Brooklyn-based animation studio Cartuna has tapped Mike Flavin as its new SVP, Head of Development. He joins the studio behind Comedy Central’s improvised animated digital series “Loafy and SYFY TZGZ’s just-premiered Magical Girl Friendship Squad having most recently served as VP Development at WarnerMedia’s indie studio Gunpowder & Sky (Drawn & Recorded, Floyd Norman: An Animated Life), where he was producer on Sundance selected horror flick Summer of ’84.
“Development has always been a part of Cartuna’s DNA, and we’re excited to be doubling down on it,” Cartuna founder and CEO James Belfer told Deadline. “We feel strongly that animation should be treated as a medium, not a genre. The experience and expertise Mike brings from live-action development will help us expand upon this principle and redefine ‘adult animation.’”
Prior to Gunpowder & Sky, L.A.-based Flavin was Director of Development for direct-to-consumer studio Supergravity Pictures (acquired by G&S in 2017) and Director of Development at financier Cider Mill Pictures. The Columbia College, Chicago graduate started his career at Spyglass Ent. (The Sixth Sense) and BenderSpink (American Pie) before coming onboard as a manager trainee at Gotham Group. He then became a creative executive at State Street Pictures, where he worked on Dwayne Johnson thriller Faster (Sony/CBS Films), Sundance entrant The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete and Del Close biopic Guru.
Cartuna’s production credits also include two originals for Facebook Watch — scifi comedy Liverspots and Astronots and Annie Award nominee Human Kind Of — as well as opening sequences for the at-home edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) and segments for Desus and Mero (Showtime). The studio has also created branded entertainment for Nickelodeon, MTV, Twitch, Spotify, iHeart Media, Roc Nation and others.
[Source: Deadline]
