Staffing Up

Original Force, a growing studio in Culver City, does some hiring.

... Jim Gaffigan and comedy legend Carl Reiner have joined the voice cast of Original Force Animation’s first animated feature “Duck Duck Goose,” while Mark Isham has come on to compose the score, it was announced Tuesday by the company’s co-presidents Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox. ...

“Duck Duck Goose” is the first of three feature animated films currently in production at Original Force Animation, one of China’s most prominent digital animation studios. The company opened a Los Angeles-based production and development office in 2015, led by Finkelman Cox and Rabins. ... The company has nearly 1,000 employees across its Los Angeles, Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Chengdu offices. Chinese digital-entertainment giant Tencent is a strategic investor in Original Force and together, they’re developing a movie based on the game “QQ Speed.”

There are a number of Chinese animation companies, both larger and smaller, dropping anchors in the artist talent pools of Southern California.

Imagi, the Hong Kong-based animation studio, had a sizable presence in Sherman Oaks that lasted until the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Original Force appears to be ramping up production in its Los Angeles area studio. Besides voice actors and composers for its first production, we understand that it will continue to hire development artists.

As we hear more, we will pass same along.