Michael Hirsh (born April 7, 1948) is a Belgian-born Canadian animation producer, TV executive, entrepreneur, and author. He has been attributed to building from the ground up the Canadian animation industry and, more specifically, award-winning children's programming since the 1980s. He co-founded
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...
, a Canadian based animation and entertainment studio in 1971 with partners
Patrick Loubert and
Clive A. Smith producing numerous cartoons that established Nelvana as a leader in the industry including ''
Little Bear'', ''
Franklin'', ''
Babar'', ''
Max & Ruby'', ''
The Magic School Bus'', ''
Care Bears
Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...
'', ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'', ''
Inspector Gadget
''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series '' Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated ...
'', ''
Droids'' and ''
Ewoks'', among many, many others. After
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...
's acquisition of Nelvana, Hirsh became the CEO of
Cookie Jar Group, which created numerous highly popular children's shows, among them ''
Arthur
Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur.
A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...
'', ''
Johnny Test
''Johnny Test'' is an animated television series created by Scott Fellows, originally produced in the United States by Warner Bros. Animation and later produced in Canada by Cookie Jar Group, Cookie Jar Entertainment. It premiered on Kids' WB ...
'', and ''
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry shortcake may refer to:
* Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries
* Strawberry Shortcake, a cartoon character and franchise created by American Greetings
** Strawberry Shortcake (TV series), ''Strawberry Sho ...
''. When Cookie Jar was acquired by DHX Media (now
WildBrain
WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production company, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of Children's tel ...
) Hirsh became the Executive Chairman of the company, the largest supplier of kids programming to online streaming services as well as a leader in production and licensing and merchandising for children. Three years after the acquisition by DHX Media, Hirsh left the company to serve as CEO and chairman of
WOW! Unlimited Media from 2015 to December 2023.
Personal life
Hirsh was born in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. At the age of three his family emigrated to
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. Both of his parents were
Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
survivors, his mother hidden by nuns and his father was liberated on a Death March from a concentration camp.
At 13 Hirsh's family moved to New York where he attended the
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a State school, public Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in the Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science ...
. He started making experimental films after cutting high school classes to watch American underground cinema. Hirsh continued his studies at
Antioch College
Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...
in
Yellow Springs, Ohio
Yellow Springs is a Village (Ohio), village in northern Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,697 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Dayton, Dayton metropolitan area and is home to Antioch ...
where he pursued filmmaking. Hirsh transferred to
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
's
Glendon College in the fall of 1966 where he met his future business partners Jack Christie and
Patrick Loubert.
Career
Early career
Hirsh's first feature film co-directed and co-produced with Jack Christie,
''Voulez Vous Coucher Avec God?'' was inspired by political turmoil and took over six years to make. The satirical film shed light on topics such as fundamentalist religion, politics, racism, and sexism.
Hirsh, working with animator Marc Chinoy and college friends Patrick Loubert, Jack Christie, and Peter Dewdney made five alphabet inspired animated shorts for ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
'', learning the basics of animation as they went along.
One episode of ''
Drop-In'' was based on the history of the
Canadian Whites, inspiring Hirsh to learn more about the comics published during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Hirsh contacted John Ezrin, the most successful publisher of the Canadian Whites at the time. Tired of storing them, Ezrin sold the comics and rights to Hirsh and Loubert for $3,500.
Nelvana
In 1971, Hirsh, Loubert and Clive A. Smith found
Nelvana Limited, a new company with a focus on animation and a goal of creating a Canadian studio. The company got its name from Canadian female comic book hero ''
Nelvana of the Northern Lights
Nelvana of the Northern Lights is a Canadian comic book character and the first Canadian national superhero, debuting in Hillborough Studios' ''Triumph-Adventure Comics'' #1 (August 1941). She is also Superhero#Growth in diversity, one of the firs ...
'', one of the comic books they acquired from John Ezrin known as the Canadian Whites.
In 1977, Nelvana released ''
A Cosmic Christmas'', an animated sci-fi Christmas television special distributed in the U.S. and Canada that caught the attention of
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
who watched the special and contacted Nelvana while they were working on ''
The Devil and Daniel Mouse''.
Lucas hired Nelvana to help produce a cartoon for the ''
Star Wars Holiday Special'' that was broadcast on CBS on November 17, 1978. The cartoon introduced
Boba Fett, the iconic Star Wars character. The cartoon became available to watch again in 2021 on
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
.
Later, Nelvana partnered with
LucasFilm
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...
and expanded the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' franchise once again with ''
Star Wars: Droids'' featuring the continuing adventures of
R2-D2
R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date, including every film in the " Skywalker Saga", which inclu ...
and
C-3PO
C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a protocol droid (Star Wars), droid designed to assist in etiquette and translation, and is fluent in over six million forms of communication. The chara ...
and
''Ewoks'''','' two Saturday morning series.
In 1983, Nelvana released its first animated movie ''
Rock & Rule
''Rock & Rule'' (known as ''Ring of Power'' outside North America) is a 1983 Canadian animated musical science fantasy film featuring the voices of Don Francks, Greg Salata, and Susan Roman. It was produced by Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loub ...
'' featuring original music by
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...
, Lou Reed,
Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...
,
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...
and
Earth, Wind and Fire. The movie was distributed by
MGM/UA and
Orion.
In 1987 Hirsh acquired the rights for
''Babar'' from The Clifford Ross Company and produced 65 half hours for
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
,
CBC and broadcasters around the world. The series was produced with
Ellipse
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focus (geometry), focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special ty ...
and led to the joint venture studio Le Studio Ellipse. Together with Ross, Nelvana licensed merchandising for ''Babar'' and celebrated the event with a party that featured an elephant on the mezzanine floor at
FAO Schwartz in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
In 1988, Nelvana and
Scholastic Corporation
Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
produced a video series of
The Video Adventures of Clifford the Big Red Dog based on the 1962 book. The company's fourth live-action series, ''
T. and T.'', premiered in 1988 on Canada's
Global
Global may refer to:
General
*Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies
*Earth, the third planet from the Sun
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
network. The show starred
Mr. T of
''The'' ''A-Team'' fame, playing a former boxer named T.S. Turner. The station was syndicated in the US. Nelvana faced bankruptcy when the show's original U.S. distributor,
Qintex Entertainment (formerly Hal Roach Studios) was going out of business. In six weeks, they were saved when they found a replacement for their us distribution.
Hirsh specialized in working with publishers and authors to adapt their books including
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Send ...
's
''Little Bear'',
Joanna Cole's
''The Magic School Bus'', ''
Franklin the Turtle,''
''The Neverending Story'', ''
Pippi Longstocking'',
''Cadillacs and Dinosaurs'', ''
Timothy Goes to School
''Timothy Goes to School'' is a preschool children's animated television series based on books by Rosemary Wells, but is titled after the book of the same name. The series is a co-production with Nelvana Limited and Animation Services (Hong Kon ...
'', ''Miss Spider's Tea Party,'' ''
Max & Ruby'',
''The Berenstain Bears'', ''
George Shrinks'' and the British comic strip ''
Rupert Bear''. Nelvana had self-made successes of its own during the 1990s, such as ''
Eek! The Cat'', ''
Dog City
''Dog City'' is an animated television series that was produced by Nelvana Limited and Jim Henson Productions in association with Channel 4 and Global Television Network. The series ran for three seasons, airing on Fox Kids from September 26, 1 ...
'' (with
The Jim Henson Company) and ''
Ned's Newt''. Working with great comedians Nelvana produced the animated versions of
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952), also known mononymously as Roseanne, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (19 ...
's ''
Little Rosey'' and
Jim Carrey's ''
Ace Ventura Pet Detective.''
In 1994, Nelvana went public on the
Toronto Stock Exchange
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the List of stock exchanges, 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in th ...
(TSX) Working with
RBC's Bruce Rothney and George Dembroski. As a public company Nelvana was able to raise enough funding to dramatically increase the production levels Nelvana could take on. It also financed the acquisitions of
Kids Can Press,
Windlight Studio, and
Klutz.
The company's first two computer-animated shows,
''Donkey Kong Country'' and ''
Rolie Polie Olie'' premiered on Disney Channel in 1998. Rollie Pollie Ollie went on to win many awards, including seven
Emmy Awards
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
.
In 1998, Nelvana entered into an agreement with U.S. network
CBS to program a new Saturday morning animation block for the 1998-99 television season, which would be branded as
CBS Kidshow. The block would feature six new series based on children's book properties, and all were to comply with the U.S. governments
educational programming guidelines. In April 1998, Nelvana entered into an agreement with
ITV franchise
Scottish Television to co-produce these new series and hold distribution rights to them in the United Kingdom. In August 1998, Nelvana acquired
Kids Can Press, publishers of the
''Franklin'' and
''Elliot Moose'' children's books upon which the
''Franklin'' and
''Elliot Moose'' were based. This turned them into an "integrated company" in which Kids Can's subsequent publications would begin with Nelvana's franchising of those works.
In 1999, Nelvana agreed to produce the
PBS stations first Saturday morning block of cartoons which would launch fall of 2000. The programs that formed the ''
PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch'' were all based on children's books:
''Corduroy'' (by
Don Freeman),
''Elliot Moose'' (by
Andrea Beck), ''
Timothy Goes to School
''Timothy Goes to School'' is a preschool children's animated television series based on books by Rosemary Wells, but is titled after the book of the same name. The series is a co-production with Nelvana Limited and Animation Services (Hong Kon ...
'' (by
Rosemary Wells),
''Seven Little Monsters'' (by
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Send ...
), ''
George Shrinks'' (by
William Joyce
William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born Fascism, fascist and Propaganda of Nazi Germany, Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the World War II, Second World War. After moving from ...
), and ''
Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse'' (by
Betty and
Michael Paraskevas). In addition, Nelvana produced two Monday to Friday series for the PBS network:
William Joyce's ''
George Shrinks'' and
Jan and Stan's ''Berenstain Bears''.
By the end of the 90's, Nelvana was the leading independent animation company in North America with more shows on US TV than any other network. The company also dominated the global market through that same period.
Corus Sale
In September 2000,
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...
bought Nelvana for $544 million. The company saw the purchase as being a complement to its children's television networks, including
YTV and
Treehouse Corus already owned 6 percent of Nelvana, and took on the company's $75 million debt.
While at Corus, Hirsh worked on
''Beyblade'', Nelvana's biggest hit during his time. Broadcast on YTV and
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
, the Japanese cartoon series based on a line of spinning-top toys generated billions of dollars of toy sales from a toy deal with
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...
that Nelvana negotiated.
Hirsh worked on ''
Max & Ruby'', based on books by
Rosemary Wells, a preschool series about brother and sister bunnies. Two years after the sale, Hirsh left Nelvana.
Cookie Jar Group
After winning an auction in 2004, Hirsh and former Nelvana President Toper Taylor working with Toronto Dominion Private Equity Partners (now Birch Hill) and Omers acquired
CINAR for more than $190 million. Two weeks after its purchase, on March 29, CINAR was renamed to
Cookie Jar based on a suggestion by author
Richard Scarry.
Prior to the acquisition, CINAR was facing
serious legal trouble. With new leadership, Hirsh and team were able to resolve many of the company's legal and public affairs.
The first series produced by Cookie Jar after Hirsh's acquisition was ''
Busytown Mysteries'' based on the book series created by Richard Scarry and
''Doodlebops''. Hirsh began developing ''Doodlebops'' with co-creator Carl Lennox after agreeing to do a music show with Head of
CBC Kids Cheryl Hassan.
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...
bought the show after positive test screenings. With the support of Disney, Hirsh and Taylor were successful in bringing
Feld Entertainment in to organize a musical tour of the show's characters across the U.S. and Canada. The Doodlebops went on to be a hit show, inspiring appearances at Disney World and US wide tours for two years.
''
Caillou
''Caillou'' ( ; , stylized in lowercase) is an animated educational children's television series that aired on Teletoon (both English and French versions) with the first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997 until the fou ...
,'' an animated television show for preschoolers, was one of the properties inherited through CINAR. Hirsh facilitated settling a lawsuit between Cinar and ''Caillous author and illustrator,
Christine L'Heureux and
Helene Desputeaux. At the time, ''Caillou'' was successful on PBS in the US and a hit in merchandising and publishing in Turkey, Spain, and Brazil.
Other properties inherited included
''Arthur'', a major hit on
PBS,
CBC, and the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. Cookie Jar continued to produce ''Arthur'', resulting in six Emmy Awards. Cookie Jar faced a turning point when
Warner Bros. auctioned off the rights to produce ''
Johnny Test
''Johnny Test'' is an animated television series created by Scott Fellows, originally produced in the United States by Warner Bros. Animation and later produced in Canada by Cookie Jar Group, Cookie Jar Entertainment. It premiered on Kids' WB ...
''. The highly-rated comedy created by
Scott Fellows and produced by Cookie Jar lasted seven seasons and was a global hit for broadcasters around the world including
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
,
Teletoon
Cartoon Network (formerly Teletoon) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers. It was launched on October 17 ...
(since bought by Cartoon Network) and
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
.
On June 20, 2008, Cookie Jar Group announced a deal to acquire
DIC Entertainment from CEO Andy Heyward. On July 23, 2008, the acquisition was completed, and eventually DIC was folded into Cookie Jar's entertainment division. Through that acquisition Cookie Jar also acquired
Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (now Wildbrain CPLG). Cookie Jar now had more than 6,000 half-hours of programming as well as rights to several children's brands.
During the
2008 financial crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, Cookie Jar's team was desperately looking for new ways to generate money to combat the onset of financial hardships they were facing. Hirsh and Taylor focused their efforts on selling Cookie Jar's library of kids shows to streaming platforms. Noticing the increasing popularity of streaming services, Hirsh and team started digitizing their library of children's shows. Hirsh began selling off shows to
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
in 2010. Netflix acquired properties such as ''Calliou, Johnny Test,'' and ''Doodlebops''.
By 2012, Cookie Jar (now DHX Media) was the largest supplier of kids cartoons to Netflix and other streaming platforms.
Acquisition by DHX Media
On August 20, 2012,
DHX Media (now WildBrain) announced that they would acquire Cookie Jar Group for $111 million; the purchase made DHX the world's largest independent owner of children's television programming. The acquisition was completed on October 22, 2012.
Season 6 of ''
Johnny Test
''Johnny Test'' is an animated television series created by Scott Fellows, originally produced in the United States by Warner Bros. Animation and later produced in Canada by Cookie Jar Group, Cookie Jar Entertainment. It premiered on Kids' WB ...
'' was produced by Cookie Jar under the auspices of DHX Media after the merger, and the studio officially closed down after said series concluded its run on December 25, 2014.
Hirsh stayed on after the merger as Executive Chairman and worked on projects like ''
Supernoobs
''Supernoobs'' is a Canadian animated comedy television series produced by DHX Media, now known as WildBrain, for Cartoon Network and Teletoon. It was created by Scott Fellows, who also created ''Johnny Test'', '' Ned's Declassified School S ...
,
Dr. Dimensionpants,'' and ''
Ella the Elephant
''Ella the Elephant'' is a Canadian animated television preschool series based on the books by the couple Carmela D'Amico and Steven Henry (born Steven D'Amico). The series was produced by DHX Cookie Jar Inc. (owned by WildBrain), in association ...
''. Hirsh also developed a new
''Inspector Gadget'' series for Netflix.
In 2017, after seeing success in streaming, Hirsh and Taylor negotiated a deal with YouTube for their SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) service and launched ten channels in multiple languages across their platform. Despite a rocky start, Hirsh felt YouTube would be a successful place for Cookie Jar's library. Together with
Michael Donovan and Steven DeNure, Hirsh focused on building a proprietary cartoon business on YouTube using the company's vast library. When Hirsh left DHX they had become the world's leading independent animation company.
WOW Unlimited Media Inc.
After leaving DHX, Hirsh met with
Randy Lennox and agreed to create another kids' entertainment company. Enlisting
Bob Ezerin and Neil Chakravarti, the group thought they would have better results combining several existing companies to create one new one. Hirsh brought CGI animation studio Rainmaker Entertainment (now
Mainframe Studios) with US television and animation producer
Fred Seibert's company,
Frederator Studios and
Frederator Networks. This would be the beginning of
WOW! Unlimited Media. Hirsh oversaw hit television programs including
''Castlevania'''',
Bee and Puppycat'', ''
Madagascar: A Little Wild'', and ''
Octonauts.''
In 2022, Hirsh together with Chakravarti and CFO John Vandervelde sold WOW! Unlimited to Genius Brands (now
Kartoon Studios) led by CEO
Andy Heyward, for $53 million. Heyward and Hirsh have enjoyed a long history starting with the production together of ''Inspector Gadget,'' followed by Hirsh's acquisition of DIC led by Heyward and finally Genius Brand's acquisition of WOW! Unlimited.
Hirsh served as CEO and chairman for the holding company, with Seibert as Chief Creative Officer and CEO of Frederator. Hirsh left WOW! in December 2023.
Floating Island Entertainment
In 2014, Michael Hirsh founded Floating Island Entertainment, where he continues to serve as CEO and Executive Producer.
Personal life
Hirsh has been with his wife since 1973. They have one son and live in Toronto.
As the child of two Holocaust survivors, Hirsh visited
Auschwitz in 2015 on the suggestion of
Eli Rubenstein to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the camp's liberation.
In 1995, Hirsh's father, Jack Hirsh, testified about his wartime experience to an interviewer from
Spielberg-founded
Shoah Foundation.
Both of Hirsh's grandfathers and step-grandmother died in the camps, while his maternal grandmother suffered from
PTSD as a result of the war. Hirsh credits his success to his parents' resilience and strength.
Awards
A number of productions that Michael has been involved with have been nominated for or won awards. For their work on shows including ''
Beetlejuice
''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American Gothic film, gothic dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Michael McDowell (author), Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren based on a story by McDowell and Larry Wilson (sc ...
'', ''
Babar'', ''
Little Bear'', ''
Rupert'', ''
Franklin'', ''
Rolie Polie Olie'' and ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'', Hirsh and his colleagues have received awards such as
Daytime Emmys and
Geminis.
[''The Toughest SOBs in Business''](_blank)
by John Daly, ''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
''. Retrieved 28 September 2006.[''Michael Hirsh's IMDB awards list'']
Retrieved 28 September 2010.
References
External links
*
An
AWN article on Hirsh's involvement in the co-production field
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsh, Michael
Nelvana
1948 births
20th-century Canadian screenwriters
21st-century Canadian screenwriters
20th-century Belgian screenwriters
21st-century Belgian screenwriters
Living people
Belgian emigrants to Canada
Belgian film producers
Belgian chief executives
Belgian television producers
Belgian storyboard artists
Belgian male screenwriters
Film producers from Ontario
Canadian television executives
Canadian chief executives
Canadian television producers
Canadian storyboard artists
20th-century Canadian Jews
Canadian male screenwriters
Canadian chief operating officers
Film directors from Toronto
The Bronx High School of Science alumni
Screenwriters from Toronto