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Rough Draft Studios, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Hand-drawn animation Television production
Founded	March 20, 1991; 33 years ago (1991-03-20) in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Founder	Gregg Vanzo Nikki Vanzo
Headquarters	615 Allen Avenue Glendale, California 91201, U.S.
Key people	Gregg Vanzo (President) Scott Vanzo (CTO) Claudia Katz (EVP) Peter Avanzino (Director) Dwayne Carey-Hill (Director) Edmund Fong (Director) Crystal Chesney-Thompson (Director)
Divisions	Rough Draft Korea Rough Draft Feature Animation
Website	roughdraftstudios.com

Rough Draft Studios, Inc. is an American animation production studio based in Glendale, California, with a second studio in Glendale and its sister studio Rough Draft Korea located in Seoul, South Korea. The studio was founded in Van Nuys, Los Angeles by Gregg Vanzo in 1991.

Rough Draft Studios and its divisions have produced specials, commercials and direct-to-video work for companies such as Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, 20th Television Animation, MTV Animation, Film Roman, Disney Television Animation and Nickelodeon Animation Studio.

Founding

Rough Draft Studios was founded in a Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California garage by Gregg and Nikki Vanzo. While working on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Nikki approached John Kricfalusi, creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, about taking the animation to Korea. Nikki founded and runs Rough Draft Korea.

Growth in business

After working on The Ren & Stimpy Show, many other shows requested the assistance of Rough Draft Korea in animation and ink & paint. In 1992, Rough Draft Studios had produced animation for its first feature film, FernGully: The Last Rainforest. In the same year, the studio began producing animation for The Simpsons and then for Beavis and Butt-Head in 1993. Also in 1993, Gregg's brother Scott Vanzo was brought on board. Rough Draft Korea quickly built a strong portfolio in the animation business with shows like their first series produced outside of South Korea The Maxx in 1995, which was nominated for an Annie Award. Claudia Katz, who had joined Rough Draft Studios in 1994 to produce The Maxx, and Rich Moore, joining in 1995 after having worked with Gregg on The Simpsons, completed the core of a Rough Draft Studios which would help "drive the cartoon boom of the late ‘90s". It was also in 1995 that Rough Draft Studios moved to Glendale, California, where they enjoyed further success.

Technology

Rough Draft Studios is known for its blending of 2-D with computer animation, or non-photorealistic rendering which it first used on The Maxx and further utilized with Matt Groening's projects like Futurama, The Simpsons Movie, a few episodes of The Simpsons after the film and Disenchantment.

Filmography

Rough Draft Studios

Most projects produced by Rough Draft Studios, Inc. in Glendale, California are also animated overseas by Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. in Seoul, South Korea.

TV series

Films/specials

Other

• The Simpsons - "Deep, Deep Trouble" music video (overseas animation provided by Anivision)
• MADtv - Spy vs. Spy shorts
• 2003 Wendy's "Go Wild" and Sprint “Duck Naked” commercials starring the Looney Tunes characters, promoting Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• 59th Primetime Emmy Awards - Brian and Stewie Griffin opening number
• Gravity Falls - "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls" (ShackTron CG animation)
• Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow
• DuckTales - "Moonvasion!" (additional animation)

Rough Draft Korea

Rough Draft Korea, RDS' sister studio based in Seoul, South Korea, has produced animation for the following series, features and specials:

TV series

Films/specials

Notes

1. ^ Credited as 30th Century Fox Television and 30th Television Animation

References

1. "Studio Info". Rough Draft Studios. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
2. Spoke (2011-05-26). "Rough Draft Studios, Glendale, CA". Spoke. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
3. "ROUGH DRAFT KOREA CO., LTD. (82-2-571-4871) | South Korea Business Database". Kor.bizdirlib.com. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
4. ^ Loos, Ted (November 10, 2002). "Commuting the Pacific, Unseating 'The Simpsons'". The New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
5. "Legacy: 23rd Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (1995)". International Animated Film Society. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
6. Driver, Dustin. "Rough Draft Studios: Drawing Inspiration". Apple. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
7. Milligan, Mercedes (February 9, 2022). "Futurama Has a Bright Future with New Episodes on Hulu". Animation Magazine. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
8. ^ "Studio Info". Rough Draft Studios. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
9. Ramos, Dino-Ray (2018-05-23). "Netflix Sets 'Disenchantment' Premiere Date, Unveils First Look At Matt Groening Animated Series". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
10. "Studio Info - Rough Draft Studios".
11. "Adult Swim's Space-Age Heroes Return in 'King Star King!/!/!' & 'Ballmastrz: Rubicon'". 29 November 2022.
12. "Megna Co-productions Database (over 1000 listed titles!!)". Digilander.libero.it. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
13. Meyer, George (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer the Heretic" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
14. Furniss, Maureen (1999). Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics (Reprint ed.). London: John Libbey. ISBN 9781864620399. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
15. @VincentWaller72 (29 January 2014). "@Alphacino1018 It will be animated by..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.

External links

• Rough Draft Studios official website
• Rough Draft Korea official website (in Korean)

• Rough Draft Studios
• 1991 establishments in California
• American companies established in 1991
• American animation studios
• Companies based in Glendale, California
• Companies based in Seoul
• Entertainment companies of South Korea
• Entertainment companies of the United States
• Mass media companies established in 1991
• Privately held companies based in California
• South Korean animation studios