Animated Storyboards Opens New Office in Toronto

International animatics shop Animated Storyboards has launched a new office in Toronto. Maria Hanafy will lead the new studio as Managing Director, along with four additional staffers - a director, producer, marketing associate and animator/editor. This marks the 10th office for Animated Storyboards, with current offices running in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, São Paulo, Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Düsseldorf and Shanghai. The 4,300 square foot office will closely collaborate with all existing Animated Storyboards offices, whose global infrastructure currently includes nearly 300 full time in-house illustrators, designers, directors, producers and 2D and 3D artists. The facility includes three edit suites, a state-of-the-art audio studio, a conference room and a spacious lobby area for client use.

Since originally opening its doors in 2001, Animated Storyboards has maintained a full-service approach to the animatics industry, providing in-house expertise across audio & casting, creative direction, storyboards & artwork, 3D/2D animation, green-screen, motion graphics, design, global versioning and editorial.

Notes Animated Storyboards founder Ezra Krausz, “Our suite of international offices has always worked as a unified team, delivering our clients superior talent and service across all areas of expertise. We couldn’t be more thrilled to join the thriving Toronto advertising and production community and look forward to delivering our unmatched speed and efficiency through our global infrastructure to a new set of clients.” Adds Hanafy, “We’re very excited to have a local studio in this unique and talented city, where our clients can call home for all their testing and animation needs. ASB is looking forward to building a creative space where agencies and brands can test their ideas as they come to life. We’ve built a tight team here and I’m incredibly grateful to be a part of it.”

Hanafy has nearly a decade of experience in production, with a background ranging from the agency to the production company, casting and post production sides of the industry. After earning a degree in Radio and Television from San Francisco State University, she got her footing working for local cable stations, producing, shooting and editing on-air promotional content. Shortly after, she landed a gig as a Casting Manager at Talent6, spending nearly two years with the San Francisco-based casting agency before shifting to the agency side as an Associate Producer at Publicis & Hal Riney. While there she handled all aspects of radio and video production for top agency clients including US Cellular, Hewlett-Packard and Walmart, working with internal creative teams as well as a wide range of creative vendors. In 2012, she returned to production and post-production as an Associate Producer at Acme Posts/Hamady Productions before joining Animated Storyboards in 2013. Prior to spearheading the Toronto office, she produced projects for a wide range of clients out of ASB’s NYC and Chicago offices.