Already boasting a venerable Sunday-night lineup of animated hits, Fox and its corporate cousin studio, 20th Century Fox Television, are launching a new initiative geared toward primetime animation development.
“Fox Inkubation” is charged with finding the next The Simpsons or Family Guy for the Fox network, and it will do so through the creation of short pieces as opposed to full half-hour projects.
The partnership will provide funding for writers and animators to produce series of two-minute installments. In success, the projects could be developed for network and/or digital distribution.
Along with the partnership, 20th Television is launching a new animation division and named former South Park supervising producer Jennifer Howell senior vice president of animation. She was also executive VP of Important Films, the production company of SouthParkcreators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
Howell will report to 20th co-chairs Gary Newman and Dana Walden, who are leading the new partnership with Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly.
Studio senior VP of production Marci Proietto will oversee production for the department’s projects.
