Yabba dabba doo! Irish studio to work on Flintstones spinoff

A Dublin animation company has entered into a deal with Warner Brothers to work on a new spin-off of the iconic Flintstones cartoon.

Salty Dog Pictures is providing overseas animation services for the new series, Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs! Producer Warner Brothers has commissioned it to make 24 episodes, which is about half of the series.

The low-profile company recently worked on The David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special, starring Tom Hanks, which ran on US TV show Saturday Night Live.

Chief executive of the company Deirdre Barry is originally from Tralee in Co Kerry and moved to Los Angeles after college, working her way up through the television industry. She started off in children’s channel Nickolodeon. She also worked on Tracey Ullman’s Tracey Takes On and then joined Overseas FilmGroup, whose credits include Waking Ned.It is also developing its first animated sitcom, The Mooneys – a futuristic comedy about an Irish-American family who try to make a new start on a moon colony. The studio has signed Pete Michels (who has directed episodes of The Simpsons) as director and is currently casting.

“I always wanted to have a base in Ireland and work with LA studios,” she said. Five years ago Barry and her business partner, Clifford Parrott, set up Salty Dog.

“This new project is exactly what we intended. We can do everything from here in Dublin that you can do in LA,” said Barry. “Everything is just sent back and forth by file transfer, Skype and all of that.”

Parrot began his animation career in Los Angeles where he wrote, directed, produced and animated projects for many studios including Disney, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Renegade Animation and Revolution Studios. He has worked with numerous well-known clients including Adam Sandler, Damon Wayans and Dana Carvey.

The Flintstones spin-off focuses on the lives of best friends Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble.

Image:  Deirdre Barry, CEO of Salty Dog Pictures. Photography: Frank McGrath