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91-572: Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. ) was an American production company located in New York City . It was known for its seasonal television specials, usually done in stop motion animation. Rankin/Bass's stop-motion productions are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called Animagic. Nearly all of

182-773: A "one time hit" or an ongoing "entertainment franchise " that can be continued, remade, rebooted , or expanded into other sister industries; such as the video game industry (see Star Wars , Star Trek ). Entertainment projects can be either an original or an adaptation from another industry. In rare occasional cases, a few troubled major studios would also shed their distribution and/or marketing staffs, mainly due to reduced resources, and resort to co-investing and/or co-distributing film projects with larger studios, operating as virtual, production-only movie studios. Notable examples include legendary studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , which, after many years of box office flops (mostly with low budgets), bad management and distribution, and bankruptcy,

273-405: A contract) or as a subsidiary for an entertainment company, motion picture company, television network, or all, and are generally smaller than the company they are partnered with. A book to film unit is a unit of a book publishing company for the purposes of getting books that they published adapted into film . Films have been using books as a prime source for films for years. In 2012, six out of

364-614: A development and co-finance plan. Macmillan Films was launched by Thomas Dunne Books in October 2010 under the packaging model similar to Alloy while also moving to get film rights from Dunne's published author. Also that year, Random House changed their strategy to film development and packaging only. Condé Nast Entertainment was started by Magazine publisher Conde Nast in October 2012. In 2013, Macmillan Films became Macmillan Entertainment with an expansion to look at other divisions' book for possible films. A production company

455-464: A half century of ongoing overworking was documented by The New York Times , including training materials supporting a Dentsu president urging working " even if it kills you ." A 2017 attempt to encourage letting workers "leave the office at 3 p.m. on the last Friday of the month" did not get much participation. Also in 2017, a former executive creative director of Dentsu Japan has resigned from his own company following allegations he sexually harassed

546-488: A layout artist and character designer from Hanna-Barbera Productions in Los Angeles, California. The year 1970 brought another Christmas special, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town . Rankin/Bass enlisted Fred Astaire as narrator S.D. (Special Delivery) Kluger, a mailman answering children's questions about Santa Claus and telling his origin story . The story involved young Kris Kringle, voiced by Mickey Rooney , and

637-579: A new logo, retaining a Videocraft byline in their closing credits until 1971 when Tomorrow Entertainment, a unit of the General Electric Company , acquired the production company. The "Animagic" process for The Little Drummer Boy took place at MOM Production, which was renamed Video Tokyo Production after Tadahito Mochinaga left Japan for his return trip to China following the completion of the animation for Mad Monster Party? , thus ending his collaboration with Rankin/Bass. Takeo Nakamura,

728-465: A private corporate investment entity (see Legendary Pictures ). Their only source of profit comes from the productions they produce. Because entertainment and media are currently in "high demand", a production company can profit if its management is capable of using its resources to supply good quality products and services to the public. Many entertainment production companies brand their entertainment projects. An entertainment project can either become

819-451: A production. The entertainment industry is centered on funding (investments from studios, investment firms, or individuals either from earnings from previous productions or personal wealth), projects (scripts and entertainment franchises), and talent ( actors , directors, screenwriters , and crew). Production companies are judged and ranked based on the amount of funding it has, as well the productions it has completed or been involved with in

910-445: A self-publishing vanity press which are paid services. Both large and small production studios have an editorial board or editor-in-chief , along with other forms of a command hierarchy . Entertainment companies operate as mini conglomerate , operating many divisions or subsidiaries in many different industries. Warner Bros. Entertainment and Lionsgate Entertainment are two companies with this corporate structure. It allows for

1001-426: A single company to maintain control over seemingly unrelated companies that fall within the ranges of entertainment, which increases and centralises the revenue into one company (example: a film production company, TV production company, video game company, and comic book company are all owned by a single entertainment company). A motion picture company, such as Paramount Pictures , specializing "only" in motion pictures

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1092-633: A traditional cel animated short for the Jam Handy Film Company. With the American actor Burl Ives in the role of Sam the snowman, the narrator, Canadian actress Billie Mae Richards as the voice of the main title character, Rudolph, and an original orchestral score composed by Marks himself, Rudolph became one of the most popular, and longest-running Christmas specials in television history: it remained with NBC until around 1972 when it moved to CBS . In 2019, for its 55th anniversary,

1183-425: A woman during his tenure at the advertising giant. In 2022, a former executive at Dentsu was arrested on suspicion of receiving bribes from sponsors of the 2020 Summer Olympics . In February 2023, Japan's competition regulator filed criminal complaints against six firms, including Dentsu, over alleged bid rigging of contracts for the games. The companies were charged under anti-monopoly law and accused of lowering

1274-516: Is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is the largest advertising agency in Japan and the fifth largest advertising agency network in the world in terms of worldwide revenues. Dentsu does business with almost every major institution in Japan, accounting for about 28 percent of the national advertising budget. Its connections to

1365-402: Is considered to be a small production company. These companies often work with up and coming talent. Small production companies will either grow to become a major production company, a subsidiary completely owned by another company, remain small, or fail. The success of an entertainment production company is centered on the projects it produces, the talent it can acquire, and the performance of

1456-442: Is only connected with its other counterpart industries through its parent company. Instead of performing a corporate reorganization, many motion picture companies often have sister companies they collaborate with in other industries that are subsidiaries owned by their parent company and is often not involved in the making of products that are not motion picture related. A film production company can either operate as an affiliate (under

1547-410: Is owned by Paramount Global ). Alloy Entertainment while not a unit of a publisher started using a book packaging to film model of film and TV development by developing the property in-house, hire authors for the books and films, so as to own the property. Random House was the first big six book publisher to establish a book to film unit, Random House Films , in 2005 with a Focus Features deal under

1638-559: Is owned by Universal Pictures , which acquired DreamWorks Animation 's DreamWorks Classics portfolio, while Warner Bros. Discovery owns the rights to the post-September 1974 library. Universal also retained the rights to King Kong Escapes and also currently holds the rights to Willy McBean and his Magic Machine , again, via DreamWorks Classics. StudioCanal holds the rights to the films from Rankin/Bass that Embassy Pictures distributed, with U.S. distribution rights split between Rialto Pictures and Lionsgate (excluding The Daydreamer ,

1729-448: Is usually run by a producer or director, but can also be run by a career executive. In entertainment, a production company relies highly on talent or a well known entertainment franchise to raise the value of an entertainment project and draw out larger audiences. This gives the entertainment industry a democratized power structure to ensure that both the companies and talent receive their fair share of pay and recognition for work done on

1820-548: The 25 Days of Christmas seasonal period. Starting in 2018, the post-September 1974 specials moved to AMC , and aired during the Best Christmas Ever seasonal period, with Freeform retaining the pre-September 1974 specials' cable rights. The original Rudolph and Frosty specials currently air on NBC , the sister company of the pre-September 1974 specials' owner, DreamWorks Classics, with Santa airing on ABC . The specials of Rankin/Bass have been parodied by

1911-477: The concentration of media ownership , who act as the production company' s partner or parent company . This has become known as the "studio system". Independent studios usually prefer production house (see Lionsgate ), production studio (see Amazon Studios ), or production team (see Rooster Teeth ). In the case of television, a production company would serve under a television network . Production companies can work together in co-productions . In music,

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2002-478: The 1960s, Videocraft produced other stop motion and traditional animation specials and films, some of which were non-holiday stories. 1965 saw the production of Rankin/Bass' first theatrical film, Willy McBean and His Magic Machine , another joint venture between Videocraft and Dentsu. 1966 brought The Daydreamer , the first of three films to be produced in association with executive producer Joseph E. Levine 's Embassy Pictures in Los Angeles, California, and

2093-644: The British-American actress Greer Garson provided dramatic narration for The Little Drummer Boy , based on the traditional song and set during the birth of the baby Jesus Christ , and starring the Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer as the voice of Ben Haramed. During that year, Videocraft International, Ltd. (whose logo dominated the Rankin/Bass logo in the closing credit sequences) changed its name to Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc., and adopted

2184-712: The Great Ak in the harsh realities of the human world, and his acceptance of his destiny to struggle to bring joy to children. This special has recently been released as part of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment 's Warner Archive Collection , on a double-feature disc that also contains Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey which is often paired with The First Christmas on holiday broadcasts. Many of these specials are still shown seasonally on American television, and some have been released on VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital. Throughout

2275-502: The Italian author Carlo Collodi 's 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio and featuring "Animagic", a stop motion animation process using figurines or puppets (a process already pioneered by George Pal 's " Puppetoons " and Art Clokey 's Gumby and Davey and Goliath ), managed by Mochinaga and his MOM Production staffers for Videocraft with Dentsu . This was followed by another independently produced series in 1961, Tales of

2366-557: The L. Frank Baum story of the same name and released in 1985. In this story, the Great Ak (voiced by Alfred Drake ) summons a council of the Immortals to bestow upon a dying Claus (voiced by Earl Hammond , with J.D. Roth voicing the young Claus) the Mantle of Immortality. To make his case, the Great Ak tells Claus's life story, from his discovery as a foundling in the magical forest and his raising by Immortals, through his education by

2457-1199: The Rings ). Other books adapted include The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle , a rare theatrical release that was co-produced with ITC Entertainment in London, England, Peter Dickinson 's The Flight of Dragons and Kenneth Grahame 's The Wind in the Willows which was animated by the second overseas animation unit of Hanna-Barbera, James Wang's Cuckoo's Nest Studios (now Wang Film Productions ) in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition to their prime time specials, Rankin/Bass produced several regular television shows in traditional animation, including The King Kong Show (1966), The Smokey Bear Show (1969), animated by Toei Animation , The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show (1970), animated by Mushi Production , The Tomfoolery Show (1970) animated by Halas and Batchelor Animation, Ltd. , The Jackson 5ive in 1971 (the latter co-produced with Motown Productions ), and Kid Power and The Osmonds in 1972. The most successful of these

2548-504: The U.S. distribution rights to which are with Scorpion Releasing) while ITV Studios currently holds the rights to The Last Unicorn , with select distribution rights currently licensed to Shout! Studios . The rights to the 1999 animated film adaptation of The King and I are currently held by Morgan Creek Entertainment , with distribution handled by Revolution Studios . For over 20 years, most of Rankin/Bass' films were shown on Family Channel, Fox Family, ABC Family, and Freeform , during

2639-538: The Wizard of Oz , Videocraft's adaptation of the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum , as well as their first production to use traditional cel animation. Unlike many of Rankin/Bass' works, Tales of the Wizard of Oz was animated by Crawley Films in Ottawa , headed by F. R. Crawley . One of the mainstays of the business was holiday-themed animated specials for airing on American television. In 1964,

2730-411: The age of 87. In 1999, Rankin/Bass joined forces with James G. Robinson's Morgan Creek Productions and Nest Family Entertainment (creators of The Swan Princess franchise) for the first and only animated adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein 's musical The King and I , based on a treatment by Rankin. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures with its Warner Bros. Family Entertainment division,

2821-554: The animated films and television programs. Romeo Muller was another consistent contributor, serving as screenwriter for many of Rankin/Bass' best-known productions including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), The Little Drummer Boy (1968), and Frosty the Snowman (1969). One of Videocraft's first projects was an independently produced television series in 1960, The New Adventures of Pinocchio , based on

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2912-632: The animation by Mushi), Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid , The Red Baron , and That Girl in Wonderland (all featuring the animation by Topcraft). In 1977, Rankin/Bass produced an animated version of J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Hobbit . It was followed in 1980 by an animated version of The Return of the King (the animation rights to the first two volumes were held by Saul Zaentz , producer of Ralph Bakshi 's animated adaptation The Lord of

3003-459: The anime industry. In August 2023, it was announced Dentsu had acquired the Berlin -headquartered digital-first brand, communications and creative agency, RCKT. The RCKT brand would be retained during a period of integration, becoming known as “RCKT, a Dentsu Creative Company”. In 2018 Dentsu acquired GlobalMind, a LATAM based digital first agency based out of Argentina and Miami, USA. GlobalMind

3094-570: The biography of Italian merchant, explorer, and writer Marco Polo , filmed at Toho Company in Tokyo and on location throughout East Asia, and featuring Kono's "Animagic" sequence of the Tree People. Previously, he was met by Rankin during the animation production of the Halloween television special Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters at Mushi Production in 1972, and became an integral part of Rankin/Bass for many years. In 1974, Rankin/Bass Productions

3185-456: The company produced a special for NBC and sponsor General Electric , later owner of NBC. It was a stop motion animated adaptation of Robert L. May 's 1939 story " Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer " and the 1949 song it inspired, " Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ", written by May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks . Almost two decades earlier, in 1948, it had been made into a cartoon by Max Fleischer , brother and former partner of Dave Fleischer , as

3276-604: The company still has its offices, and his home in Bermuda . Rankin died at Harrington Sound, Bermuda on January 30, 2014, at the age of 89. Bass became a vegetarian; a decade later, he wrote Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon , the first children's book character developed specifically to explore moral issues related to vegetarianism. The original story and a follow-up cookbook became bestsellers for independent publishing house Barefoot Books . Bass died on October 25, 2022, at

3367-455: The company's daily activities. In some cases, a production company can be run by only a handful of people. The company's funds are mainly committed towards employing talent, crew, and acquiring new updated production equipment on a regular basis. Many productions often require at least one to two cameras and lighting equipment for on location shooting. Production equipment is either leased or purchased from another production company or directly from

3458-613: The company's focus to specialized advertising. In 1943, 16 companies were acquired in order to supplement Japan Telegraphic's advertising business. That same year, operational bases were established in Tokyo, Osaka , Nagoya , and Kyūshū . With the 1951 arrival of commercial radio broadcasting in Japan, the Radio Division was established at Japan Telegraphic's head and local offices. In 1955, Japan Telegraphic Communication Co., Ltd. changed its name to Dentsu Inc. 1995 saw Dentsu creating five domestic regional subsidiaries. Dentsu

3549-443: The company's origins as a media representative during the early part of the 20th century, producing the first newspaper advertisements as well as the first television commercials in Japan. In July 2003, Dentsu acquired Pioneer LDC from Pioneer Corporation and renamed it to Geneon Entertainment, while its North American division, Pioneer Entertainment, was renamed to Geneon USA. On November 12, 2008, Dentsu announced that it

3640-492: The corporation. The company admitted allowing illegal levels of overtime and was convicted in October, paying ¥500,000 in fines. Mr. Tadashi Ishii, Representative Director and President & CEO , notified Dentsu on December 28, 2016 that he will resign as Representative Director and President & CEO. His papers were sent to the prosecutors office because of the violation of the Labor Standards Act . Over

3731-547: The creators of the Ultra Series ); and 1983's The Sins of Dorian Gray . With the exception of King Kong Escapes , all were made-for-television films. The studio closed in 1987 as a result of TV show failures like The Comic Strip , and its partnership was officially dissolved in 2001 after the production of the studio's last Christmas special Santa, Baby! . Arthur Rankin Jr. would split his time between New York City, where

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3822-437: The dentsu brand. This simplification has seen three lines of business established across media, customer relationship management, and creative. The business is registered as Dentsu International Limited with UK Companies House in October 2020. In April 2015, Dentsu announced the launch of a corporate venture capital fund, Dentsu Ventures, to provide companies across the U.S., Europe, and Asia with capital and business support. In

3913-405: The director of Sanrio 's 1979 stop motion feature Nutcracker Fantasy , was among the "Animagic" team, but he was never credited as a supervisor. The following year, in 1969, Jimmy Durante sang and told the story of Frosty the Snowman , with Jackie Vernon voicing Frosty. It was based on Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins ' 1950 song of the same name , and also introduced Billy De Wolfe as

4004-440: The exposure, when shooting in public locations, major productions often employ security to ensure the protection of the talent and crew working on a specific production. After filming is completed, the production enters into post production, which is handled by a post production company and overseen by the production company. The editing, musical score, visual effects, re-recording of the dialog, and sound effects are "mixed" to create

4095-539: The film adaptation of the stories and characters by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen , which combines live-action, special effects and "Animagic"; and The Ballad of Smokey the Bear , the story of the famous forest fire-fighting bear seen in numerous public service announcements, narrated by James Cagney . The theatrical feature film Mad Monster Party? saw theatrical release in the spring of 1967, featuring one of

4186-686: The film flopped at the American box office. Stephen Hunter , among several American film critics, criticized the film's depictions of "offensive ethnic stereotyping." In 2001, Fox aired the first new original Christmas special to be produced by both Rankin and Bass in 16 years, Santa, Baby! , which like most of their production company's other specials was based on a popular, similarly-titled Christmas song . Santa, Baby! stood out from its predecessors due to its use of African-American characters and voice performers, such as Patti LaBelle (the narrator), Eartha Kitt , Gregory Hines , Vanessa L. Williams and Tom Joyner . Although Pacific Animation Corporation

4277-425: The final film, which is then screened at the final screening. Marketing is also launched during this phase, such as the release of trailers and posters. Once a final film has been approved, the film is taken over by the distributors, who then release the film. For legal reasons, it is common within the entertainment industry for production companies not to accept unsolicited materials from any other company, talent, or

4368-607: The foreign market. The Dentsu Building is a high-rise building in Shiodome , Minato , Tokyo , which houses Dentsu's corporate offices. With 48 floors that rise to 213.34 m (700 ft), it is the eleventh-tallest building in Tokyo. It was designed by Jean Nouvel , the French architect, and completed in 2002. It was built over the site of Tokyo's first railway station, and sits aside the Hamarikyu Gardens , formerly

4459-554: The general public. It is also common for filmmakers or producers to become entrepreneurs and open their own production companies so that they can have more control over their careers and pay, while acting as an "in-house" creative and business driving force for their company but continuing to freelance as an artist for other companies, if desired. Dentsu 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Dentsu Inc. ( Japanese : 株式会社電通 Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū or 電通 Dentsū for short, stylized as dentsu )

4550-893: The government are so tight that The New York Times referred to Dentsu as "the unofficial communications department of the governing Liberal Democratic Party ", and it has also been likened to the CIA on account of its reach. Dentsu was originally established as Japan Advertising Ltd. ( 日本広告株式会社 , Nihon Kōkoku Kabushiki-gaisha ) and Telegraphic Service Co. ( 電報通信社 , Denpō Tsūshin-sha ) by Hoshiro Mitsunaga . In 1906, Telegraphic Service Co. became Japan Telegraphic Communication Co., Ltd. ( 株式会社日本電報通信社 , Kabushiki-gaisha Nihon Denpō Tsūshin-sha ) . The next year, Japan Advertising Ltd. merged with Japan Telegraphic Communication Co., Ltd. to create advertising and communications operations. Japan Telegraphic Communication Co., Ltd. sold off its news division to Doumei News Agency in 1936 to change

4641-426: The guild. Productions with smaller budgets are allowed to use both guild talent and talent from the public. The majority of the talent and crew working in the entertainment industry are members of their professions guild. Most productions in the entertainment industry are guild productions. A production company is responsible for the development and filming of a specific production or media broadcast. In entertainment,

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4732-622: The last performances by the British actor Boris Karloff . The film features affectionate send-ups of classic movie monsters and their locales, adding "Beatle"-wigged skeletons as a send-up of the era's pop bands, and a writing staff borrowed from Mad magazine, including the cartoonist Jack Davis , who designed the characters of this film. It is also the last "Animagic" project that Tadahito Mochinaga supervised. In 1972 and 1973, Rankin/Bass produced four animated TV movies for The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie series: Mad Mad Mad Monsters (with

4823-608: The likes of TV series from Saturday Night Live to South Park , while non-holiday works like The Last Unicorn maintained a cult following . The look and style of the Christmas specials heavily influences more modern holiday classics such as Elf (2003). Beginning in 2013, and for several years thereafter, the animation studio ShadowMachine was hired by the SoCal Honda Dealers group (via Secret Weapon Marketing) to create stop-motion animated commercials in

4914-440: The manufacturer. In the entertainment industry, in order to secure experienced professional talent and crew, production companies often become a signatory company to that talent or crew members "guild". By becoming a signatory company, it agrees to abide by the guild regulations. All big budget guild productions are exclusive to guild members and non guild members are not allowed to participate in these productions unless authorized by

5005-466: The narrator Seymour S. Sassafrass, Vincent Price as the evil rabbit January Q. Irontail, and Casey Kasem from Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo franchise as the title character Peter Cottontail. It was not based upon the title song by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, but on a 1957 novel by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich titled The Easter Bunny That Overslept . This was the second and final "Animagic" production to be supervised by Kizo Nagashima. Steve Nakagawa

5096-485: The nine best picture Oscar nominees were originally books. Previously, publishers did not develop their books into movie nor receive any of the profits. Neither Scholastic or Little Brown, get any box office revenue from the Harry Potter and The Twilight Saga movies just through book sales. As the publishers faced decreasing revenue due to increased competition from self-published e-books, or Amazon.com moving into

5187-424: The past. If a production company has major funding either through earnings, studio investors, or private investors, and has done or been involved with big budget productions in the past, it is considered to be a major production company. These companies often work with well-known and expensive talent. If a production company does not have much funding and has not done or been involved with any big budget productions, it

5278-464: The production or may accomplish this through a parent company , partner, or private investor. It handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply with talent and resources , the organization of staff, the production itself, post-production , distribution, and marketing . Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a media conglomerate , film studio , record label , video game publisher , or entertainment company, due to

5369-416: The production process begins with the development of a specific project. Once a final script has been produced by the screenwriters, the production enters into the pre-production phase, most productions never reach this phase for financing or talent reasons. In pre-production, the actors are signed on and prepared for their roles, crew is signed on, shooting locations are found, sets are built or acquired, and

5460-527: The production supervision. It was remade as a poorly received live-action /special effects TV movie shown on NBC in 2006 starring Delta Burke and John Goodman as Mrs. Claus and Santa. Throughout the 1970s, Rankin/Bass, with Video Tokyo and the former Toei Animation employee Toru Hara's Topcraft , continued to produce animated sequels to its classic specials, including the teaming of Rudolph and Frosty in 1979's Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July , with

5551-486: The production's shooting locations for both privacy and safety reasons. In many cases, the director, producers, and the leading actors are often the only people with access to a full or majority of a single script. Supporting actors, background actors, and crew often never receive a full copy of a specific script to prevent leaks. Productions are often shot in secured studios, with limited to no public access, but they are also shot on location on secured sets or locations. Due to

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5642-552: The proper shooting permits are acquired for on location shooting. Actors and crew are hand picked by the producer, director, and casting director, who often use collaborators or referenced personnel to prevent untrusted or unwelcomed people from gaining access to a specific production and compromising the entire production through leaks. Once a production enters into principal photography, it begins filming. Productions are almost never cancelled once they reach this phase. Codenames are often used on bigger productions during filming to conceal

5733-517: The publishing field, publishers have started to enter the film and TV production business to boost their net income with Amazon attempting to compete there too. More screenwriters are turning to book publishers to get their screenplay published as a book, so as to have a boost in their attempt to have the screenplay turned into a movie, given that it is a known product after the book. Publisher Simon & Schuster , though not involved with film and TV, shares possible film and TV deals with CBS (S&S

5824-494: The same month, Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I was launched with a total capital of five billion yen. In May 2021, Dentsu Ventures Global Fund II was launched with a total capital of ten billion yen. Dentsu Ventures investments include Cheddar , Clear Labs , Exo , GRAIL , Overtime , OpenWeb , Survios , Twist Bioscience , Tynker , and Upside Foods . In July 2023, Dentsu announced that it had founded its own anime business, Dentsu Anime Solutions, to boost its presence in

5915-505: The site of a shōgun's vacation home. Since 1925, Dentsu employees have had a company tradition of climbing Mount Fuji . Every July all new staff and newly promoted executives climb Mt Fuji. Employees who are not physically able to do so are exempt. A former employee gave the reasoning behind this as: "The message is: 'We are going to conquer the one symbol that represents Japan more than anything else. And, once we do that, it will signify that we can do anything. ' " In August 2015, Dentsu

6006-419: The special was also aired on Freeform as part of its " 25 Days of Christmas " programming block, although it will continue to air on CBS under a separate license with Universal. The special contained seven original songs. In 1965, a new song was filmed in "Animagic" to replace "We're a Couple of Misfits", titled "Fame and Fortune". The success of Rudolph led to numerous other Christmas specials. The first

6097-588: The story of the winter sprite's love for a mortal woman menaced by the evil Cossack king, Kubla Kraus (Paul Frees, in addition to Kubla, voiced Jack Frost's overlord, Father Winter). In this special, Jack's voice was performed by Robert Morse , who previously voiced Stuffy in 1976's The First Easter Rabbit (loosely based on Margery Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit ), and young Ebenezer Scrooge in 1978's The Stingiest Man in Town (based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol ). Among Rankin/Bass' original specials

6188-417: The studio was bought by Disney and renamed Walt Disney Animation Japan in 1988. Neither one enjoyed the same commercial success as ThunderCats did, however. Rankin/Bass also attempted live-action productions, such as 1967's King Kong Escapes , a co-production with Toho ; 1976's The Last Dinosaur ; 1978's The Bermuda Depths ; 1980's The Ivory Ape (all co-produced with Tsuburaya Productions ,

6279-601: The studio's animation was outsourced to Japanese animation companies such as Toei Animation , MOM Production, Mushi Productions and Topcraft . Rankin/Bass was one of the first western studios to outsource their low-budget animated television and film productions to animation studios in foreign countries; the others that already practiced animation outsourcing include Total Television and King Features Syndicate TV in New York City; and Hanna-Barbera and Jay Ward Productions in Los Angeles, California. The company

6370-456: The style of Rankin/Bass's Christmas specials. RiffTrax , consisted of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni Kevin Murphy , Bill Corbett and Michael J. Nelson , spoofed Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey on December 17, 2006 (this time with just Nelson himself riffing). In 2022, an agreement between Warner Bros. and NBCUniversal (which co-own Studio Distribution Services, LLC)

6461-415: The talent. Marketing is also a major factor. All films, as a tradition, are often marketed around the image and the performance of the actors; with an option of marketing the behind the scenes crew such as the directors and screenwriters. Unlike many other businesses, a production company does not rely on an ongoing revenue stream , they operate on ongoing investments; this often requires a parent company or

6552-615: The term production team typically refers to a group of individuals filling the role of " record producer " usually reserved for one individual. Some examples of musical production teams include Matmos and D-Influence . The aforementioned publishing conglomerates distribute said creative works, but it is not uncommon for production companies to act as a publication . For example, The Walt Disney Company and Nintendo act as publisher for Walt Disney Animation Studios and Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development respectively. Self-publishing , in this case, should not be confused with

6643-458: The term refers to all individuals responsible for the technical aspects of creating a particular product, regardless of where in the process their expertise is required, or how long they are involved in the project. For example, in a theatrical performance, the production team has not only the running crew , but also the theatrical producer , designers , and theatrical direction . The production company may be directly responsible for fundraising

6734-412: The villainous Burgermeister Meisterburger, voiced by Paul Frees . Kringle later marries the town's schoolteacher, Miss Jessica, voiced by Robie Lester . Kizo Nagashima, the associate director of Rankin/Bass' previous productions, was credited as a production supervisor. In 1971, Rankin/Bass produced their first Easter television special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail , with the voices of Danny Kaye as

6825-511: The voice of Ethel Merman as Lilly Loraine, the ringmistress of a seaside circus , and Rooney again returning as Santa. The special features cameos by characters from several other Rankin/Bass holiday specials, including Big Ben the Clockwork Whale from Rudolph's Shiny New Year and Jack Frost from Frosty's Winter Wonderland . Later that year, Jack appeared in his own special, Jack Frost . Narrated by Buddy Hackett , it tells

6916-468: The voice of Professor Hinkle, a greedy magician who tries to steal away the magic hat that brought Frosty to life to become a billionaire. Mushi Production , an animation studio founded in 1961 and formerly led by the manga artist Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy , Kimba the White Lion and Ambassador Magma ), handled the animation for the special with supervision by Yusaku "Steve" Nakagawa,

7007-661: The wake of Topcraft's death, others formed another studio: Pacific Animation Corporation , which continued working on Rankin/Bass' titles until it was bought by Disney in 1988. In addition to the "name" talent that provided the narration for the specials, Rankin/Bass had its own company of voice actors. For the studio's early work, this group was based in Toronto , Ontario where recording was supervised by veteran CBC announcer Bernard Cowan . The Canadian group included actors such as Paul Soles , Larry D. Mann , and Carl Banas . Maury Laws served as musical director for almost all of

7098-712: Was The Cricket on the Hearth in 1967, with two live-action announcements by Danny Thomas , continuity and character designs by Don Duga and Paul Coker , and animation by Jiro Yanase's TCJ , followed by the 1968 Thanksgiving special The Mouse on the Mayflower , told by Tennessee Ernie Ford and animated by Kenzo Masaoka , Sanae Yamamoto, and Yasuji Murata's Toei Animation . Paul Coker Jr. would go on to design characters and production for more than 40 Rankin-Bass specials and episodes. Many of their other specials, like Rudolph , were based on popular Christmas songs. In 1968,

7189-428: Was Ted Wolf 's ThunderCats in 1985, an action-adventure series based on his related line of toys. It was followed by two similar TV shows about humanoid animals, SilverHawks in 1986, and TigerSharks , as part of the series The Comic Strip in 1987. Each of those four series was mainly animated by former Topcraft employees' Pacific Animation Corporation, with production management by Masaki Iizuka, just before

7280-471: Was 1975's The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow , featuring the voice of Angela Lansbury (who also starred in the 1982 adaptation of The Last Unicorn ) as the narrating and singing nun, Sister Theresa, and Irving Berlin 's Christmas classic " White Christmas ". Their final stop-motion style Christmas story was The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus , taken from

7371-550: Was also involved in this special as a continuity designer. In 1977, Fred Astaire returned as S. D. Kluger in The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town , telling the tale of the Easter Bunny 's origins. From there, Rankin/Bass used Masaki Iizuka as an associate producer, and Akikazu Kono as an "Animagic" supervisor. Back in 1973, Iizuka was the production assistant of Marco —a live-action musical film based on

7462-428: Was caught exceeding its own 70-hour monthly maximum overtime limit. In December Matsuri Takahashi, a University of Tokyo graduate and 24-year-old female employee of Dentsu, committed suicide. The Japanese government recognized her suicide as karoshi , a Japanese term for death from overworking. In July 2017, the company was charged by Japanese authorities for the death of Takahashi. No individuals were charged, only

7553-531: Was credited for his supervision as "Tad Mochinaga". Rankin/Bass' traditional animation output was done by several animation studios such as Toei Animation , Eiken (formerly known as TCJ), Dentsu , Mushi Production , and especially Topcraft , which was formed on February 1, 1972, by Toei animator Toru Hara (who was credited as an animation supervisor in some of Rankin/Bass' specials). While several of Topcraft's staff, including Hara and industry legends such as Hayao Miyazaki , would go on to form Studio Ghibli in

7644-487: Was founded in New York City by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass on September 14, 1960, as Videocraft International, Ltd. The majority of Rankin/Bass' work, including all of their "Animagic" stop-motion productions (which they were well known for), were created in Tokyo, Japan. Throughout the 1960s, the Animagic productions were headed by Japanese stop-motion animator Tadahito Mochinaga at his studio, MOM Production. He

7735-664: Was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2001. During the initial public offering of Dentsu, in December 2001, a trader at UBS Warburg , the Swiss investment bank, sent an order to sell 610,000 shares in this company at ¥6 each, while he intended to sell 16 shares at ¥600,000. The bank lost £71 million. Dentsu's sales are more than double its nearest competitor, Hakuhodo or ADK , in the Japanese market, thanks to

7826-448: Was made to release The Complete Rankin-Bass Christmas Collection as a nine-disc DVD box set with a 24-page booklet and special features. ( Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is the publisher of record for the set.) The box set features eighteen specials, comprising every stand-alone, Rankin-Bass produced Christmas special aside from Santa, Baby! A Blu-ray version of the set was released in 2023. Production company Generally

7917-489: Was relaunched once again as an independent production company and produced another Christmas special for television, The Year Without a Santa Claus , featuring Shirley Booth , voicing narrator Mrs. Claus; Mickey Rooney, returning as the voice of Santa Claus; and supporting characters Snow Miser (voiced by Dick Shawn ) and Heat Miser (voiced by George S. Irving ). It was the first Rankin/Bass "Animagic" production on which Akikazu Kono and puppet maker Ichiro Komuro share in

8008-677: Was responsible for the overseas animation production of the special with the background art provided by Atelier BWCA and the See Throu Studio, some of the animation services were done at Steven Hahn's Hanho Heung-Up in Seoul, South Korea. Santa, Baby! turned out to be the final Rankin/Bass-produced special; the Rankin/Bass partnership was officially dissolved shortly after, with most of its remaining assets acquired by Warner Bros. Entertainment . Currently, Rankin/Bass' pre-September 1974 library (including works from Videocraft International)

8099-649: Was restructured at the end of 2010 under new management and currently struck deals with some of the Big Six studios (most notably the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group and Warner Bros. ); Miramax , which was downsized by former owner Disney into a smaller division. Because a production company is only operational when a production is being produced and most of the talent and crew are freelancers , many production companies are only required to hire management staff that helps to oversee

8190-731: Was selling 80.1% of its ownership in Geneon to NBCUniversal 's Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPI), who planned to merge the company with its Universal Pictures Japan division to form a new company. The merger closed on February 1, 2009. On 12 July 2012, Dentsu agreed to acquire British-based Aegis Group plc in a cash deal worth $ 4.9 billion. The deal was completed in March 2013. Dentsu Aegis Network , managed all Aegis Media work and non-Japanese Dentsu operations worldwide. In September 2020 Dentsu Group Inc. announced that its international business Dentsu Aegis Network will operate under

8281-840: Was the #1 independent media agency in LATAM owner of iColic, a creative agency which helped GlobalMind on the endeavour of conquering Latin America. Andy Berman and Marcelo Montefiore were the co-CEOs of The agency until they sold it to Dentsu. Dentsu Inc. categorises project markets in four different parts: National advertisement market; Advertisement-related market; New market; Foreign market (in addition to Dentsu Aegis Network, its overseas subsidiary, which operates in over 120 countries). National advertisement market consists of media projects. Advertisement related projects consist of marketing services. New market consists of sport events advertisement. Foreign market contains above mentioned three categories in

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