Rooster Teeth, the studio behind celebrated works like Red Vs. Blue, RWBY, and the forthcoming star-studded gen:LOCK, has launched a $2.5 million fund to develop original animated series with digital creators.
Rooster Teeth will seek to collaborate with animation channels on YouTube as well as other platforms, per Digiday. And in addition to funding new works, Rooster Teeth is looking to bring more animators into its talent network fold — which works with creators on ad sales, subscription revenue, merch, live events, and more. The goal of the animation push is to supercharge the growth of First, Rooster Teeth’s subscription service — which is priced beginning at $4.99, and which offers its 250,000 paying members new episodes before they roll out to free platforms, as well as other perks.
“We’re looking for like-minded creators who have a good track record of producing consistently,” Rooster Teeth co-founder and CEO Matt Hullum told Digiday of the types of creators the company is looking to fund and sign. “The partnerships are modular deals that involve some combination of a library content license for the Rooster Teeth app, development of new projects, merch sales in the Rooster Teeth store, podcast ad sales, brand integration sales, and more.”
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Animation is Rooster Teeth’s biggest content category, programming director Evan Bregman told Digiday. The company’s current talent network is headlined by owned gaming channels like Achievement Hunter and Funhaus, as well as partnered channels like Cow Chop and Sugar Pine 7.
Some of the first projects to emerge from the $2.5 million fund include Motor Knight (pictured above) and another series called Spikeface, according to Cartoon Brew.
