Toronto -- Canadian cartoon producer Cookie Jar Entertainment has hired former Columbia TriStar and Paramount TV division boss Tom Mazza to lead its hunt for the next "Flashpoint."
Burbank-based Mazza will spearhead the push into U.S. network series and syndicated fare for the Toronto-based producer as head of a new primetime label, the Jar.
Mazza, who most recently ran branded entertainment studio Madison Road Entertainment ("Treasure Hunters") with Jak Severson, joins Cookie Jar as executive vp and head of worldwide TV, with a focus on moving the company beyond animation and into live-action family programming, ideally for the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. primetime slots.
Cookie Jar is joining a crowded field of Canadian producers, including E1 Television and Shaftsbury Films, who recently have been able to co-produce dramas with U.S. networks no longer willing to shoulder the cost of scripted series on their own.
The appeal of Canadian dramas for U.
Burbank-based Mazza will spearhead the push into U.S. network series and syndicated fare for the Toronto-based producer as head of a new primetime label, the Jar.
Mazza, who most recently ran branded entertainment studio Madison Road Entertainment ("Treasure Hunters") with Jak Severson, joins Cookie Jar as executive vp and head of worldwide TV, with a focus on moving the company beyond animation and into live-action family programming, ideally for the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. primetime slots.
Cookie Jar is joining a crowded field of Canadian producers, including E1 Television and Shaftsbury Films, who recently have been able to co-produce dramas with U.S. networks no longer willing to shoulder the cost of scripted series on their own.
The appeal of Canadian dramas for U.
- 4/29/2009
- by By Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Toronto -- Canadian cartoon producer Cookie Jar Entertainment is poised to cut jobs at DIC Entertainment soon after it acquired the U.S. global brand management company for $87.6 million.
Cookie Jar CEO Michael Hirsh on Tuesday gave few details on the pending layoffs but did say an "integration plan" will be unveiled by Aug. 26.
"We will treat everyone fairly, and we intend to keep our word," Hirsh said.
Most of the job cuts are expected to come from DIC's corporate office in Burbank, where Cookie Jar already has relocated its Los Angeles-based subsidiary.
Hirsh said the downsizing aims to reduce duplication between Cookie Jar and DIC, the latter of which has about 220 employees, including about 100 at Copyright Promotions, the European-based licensing agency that DIC acquired two years ago.
Hirsh added that DIC founder Andy Heyward will remain with the company under a new contract after he returns from a holiday.
Hirsh argued DIC has strengths that include a "highly talented team." But he insisted DIC employees recognize their "company was not viable in its current state."
Cookie Jar's acquisition of DIC follows the U.S. company retaining Bear Stearns to explore strategic alternatives for the U.S. company.
After several rounds of bidding by potential suitors, DIC and its bankers in mid-May opened exclusive negotiations with Cookie Jar and its team, which included Los Angeles-based president and Coo Toper Taylor and Cfo Scott McCaw.
Kimberly Nordyke in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Cookie Jar CEO Michael Hirsh on Tuesday gave few details on the pending layoffs but did say an "integration plan" will be unveiled by Aug. 26.
"We will treat everyone fairly, and we intend to keep our word," Hirsh said.
Most of the job cuts are expected to come from DIC's corporate office in Burbank, where Cookie Jar already has relocated its Los Angeles-based subsidiary.
Hirsh said the downsizing aims to reduce duplication between Cookie Jar and DIC, the latter of which has about 220 employees, including about 100 at Copyright Promotions, the European-based licensing agency that DIC acquired two years ago.
Hirsh added that DIC founder Andy Heyward will remain with the company under a new contract after he returns from a holiday.
Hirsh argued DIC has strengths that include a "highly talented team." But he insisted DIC employees recognize their "company was not viable in its current state."
Cookie Jar's acquisition of DIC follows the U.S. company retaining Bear Stearns to explore strategic alternatives for the U.S. company.
After several rounds of bidding by potential suitors, DIC and its bankers in mid-May opened exclusive negotiations with Cookie Jar and its team, which included Los Angeles-based president and Coo Toper Taylor and Cfo Scott McCaw.
Kimberly Nordyke in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
- 8/13/2008
- by By Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Canadian cartoon producer Cookie Jar Entertainment on Monday said it has recruited Dallas-based NCircle Entertainment to license and distribute three home video titles as well as two new properties in the pipeline.
NCircle Entertainment will handle the home entertainment release of "Magi-Nation", "Will & Dewitt" and "Hurray For Huckle! (Busytown Mysteries)."
NCircle also will handle the DVD release of two unspecified properties currently in production.
The multi-title distribution pact was announced by Cookie Jar president and COO Toper Taylor and Debbie Ries, senior vp and general manager at NCircle Entertainment.
NCircle Entertainment will handle the home entertainment release of "Magi-Nation", "Will & Dewitt" and "Hurray For Huckle! (Busytown Mysteries)."
NCircle also will handle the DVD release of two unspecified properties currently in production.
The multi-title distribution pact was announced by Cookie Jar president and COO Toper Taylor and Debbie Ries, senior vp and general manager at NCircle Entertainment.
- 2/12/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Two years after founding Montreal-based Cookie Jar Group through a buyout of the embattled Cinar Inc. animation house, CEO Michael Hirsh is eyeing a return to the financial markets next year. "We're basically focused on potentially taking it public," Hirsh said. He said the initial public offering would be aimed at tapping additional growth capital for his company's rejuvenated entertainment and educational publishing divisions after the acquisition and rebranding of Cinar. Hirsh and Toper Taylor, another former Nelvana executive and Cookie Jar president and chief operating officer, in March 2004 led a consortium that bought Cinar for $144 million. The consortium also included TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board.
- 3/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Canadian animation producer Cookie Jar Group said Wednesday that it has acquired Salt Lake City-based Rainbow Bridge Publishing to bolster its educational products business. The purchase by subsidiary Carson-Dellosa Publishing Co. for an undisclosed price marked the first educational publishing acquisition since March, when former Nelvana executives Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor bought Cinar Corp. and turned the Montreal-based animation producer into the Cookie Jar Group. Rainbow Bridge targets kids ages preschool through eight years old with a catalog of specialty products like a summer workshop series.
TORONTO -- Canadian animation producer Cookie Jar Group has hired Fonda Snyder, former Storyopolis co-Founder and president of Storyopolis Prods., to head up its programming and licensing arm in Los Angeles. Snyder was named senior vp creative development at Cookie Jar Entertainment, where she will identify, package and produce family entertainment properties, Cookie Jar said. Montreal-based Cookie Jar was recently created out of the former Cinar Corp. animation and educational publishing group by a consortium led by former Nelvana executives Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor.
- 5/25/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Michael Hirsh, who recently acquired Montreal-based Cinar Corp., said Friday that the Canadian animation company has been renamed and rebranded the Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. He also indicated that Steve and Patty Carson will join him and Toper Taylor as co-owners of Cookie Jar, a privately owned concern. Steve Carson is president and Patty Carson is vp of the Carson-Dellosa Publishing Co., which along with HighReach Learning comprises the group's U.S.-based educational publishing division.
- 3/27/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- A consortium led by former Nelvana executives Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor said Monday that they had successfully closed their $144 million acquisition of rival Canadian animation producer Cinar Corp. After securing shareholder and regulatory approvals, Hirsh, Taylor and financial backers TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners and OMERS Merchant Banking Group have received $3.60 per share for Cinar's production arm, programming library and educational publishing businesses.
- 3/16/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Putting an end to four years of corporate intrigue, shareholders of embattled Canadian animation producer Cinar Corp. on Tuesday voted strongly in favor of selling the company to a consortium led by former Nelvana Ltd. executives Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor. ... DirecTV, the main unit of satellite TV giant Hughes Electronics, on Tuesday named Eric Shanks senior vp advanced services and content. ... Media giants Vivendi Universal and Viacom have hired investment bank Merrill Lynch to find a buyer for their UCI movie theater venture, European press reports said Tuesday. ... TV station operator Young Broadcasting reported a widened fourth-quarter loss Tuesday as revenue was dragged down by smaller political advertising income.
- 2/17/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Putting an end to four years of corporate scandal and intrigue, shareholders of embattled Canadian animation producer Cinar Corp. on Tuesday voted strongly in favor of selling the company to a consortium led by former Nelvana Ltd. executives Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor. At a special meeting in Montreal, holders of Cinar multiple and limited voting shares voted more than 99% in favor of the $144 million takeover deal. The shareholder vote will now go before the Quebec Superior Court, which is expected to approve the Cinar takeover by Feb. 27. Also voting in favor of the takeover deal were Cinar co-founders and controlling shareholders Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg, who now bow out of the company they founded more than two decades ago. Charest and Weinberg were fired from their posts in August 2000 over allegations of tax fraud and improper investments.
- 2/17/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Quebec securities officials on Friday temporarily lifted a trading ban on stock in Canadian cartoon producer Cinar Corp. to allow a $145 million takeover deal by a consortium led by former Nelvana CEO Michael Hirsh to go ahead. The 4-year-old trading ban by the Quebec Securities Commission was lifted after a hearing in Montreal and was first imposed in April 2000 when Cinar came under police and regulatory investigation into tax fraud and improper investments. NASDAQ also delisted over its corporate scandal. The temporary suspension of the Canadian trade ban also paves the way toward a possible return to financial markets for Cinar as its proposed new management under Hirsh intends. A special shareholders meeting has been called for Feb. 17 to vote on the takeover bid by Hirsh and another former Nelvana executive, Toper Taylor. Cinar's founding couple and former co-CEOs, Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg, have agreed to sell their controlling stake in the animation producer to Hirsh and his consortium.
- 1/11/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The purchase price on Tuesday for embattled Cinar Corp. rose by around $1.2 million after an arbitrator ruled in favor of the Canadian animation producer in a dispute over options held by company co-founders and former co-CEOs Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg. Acting on the arbitrator's decision, Montreal-based Cinar said shareholders are to receive $3.60 per-share in cash rather than $3.57. About $1.2 million of the $143.9 million purchase price first proposed on Oct. 30 by an investor group led by Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor was held in escrow until the dispute between Cinar's current management and Charest and Weinberg over the exercise of 840,000 options was resolved. "I am pleased that the arbitration board decision supports the company's position that the options held by Ms. Charest and Mr. Weinberg expired on March 6, 2000," Stuart Snyder, president and CEO of Cinar, said in a statement. Settling the options dispute means Cinar moves another step to clearing the deck before new ownership moves into the executive suite. A special shareholders meeting is scheduled for Jan. 15 in Montreal to secure approval for the acquisition by Hirsh and Taylor, both former executives of rival animation producer Nelvana Ltd.
- 12/3/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Canadian animation producer Cinar Corp. said Thursday that it will hold a special shareholders meeting Jan. 15 to secure approval for a proposed $143.9 million acquisition by a consortium led by former Nelvana executives Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor. Shareholders will be asked to vote on the acquisition, first unveiled Oct. 30, during a morning meeting at the Omni Hotel in Montreal. Hirsh and Taylor, backed by TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners, signed an agreement to acquire Cinar's outstanding multiple and limited voting shares, including the 62% controlling stake held by company co-founders and one-time co-CEOs Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg. The proposed acquisition by Hirsh means an earlier special shareholders meeting -- scheduled in August for Dec. 11 -- at which rebel shareholders including Charest and Weinberg were to vote on replacing Cinar's current board of directors, will now not go ahead.
- 11/20/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Embattled kids TV and educational company Cinar Corp. is being acquired for $143.9 million by a consortium led by children's programming veterans Toper Taylor and Michael Hirsh. Taylor and Hirsh, backed by TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners, signed an agreement Thursday to acquire Cinar's outstanding multiple and limited voting shares, including the 62% controlling stake held by company co-founders and one-time co-CEOs Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg. The company had been expected to fetch $145 million-$160 million. Hirsh and Taylor have more than 50 years of combined experience as entrepreneurs and business builders in the global kids and family entertainment arena. Hirsh was a founder and former CEO of animation leader Nelvana Ltd. and Taylor was formerly president of international distribution, marketing and consumer products at Nelvana and was president of Nelvana Communications, the company's Los Angeles-based sales and development office.
- 10/31/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A potent mix of global and local economic factors have conspired to put the children's TV business into a tailspin as executives from around the globe prepare to descend on the big kids TV market MIPCOM Junior in Cannes next week. The well-documented problems encountered by media companies in Germany and the international advertising downturn are just two of the factors that have led to the current squeeze, Nelvana Communications president Toper Taylor said. "We have some exciting things happening here at Nelvana, but at the same time we are part of an industry that is staring down the barrel at what may be one of the toughest years of my career," Taylor said.
- 10/1/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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