YouTube Animators CypherDen And Flashgitz Ink Development Deals With Rooster Teeth (Exclusive)

Two YouTube animators have signed development deals with creative studio Rooster Teeth as part of the $2.5 million animation fund it launched in August.

CypherDen (978,000 subscribers on YouTube), and Flashgitz (1.7 million subscribers) have both inked deals that will see their entire animated libraries available on Rooster Teeth’s streaming service, First, early next year.

CypherDen, whose real name is Dennise Casurra, and Flashgitz, made up of creator team Tom Hinchliffe and Don Greger, have also entered first-look development deals with Rooster Teeth. In addition, CypherDen launched her first merch line today, with two T-shirts available in Rooster Teeth’s store.

Rooster Teeth fans will recognize Flashgitz as already-frequent collaborators with the studio. The duo has appeared at Rooster Teeth’s RTX Animation Festival

three time, and, in August, their animated series Motor Knight — following a goodhearted scribe struggling to teach the knight he serves what being a hero really means — was announced as one of Rooster Teeth’s first acquisitions via the $2.5 million fund.

Rooster Teeth co-founder and CEO Matt Hullum noted that Rooster Teeth offers partner creators more than an SVOD home — it works with creators on ad sales, subscription revenue, merch distribution, live events, podcasts, talent development services, and more. “We think the successful model for a new media business today should be diversified, and we want to offer creators that opportunity with us,” he said.

Back in August, Hullum said the goal of Rooster Teeth’s animation push was to supercharge the growth of First, 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.