Retirement isn’t in the cards just yet for Andy Heyward, chief executive of Kartoon Studios Inc.
“I am going to continue making children’s animated programming and try to do something positive for the future generations of kids,” said Heyward, 76, who founded his animation studio in 2009.
Heyward is an animation veteran with over four decades of experience.
The UCLA graduate got his start at Hanna-Barbera Productions Inc. where he worked on classic-animated series like “Scooby Doo” and “Smurfs.” He co-created his most well-known character, Inspector Gadget, in 1982 while working for DIC Entertainment in France.
Upon his return to the United States, Heyward acquired DIC and relocated his company to Burbank. He later sold DIC to The Walt Disney Co. until he repurchased the company in 2000 with financial assistance from Bain Capital and CCMP Capital Advisors LP. He then sold DIC to Cookie Jar Group in 2008.
In 2009, he founded A Squared Entertainment and merged it with Genius Brands in 2013, renamed as Kartoon Studios in 2023.
Heyward collaborated with Warren Buffett in 2013 on a television series and book, “Secret Millionaires Club,” which taught financial literacy for children. In 2016, he published “Go Go, Gadget: The Creation of Inspector Gadget.”
“Inspector Gadget has been a good luck charm for me,” Heyward said.
Heyward sat down with the Business Journal to discuss his career, the future of streaming and his studio, and getting chewed out by Tom Cruise’s agent.
You got your start working for Hanna-Barbera. What was that like?
I had the privilege to learn my craft sitting at the feet of Joseph Barbera, one of the greatest showmen of all time. The first shows I worked on were “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!”, “The Smurfs” and “The Flintstones.” Joe would come into my office every day and he would dictate the stories to me. Then he’d come back on Friday and say, ‘Okay, tell me the story.’ And I would tell him exactly what he told me. He’d say, ‘That’s awful. I’d toss that script out the window, but it might hit someone with talent.’ Little by little he would correct it, and I would learn how to create gags and to stage the characters correctly. It was a wonderful experience. Hanna-Barbera was the gold standard in those days.
You are credited with co-creating Inspector Gadget. How did that come about?
I had just moved to Paris. I spoke French and I had the opportunity to go work with a company in France that had a small animation studio mostly doing industrial films and commercials but wanted to get into television storytelling. They asked me to come up with some original ideas. At Hanna-Barbera, I had just recently worked on a cartoon called “Dynomutt, Dog Wonder.” I was kind of inspired by that a little bit. A little bit of Inspector Clouseau. A little bit of “The Six Million Dollar Man.” I had this idea, and I developed it in Paris and eventually the company grew, and I came back to the U.S. The company was called DIC.
How were you able to get the show distributed in the U.S.?
We were able to sell at the time into a very novel format called first-run syndication. Previously, all children’s television was on Saturday mornings. This was the first time that independent stations were getting into children’s content; so, Monday through Friday in first-run syndication, which is what I did with “Inspector Gadget,” and we were fortunate that it took off. People still ask me about “Inspector Gadget.” I think it is the one that they recognize the most, but I’ve also got “Dennis the Menace,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” “G.I. Joe,” “Carmen Sandiego,” “Super Mario Bros.,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Where’s Waldo” and “Madeline.” All kinds of stuff.
Why did you start Kartoon Studios?
I spent a lot of time thinking about how children’s media has evolved. Kids today get their media in many ways, and in so many new and emerging technologies and platforms. We needed to be mindful that our company is based on how we are going to deliver content to kids in today’s new world. We really needed to step back and think about how kids are getting media and create a company that can responsibly deliver good positive entertainment for kids.
Blended with that is what I call content-driven purpose. Every show we do, I try to have something in it that kids will get something from. (For instance,) we did a show with Warren Buffet (from 2011 to 2014) that taught financial literacy, called “The Secret Millionaires Club.” We did a show (in 2015) called “Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab” where a bunch of young kids learn about science. Now, we are about to do Winnie-the-Pooh, based on the original books by A.A. Milne. Winnie the Pooh is what I call an oasis of goodness. It’s about kindness, family, friendship, love, loyalty and nature. It has so many positive values and what I call a gentle wisdom.
What are some of the company’s biggest initiatives or projects other than Winnie the Pooh?
Well, Winnie the Pooh is huge. The other one that I would call a tentpole for us is Stan Lee. Stan was a mentor of mine and I had the privilege to work with him for many years before he passed away (in 2018). We became the steward of all Stan’s intellectual property, post-Marvel Comics, plus, his personal name, his physical likeness, his signature and his voice. And the consumer products that we bring to market based on Stan, which we are extremely protective of and do it with great responsibility.
What’s next for Kartoon Studios?
Everything is humming. We have invested heavily in infrastructure, in content and catalogue. It has been very costly. We are in the place now this year that we expect to turn a profit and to grow quite dramatically. We are excited about that. Our stock price, we think, is quite undervalued. We think the possibility is there for it to grow quite rapidly and to unlock shareholder value in return to our shareholders.
How has streaming impacted the creation and distribution of animated content?
I think it has impacted everything of all content. When I started in the business, children’s animated content was delivered across Saturday morning networks. There were three clients – ABC, NBC and CBS.
Soon after that you had Fox and WB Kids and then you had the 24-hour kids cable networks, which were Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Now you have streaming, where all the big studios and big communications companies have their own streaming services.
We have our own streaming service, and I am very proud of it, called Kartoon Channel. And if you go into the Apple app store, you will be surprised to see Kartoon Channel is ranked number one by users ahead of Netflix, Disney+, Max, PBS Kids, and Nickelodeon. Our viewers appreciate that we are offering them quality content in a very safe place. Safety is very important to us. I have six kids myself. So, I’m very mindful of the responsibility of serving this young audience.
Of all the shows you have been involved with, what stands out as a favorite?
Many of them have things that I am proud of. I certainly am proud of having produced the only animated program ever on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (“Our Friend, Martin” from 1999). Which I did with the King family. Oprah Winfrey played the voice of Coretta King (his wife). Dr. King was played by his son, Dexter. And it had many celebrities from John Travolta to Samuel L. Jackson.
I am very proud of a show we did (in 2002), called “Liberty’s Kids” and we did the entire story of the American Revolution as told by three kids who are apprentices in Benjamin Franklin’s print shop. It had Michael Douglas, Dustin Hoffman, Sylvester Stallone, and Whoopi Goldberg, my goodness, Ben Stiller. There were all kinds of talented people.
How did you get celebrities involved in your shows?
I think the content has to be of merit, and it is of merit then people will want to be a part of it. When we did “Liberty’s Kids” originally, we didn’t have any Hollywood celebrities at all. Then we got Walter Conkrite who wanted to be the voice of Benjamin Franklin. Then when we went and told the various talent agents Walter Conkrite is Benjamin Franklin, (and) wow. Sylvester Stallone said, ‘I could be Paul Revere’ and he was.
We offered the voice of George Washington to Dustin Hoffman but he turned it down. He said he’d rather be Benedict Arnold. I said, ‘Benedict Arnold? George Washington is the father of our country, what a great role that is.’ He said, ‘Yeah but from an actor’s point of view Benedict Arnold is more interesting.’
When we announced we were doing “Captain Planet” we got a random call to our talent office one day from a gentleman purporting to be Tom Cruise. He said, ‘I read in Variety that you are doing this show to teach kids about the planet and the importance of saving our planet and I’d like to play the part of Captain Planet.’ Of course, we didn’t think it was Tom Cruise. We said, ‘Oh that’s wonderful, sir. Why don’t you have your agent submit your voice tape for us and we’ll take a look.’ … Well, he got angry and hung up.
An hour later we got a call from Paula Wagner, who was his agent at Creative Artists Agency, and she said, ‘What is wrong with you idiots? Don’t you understand that Tom Cruise is the biggest star in the world, and he is calling you to be in your stupid cartoon.’ We had no idea it was really him. Once we had Tom Cruise then you know everybody wants to be part of it.
