Jun 16, 2021

Fred Seibert's Fred films and China's Dezerlin Launch Shorts Incubator for Chinese Talent

Fred Seibert is back to doing what he loves best: launching an animated shorts incubator. Through his new company Fredfilms, the veteran producer and executive has teamed up with China's Dezerlin Entertainment to found Hot Pot! Cartoons, a program that will aim to identify Chinese animation talent.

Hot Pot! Cartoons will work with “the most innovative and imaginative” Chinese creators from animation, comics, games, and theater to develop animated shorts for global distribution. U.S.-based Fredfilms and Qingdao-headquartered Dezerlin, an animation IP development house, will supervise the creation of the films.

The program is executive-produced by Seibert and Dezerlin's Lin Zhang, along with Brian J. Murphy in L.A. and Mark Byers in China. Its creative offices will be based in a newly formed subsidiary of Dezerlin's in Zibo, China.

At Hanna-Barbera, which he joined as president in 1992, and later at his own Frederator Studios, Seibert created influential incubator programs for the likes of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. They spawned many hit series, including Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Codename: Kids Next Door, Adventure Time, The Fairly Oddparents, Fanboy & Chum Chum, and My Life as a Teenage Robot.

After leaving Frederator last year, Seibert announced Fredfilms in February. The company, which will develop long- and short-form animated series for linear tv and streaming, has struck a first-look deal with VIS Kids, ViacomCBS Networks International's new children's content division.