DAVE THOMAS

In July 2000, my friend Dan Greaney, a writer for the Simpsons, called me and asked me if I wound be interested in starting an animation company with him and another friend of his, Andy Bain.  I had done some voice overs for animation but I really didn’t know anything about it.  But that never stopped me at any other time in my career, so I agreed.  A web television company named Icebox, founded by Jon Collier, Rob LaZebnik and Howard Gordon had just collapsed and there were a lot of  talented animators and designers who had worked for that company looking for work.  Dan’s plan was to scoop up this talent and succeed where Icebox had failed.  Well, that never happened, but Animax did manage to stay in business for 16 years before we finally decided to close the doors in 2016.  

During those years, Animax became a moderately successful animation company, primarily creating animation for advertising and corporate promotion.  But there  were also some series that came out of that shop – Slacker Cats (ABC), Popzilla (MTV) and the Animated Adventures of Bob and Doug (Global TV in Canada).  Animax also developed an extensive virtual world for Ty Warner’s Beanie Babies. And, at it’s zenith of operation, Animax had over 100 employees working in a 14,000 square foot office space in Van Nuys, California.