Current logo used from August 2016 onwards
Jam Filled Toronto (formerly known as Starz Animation Toronto and known as Arc Productions during their time on Thomas and Friends) is a CGI and visual effects company based in Toronto, Canada who animated the CGI Series of Thomas & Friends from the seventeenth season onwards. They took over from Nitrogen Studios.
On 1 August 2016, Arc announced that they were filing for bankruptcy and locked out over 500 employees. Following their closure, Jam Filled Entertainment acquired the business and hired most of Arc's former employees, and the business reopened as "Jam Filled Toronto" on 22 August 2016.
Staff
Arc Productions
David Baas directed the seventeenth season; David Stoten directed the first ten episodes of the eighteenth season and Don Spencer directed its remainder and The Adventure Begins. Robert Anderson produced the seventeenth season and the first half of the eighteenth season, with Brian Lynch taking over as producer from the second half of the eighteenth season. King of the Railway and Tale of the Brave were directed by Rob Silvestri and produced by Brian Lynch, the latter being co-produced with Robert Anderson. Jennifer Hill produced The Adventure Begins and the nineteenth season. Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure was produced by Jennfier Hill and directed by David Stoten. Dianna Basso took over for Don Spencer as director and co-directed the nineteenth season with him and David Stoten. The twentieth season was directed by Dianna Basso and produced by Robert Anderson and Tracy Blagdon with Lynda Craigmyle and Jane Sobol acting as supervising producers. The Great Race was directed by David Stoten and produced by Robert Anderson with Lynda Craigmyle and Jane Sobal acting as supervising producers. Kallan Kagan was an executive producer from the seventeenth season to The Great Race for Arc. Marianne Culbert was an executive producer for The Great Race.
Stephen Gallop, Jeff Young and Steven Hecht formerly served as executive producers for Arc.
Jam Filled
Tracy Blagdon and Robert Anderson remained and are still producers.
David Stoten and Dianna Basso are still directors. Dianna Basso solely directs the television episodes while David Stoten solely directs the specials.
Kyle MacDougall, Phil LaFrance and Jamie LeClarie (the executive team at Jam Filled) took over as exective producers for the twentieth season onwards.
Other works
Arc has provided the animation for the films "Gnomeo & Juliet" and "Everyone's Hero" and visual effects for films like "Dolphin Tale". The company also helped Big Idea with animating the episodes of VeggieTales from 2004 through 2007, their second feature film "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie", and the remaining episodes of "3-2-1 Penguins!" prior to the bankruptcy. They also provided the animation for "9", directed by Shane Acker who was to direct The Adventures of Thomas. They also worked on "Elena of Avalor".
Trivia
- When Nitrogen passed on their sets to Arc, some were missing information needed for production. This meant that some sets had to be completely rebuilt based on pictures to make them look identical to their Nitrogen counterparts. The Sodor Search and Rescue Centre is one of these sets.
Gallery
