Frederator Studios

Frederator Studios is an American animation television production studio founded by Fred Seibert in January 1997. It is a division of Frederator Networks, Inc., itself a part of Kartoon Studios' Canadian holding company Wow Unlimited Media. The studio's slogan is "Original Cartoons since 1998."

Frederator and Seibert have been credited with producing various, critically-acclaimed media projects, predominantly in animation suitable for general audiences. The studio has offices in New York City and Burbank, California.

In 2016, Frederator was acquired by Canadian animation studio Rainmaker, and merged into Wow! Unlimited Media where Seibert was Chief Creator Officer; he remained at the company until August 2020. After departing, he founded a successor company, FredFilms, in February 2021.

Before Frederator, in 1983, Fred Seibert founded Fred/Alan, Inc. in New York City with his college friend Alan Goodman; in 1988, Fred/Alan partnered with Albie Hecht in Chauncey Street Productions to produce television programs for Nickelodeon, MTV, A&E, and CBS. The Fred/Alan firm closed down in 1992.

Seibert became the president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in 1992, and created What a Cartoon!, a showcase consisting of 48 shorts that aired on Cartoon Network. In 1996, when Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting (owner of Hanna-Barbera), he left the studio.

Frederator Incorporated was formed on January 6, 1997 (its first cartoons were released in 1998), and was housed at a temporary location of the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in North Hollywood, California. Frederator's debut production was the cartoon short incubator, a television series called Oh Yeah! Cartoons, which later spun off three series: The Fairly OddParents (its first official series), as well ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot, in addition to 51 original short cartoons from creators including Butch Hartman, Rob Renzetti, Tim Biskup, Larry Huber, Pat Ventura, Seth MacFarlane, and Carlos Ramos. Oh Yeah! Cartoons was based on Seibert's What a Cartoon! series of shorts from Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and Cartoon Network, which brought Hanna-Barbera its first hit series in 10 years, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Frederator has produced a total of 16 television series, and over 200 miniseries, including webisodes. As of 2013^[update], the company was in a producing partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and YouTube.

In 2002, Frederator created a joint venture for preschoolers named Bolder Media with producer Susan Miller's Mixed Media Group, Inc. They produced their first preschool series created by Bob Boyle for Nick Jr., Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!.

Frederator Studios created a television series and competition The Nicktoons Film Festival (now known as the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival) for the Nicktoons Network, which debuted October 24, 2004.