three-minute pilot.

When Ned’s Newt was ready to roll, Red Rover was in the process of moving, and with the tight deadlines and Knight busy on Beauty and the Beast, the shop did not have the manpower, and according to producer Nikki Kefford, was too young to pull off the animated series on its own.

While Knight cannot ignore the financial benefits of coproducing, he says ultimately everyone wants to own a piece of the property and have it in their library.

Now settled in their downtown Toronto studio, Red Rover directors Mike Smith, Karen Kelly, Sylvain Chomet, Peter Candeland and cofounder Linzi Knight are ready to single-handedly take on any production and presently have about a dozen in the works.

Knight says Nickelodeon in the u.s. is interested in and planning to go ahead with a pilot and script for Stupid Cupid, an animated tv series about an angel who gets kicked out of heaven and wants to be a devil.

In development with Coppola’s American Zoetrope is Dominic the Dog, a possible feature film based on the book by William Steig about a dog who goes on a road journey.

On the Canadian commercial front, Red Rover has worked on an Alpha Bits cereal spot and a stop-frame animation spot for Campbell’s Soup, both out of bbdo, which involved a mixture of colored salt, vegetable grains and wheat transforming into different shapes.

When it comes to establishing a specific forte, Kefford says it is hard to categorize Red Rover as their diverse talent allows them to tackle everything from graphic design to tv series.

*Also in this report:

Post/SFX showcase:

Collideascope injects hip B2

Gajdecki: body parts R us B4

Big Bang graduates from Dog’s World to Lost World B4

Lost Boy’s extraterrestrial experience B6

Spin in the series race B7

Animation shops to watch:

Bardel gets Dreamworks nod B10

Dynomight’s Net direction B11

Sargent York kids’ 3-pack B12

Canuck evolves from studio flicks to in-house picks B13

Red Giant spawns series B14

Canadian prodcos plotting boffo toonflick projects B15

Animation House, Lightbox both hit 15 B16, B21

B.C. post shops winning more of the U.S. visual effects B18