Toronto-based cross-media outfit Titan1Studios has launched a new animation studio in Calgary.

Missing Socks Entertainment is led by Titan1Studios founder and CEO Rathan Moorthy, and VP, content Wes Ambrecht, with a goal to develop and produce “high quality projects for a global audience,” according to a news release. 

Titan1Studios will spin off its animation projects to Missing Socks Entertainment, which is considered a separate division of the company. Its initial slate of three animated series have “an eclectic mix of tone and animation styles” and will be developed concurrently for TV and interactive, said the release.

Described as a “fish-out-of-water” action-comedy, Modern Rogues: Call to Action follows the animated exploits of real-life YouTubers Brian Brushwood and Jason Murphy as they engage in “international espionage at the behest of a secret government agency.”  The pair will serve as executive producers and voice talent on the series.

The series represents an “evolution” of the Modern Rogues brand, an independent scripted reality series created by Brushwood and Murphy, said the release. Merrill Barr serves as writer and Andy Sipes and Matt Mariska (Dallas & Robo, Code Monkeys) are attached as showrunners. Actor Greg Grunberg (Duster, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) will serve as producer and voice talent.

Dragons & Warts is a half-hour adult animated workplace comedy written by Daniel Callaghan and Luke Watson (Medical Marijuana Man). It’s set in a medieval fantasy world in which a “middle management” duo in the Queen’s world “rule over a fiefdom of misfits and malcontents.”

Rounding out the slate is WTF! Wrestling the Federation, which is “set against Calgary’s most middling wrestling promotion circa 1980-something.” The half-hour professional wrestling workplace comedy is created by puppeteer and writer Kanja Chen (Fraggle Rock), with Atul Rao (Deepa & Anoop, Press Start!) attached as showrunner.

Much like Titan1Studios’ past projects, the three series will have interactive components, including an accompanying WTF! Wrestling the Federation arcade action brawler that was recently approved for Canada Media Fund support, said the release.

Ambrecht said in a statement that there was a “real appetite for all types of animation” when they began taking their projects to market last year. “Naturally, this made us ask ourselves what a Titan1Studios animated series might look like, and quickly it became clear that the projects we were developing represented a brand onto themselves.”

Luke Azevedo, VP creative industries, operations and film commissioner at Calgary Economic Development, said Titan1Studios’ “vast knowledge of entertainment technology, original IP development, and the commercial market globally will be a definite asset” to the province’s growing digital media and entertainment industry.

Added Moorthy: “For the last six months we have explored multiple regions of Canada, and Calgary consistently ranked at the top of the list for quality of life, affordability of housing and a passionate growing tech ecosystem.”

Image courtesy of Titan1Studios