FilmFair was a British

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

and

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals o ...

that produced

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

educational film An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods. History Determining which videos should count as the first educational fil ...

s, and

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s. The company made numerous

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

films using

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move ...

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

, and

cutout animation Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or photographs. The props would be cut out and used as puppets for stop motion. The world's e ...

History

Foundation

FilmFair was founded in 1959 by American animator Gus Jekel in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. After working with

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

and other

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

animation studios in the 1930s, Jekel incorporated FilmFair because he wanted the freedom to create

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

work as well. The studio was in Animation Alley, a stretch of

Cahuenga Boulevard Cahuenga Boulevard () is a major boulevard of northern Los Angeles, California, US. The “Cahuenga” name is a Spanish, phonetic derivative with no actual Spanish language meaning that is attributed to the Tongva village of Kawengna, meaning ...

that runs through

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

in northern Los Angeles. Jekel's company produced television advertisements—some animated, others live action—and was extremely successful; even Disney was a client. In the late 1960s, Jekel asked an English colleague, Graham Clutterbuck, to start a European office for FilmFair. Clutterbuck had been producing and coordinating television ads for European

advertising agencies An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

and had just lost his job as director general of Les Cinéastes Associés in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Although he was not well-acquainted with animation, Clutterbuck accepted the job offer. Clutterbuck established FilmFair's European office in Paris. It was there that he met Serge Danot, who pitched his ideas for a children's series, but Clutterbuck turned him down. Soon after, Danot signed a contract with the BBC to produce the series ''

The Magic Roundabout ''The Magic Roundabout'' is an English-language children's television programme that ran from 1965 to 1977. It used the footage of the French stop motion animation show ''Le Manège enchanté'' but with completely different scripts and characte ...

''. He invited Clutterbuck to watch them film. While there, Clutterbuck met the series' co-creator,

Ivor Wood Ivor Sydney Wood (4 May 1932 – 13 October 2004) was a prolific Anglo-French' animator, director, producer and writer. He was known for his work on children's television series. Born in Leeds to an English father and a French mother, his famil ...

. Later, the two men agreed that Wood would make animated films for FilmFair. The success of ''The Magic Roundabout'' paved the way for more stop-motion animation at the BBC. Soon, Wood came up with the idea for '' The Herbs'', which premiered on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

in 1968.

FilmFair London

By this time,

Beatlemania Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles " Please Please Me", " From Me to You" and " She Loves You" ...

had made England a cultural hotspot. Clutterbuck found it too difficult to attract English talent to France, so he moved the office to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. There, Barry Leith joined the company as director of animation. Wood and Leith collaborated on '' The Wombles'', but Wood also had a few ideas for animating Michael Bond's stories about

Paddington Bear Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in the children's book ''A Bear Called Paddington'' and has been featured in more than twenty books written by British author Michael Bond, a ...

. Bond was enthusiastic about Wood's artistic vision and began scripting the first series.

premiered ''

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

'' in 1976 to great acclaim. FilmFair produced new episodes of the programme for three years, and it expanded into a considerable

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program ...

. FilmFair continued to produce successful stop motion programmes through the mid-1970s. The company's first classically animated series, '' Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings'', premiered in 1976. It was adapted from a series of children's books written and illustrated by Edward McLachlan. The company's first series not directed by Wood was ''

The Perishers ''The Perishers'' was a long-running British comic strip about a group of neighbourhood children and a dog. It was printed in the ''Daily Mirror'' as a daily strip and first appeared on 19 October 1959. For most of its life it was written by Ma ...

'', a classically animated series directed by Dick Horn. As FilmFair London continued to produce animated television series for the BBC and ITV, they eventually reached an international audience through

broadcast syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...

and

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

distribution.

Acquisitions

In the early 1980s,

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

bought a controlling share of the European branch of FilmFair. Graham Clutterbuck died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on 30 April 1988; FilmFair dedicated ''

Bangers and Mash Bangers and mash, also known as sausages and mash, is a traditional British dish, consisting of sausages served with mashed potatoes. It may consist of one of a variety of flavoured sausages made of pork, lamb, or beef (often specifically Cumber ...

'' to his memory. In 1991, Central sold FilmFair to Storm Group (also known as the Caspian Group), one of FilmFair's video distributors. Altschul Group Corporation (AGC) bought FilmFair's American branch in 1992, as part of campaign to acquire more than a dozen film companies. Discovery Education, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, bought AGC's film catalogue in 2003. As of 2022, Discovery Education is now owned by Clearlake Capital Group, with Francisco Partners along with Discovery, Inc.'s successor and Warner Bros. parent company Warner Bros. Discovery holding minority stakes. In 1996, the Caspian Group sold FilmFair London's catalogue and production amenities to Canada-based company

CINAR Films Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX ...

, whose purchase included all associated distribution, publication, licensing, and merchandising rights. In 2000, Cinar executives were implicated in a financial scandal, and again in 2001. In 2004, the company rebranded to Cookie Jar Group, which in turn was acquired by DHX Media (now WildBrain) in 2012, thus acquiring the rights to the European FilmFair properties and making DHX the largest independent producer of kids programming with 8,550 half hours up from 2,550.

Productions

Animated television series

Television specials

Pilots

References

External links

* * {{Animation industry in the United Kingdom British animation studios Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom Children's television Television production companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Los Angeles Companies based in Paris Entertainment companies established in 1968 Companies disestablished in 1996 WildBrain Discovery, Inc. 1968 establishments in California 1968 establishments in England 1996 disestablishments in California 1996 disestablishments in England