Cartoon Network Shorts Department
| Cartoon Network Shorts Department | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Cartoon Network Studios |
| Countries of origin | United States Australia |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers |
|
| Original release | |
| Release | May 21, 2013 |
| Related | |
Cartoon Network Shorts Department is the channel's artist development program for animated pilots that are created at Cartoon Network Studios. It was inaugurated and started in 2013 through online uploading of six titles, on May 21 for a short period, which three of them have been greenlit for a TV series at the start of the program.[1]
The shorts program has since been superseded by the Cartoon Cartoons shorts program introduced in 2021. Nevertheless, a couple of shorts produced from 2017 to 2021 were released under the Cartoon Cartoons label.
The short Mushroom and the Forest of the World was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Format Children's Program.[2][3]
List of pilots
United States
| Title | Created by | Original premiere(s) | Animation by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clarence | Skyler Page | May 21, 2013 (Online) February 17, 2014 (TV) | Saerom Animation |
| Lakewood Plaza Turbo / OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes | Ian Jones-Quartey | May 21, 2013 (Online) | Sunmin Image Pictures |
| Mars Safari! | Ghostshrimp | Eric Pringle and Nick Bertonazzi Jr. | |
| My Science Fiction Project | Audie Harrison | Rough Draft Korea | |
| Paranormal Roommates | Benton Connor | Saerom Animation | |
| Steven Universe: "The Time Thing" | Rebecca Sugar | Rough Draft Korea | |
| Tome of the Unknown: "Harvest Melody" / Over the Garden Wall | Patrick McHale | September 9, 2013 (LA Shorts Fest) May 18, 2015 (Online) | |
| AJ's Infinite Summer | Toby Jones | May 16, 2014 (Online) | |
| Long Live the Royals | Sean Szeles | Saerom Animation | |
| We Bare Bears | Daniel Chong | May 21, 2014 (KLIK! Festival) August 25, 2015 (TV) | |
| Back to Backspace | Dominic Bisignano and Amalia Levari | November 12, 2014 (Online) | Rough Draft Korea |
| Pillywags Mansion[a] | Sam Marin | Swazzle | |
| Jammers | Lizz Hickey | May 18, 2015 (Online) | John Berry, Sarah Gencarelli, Sara Pocock, Sarah Ramert and Tom Riffel |
| Ridin' with Burgess | Andres Salaff | Sunmin Image Pictures | |
| Twelve Forever[b] | Julia Vickerman | ||
| Apple & Onion | George Gendi | June 18, 2015 (Annecy Festival) May 2, 2016 (Online) May 14, 2016 (TV) | John Berry, Hozen Britto, Sarah Gencarelli, Bishoy Gendi, Sara Pocock, Sarah Ramert and Tom Riffel |
| Welcome to My Life | Elizabeth Ito | June 18, 2015 (Annecy Festival) April 7, 2017 (Online) | TeamTO |
| Bottom's Butte | Minty Lewis | November 20, 2015 (CTN Expo) May 2, 2016 (Online) | Digital eMation |
| Danger Planet[c] | Derek Drymon | January 19, 2016 (Online) | Rough Draft Korea |
| Summer Camp Island | Julia Pott | March 17, 2016 (SXSW Festival) December 2, 2017 (CN App) April 25, 2018 (Online) | |
| Victor and Valentino | Diego Molano | October 29, 2016 (TV) November 1, 2016 (Online) | Sunmin Image Pictures |
| Infinity Train | Owen Dennis | November 1, 2016 (VOD) November 2, 2016 (Online) February 11, 2017 (TV) | |
| Legendary Place | Calvin Wong | March 4, 2017 (GLAS Festival) November 9, 2018 (Online) | Saerom Animation |
| The Fancies: "Fancytown"/"The Beach" /"Run Pam Run"/"Sir Tree" / The Fungies[d] | Stephen P. Neary | July 30, 2017 (ABP Festival) May 8, 2019 (Online) | |
| Unlovable[e][f] | Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd | August 11, 2017 (HollyShorts Festival)[4] August 10, 2026 (Online) | Rough Draft Korea |
| Tiggle Winks / Tig n' Seek[d] | Myke Chilian | November 24, 2017 (CN App) January 8, 2018 (Online) | |
| Craig of the Creek | Matt Burnett and Ben Levin | December 1, 2017 (CN App) | |
| Mushroom and the Forest of the World | Madeleine Flores and J. Smith | October 14, 2018 (KLIK! Festival) April 26, 2019 (Online) | MUA Film |
| Sunshine Brownstone | Audie Harrison | November 17, 2018 (Online) | Iana Kushchenko, Nate Lowe, Sarah Ramert and Adam Scarpitta |
| Pops & Branwell[g] | Pete Toms and Aleks Sennwald | January 27, 2019 (CFF Seattle) December 14, 2019 (Online) | Rough Draft Korea |
| Splitting Time | Gleb Sanchez-Lobashov | February 16, 2019 (BAICFF) December 21, 2019 (Online) | Saerom Animation |
| The Wonderful Wingits | Leticia Abreu Silva | February 16, 2019 (BAICFF) July 20, 2020 (Online) | MUA Film |
| Outrun Express[5] | Jeremy Polgar | June 3, 2019 (Animatic)[6] | N/A |
| Cadette in Charge | Henrique Jardim | February 6, 2020 (Online) | Saerom Animation |
| Trick Moon | Geneva Hodgson | July 21, 2020 (Online) | Digital eMation |
| Beetle + Bean | Nick Edwards | July 22, 2020 (Online) | Saerom Animation |
| Genie Hunters | Mike Milo | December 16, 2020 (Animatic)[7] | Inspidea[8] |
| Wild Help[h] | Niki Yang | January 1, 2021 (Online) | In Efecto Animation Studio |
| Bird & Squirrel[i][e] | James Burks | February 18, 2021 (CFF Seattle)[9] February 25, 2024 (Workprint)[10] February 16, 2026 (Online) | Studio Redfrog |
| Spirit Link[11] | André LaMilza | October 5, 2023 (Workprint)[12] | Takafumi Hori, Tiger Animation and André LaMilza |
| The Nonsense Tales of Alakasam![h] | Kyle Arneson and Aaron Preacher | May 4, 2025 (Workprint)[13] | Ancient Order of the Wooden Skull |
| Afternoon Super[e] | Ben Crouse and Jacob Sluka | February 9, 2026 (Online) | Rough Draft Korea |
| Greetings from Samson[14][15][j][e] | Tiffany Ford | March 30, 2026 (Online) | |
| OutRunners[16][17][e] | Ashe Jacobson and Adam Ganse | June 8, 2026 (Online) | Tiger Animation |
| Turtle Rock[18][e] | Jeff Liu | August 3, 2026 (Online) | Sunmin Image Pictures |
| The Invincible Fight Girl: Legend of the Swole / Invincible Fight Girl[19] | Juston Gordon-Montgomery | TBD | |
International
Since 2016, the program has begun to expand to other countries where Cartoon Network Studios accept to commission (but not produce) those local short pilots, and the only title to be noticed in this process is Lasso & Comet.[20]
| Title | Created by | Country of origin | Co-production(s) | Original premiere(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lasso & Comet | Ivan Dixon Developed by: Greg Sharp and Ivan Dixon | .svg.png){kind=small} Australia | Rubber House Cartoon Network Asia Pacific | November 9, 2016 (Online) |
Unproduced
These are shorts that were either never released to the public or were cancelled during production.
| Title | Created by |
|---|---|
| Paradise is for the Birds[21] | Brett Varon |
| Badass Babies[22][k] | Zach Smith |
| HUE Chroma Warriors[23] | Eric Trueheart |
| Kelvin Enus: Rent-a-Genius[24][25][26][27][28] | John McNamee |
| Stinkalina[29][30] | Eva Konstantopoulos and Jon Burgerman |
| Study Hallers[31] | Ben Adams |
| Best Coast[32][33] | Pedro Eboli and Mark Satterthwaite |
| Mikki and the Soca Teens[34] | TBD |
| Seed Scouts[35] | |
| Tag Team! Legends of the Ring[36] | |
| The Kazoodles![37] |
See also
- Nickelodeon Animated Shorts Program - the Nickelodeon counterpart of the program.
Notes
- ↑ Only puppet show/animated pilot of the program and the entire Cartoon Network Studios filmography.
- ↑ This pilot was greenlit as a series by Netflix.
- ↑ Label only; produced as part of The Cartoonstitute.
- 1 2 Despite these two pilots have being greenlit by Cartoon Network, their series move to premiering on HBO Max.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Released under the Cartoon Cartoons label.
- ↑ Based on the comic strip of the same name.
- ↑ Based off the children's book series of the same name.
- 1 2 Stop-motion
- ↑ Based off the children's book series of the same name.
- ↑ Based on the webcomic Samson at Work.
- ↑ Computer animation using motion capture
References
- ↑ "Next Generation of Animation - Behind The Scenes, Geek Week, Cartoon Network - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
- ↑ "Daytime Emmy Nominees: 'Elena of Avalor,' 'Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure' Lead Toon Contenders". Animation Magazine. May 21, 2020. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
- ↑ "Daytime Emmy Awards: 'Dragon Prince,' 'Ask the Storybots' & 'Last Kids on Earth' Win Key Animation Categories for Netflix". Animation Magazine. July 27, 2020. Archived from the original on September 8, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
- ↑ "Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable animated short will be at Hollyshorts Film Festival from August 10–19th!". Twitter. August 1, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ↑ "Motion Scientist". Archived from the original on 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
- ↑ Jeremy Polgar (2019-06-03). "Outrun Express" Pilot. Retrieved 2026-05-02 – via YouTube.
- ↑ Mike Milo (2020-12-16). Genie Hunters: Unleashing Magic and Mayhem in a Perilous Adventure!. Retrieved 2026-05-04 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "Jiunn Jye Ooi - LinkedIn".
- ↑ "Bird & Squirrel short accepted into the (Virtual) Children's Film Festival Seattle 2021". James Burks. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
- ↑ "Animation". James Burks. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- ↑ "Jill Calhoun, ACE - LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
- ↑ André LaMilza (2023-10-05). Spirit Link Pilot. Retrieved 2026-06-28 – via Catbox.
- ↑ Kyle Arneson (2025-05-04). The Nonsense Tales of Alakasam! (2021 Cartoon Network pilot). Retrieved 2026-05-04 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "CN Doc Short on Vimeo". Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
- ↑ "SAMSON AT WORK". by tiffanyford. Archived from the original on 2023-12-23. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
- ↑ "JillCalhoun_AnimaticDemoReel_Vimeo2 on Vimeo". Archived from the original on 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
- ↑ "Outrunners" (PDF). Léandre Perrin. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
- ↑ "Turtke Rock! Soul Vibration Saga – Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 90004477 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-06-10.
- ↑ "THE INVINCIBLE FIGHT GIRL: LEGEND OF THE SWOLE Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 90296051 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "Cartoon Network Grows its Australian-Made Original Animation in 2016". Time Warner, Inc. November 18, 2015. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
- ↑ "Brett Varon - LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
- ↑ "Zach Smith - LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
- ↑ "Eric Trueheart - StaffMeUp.com". Staff Me Up. Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
- ↑ "KELVIN ENUS: RENT-A-GENIUS Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 97068365 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "Saeid Zameniateni". Instagram. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "Saeid Zameniateni (cont)". Instagram. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "Saeid Zameniateni (cont 2)". Instagram. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "Saeid Zameniateni (cont 3)". Instagram. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "STINKALINA Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 97403166 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- ↑ "Eva Konstantopoulos - LinkedIn". LinkedIn.
- ↑ "Ben Adams - LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
- ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2026-06-19.
- ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2026-06-19.
- ↑ "MIKKI AND THE SOCA TEENS Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 90080133 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "Seed Scouts – Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 88944191 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
- ↑ "Tag Team! Legends of the Ring – Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 97079677 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
- ↑ "THE KAZOODLES! Trademark Application of The Cartoon Network, Inc. - Serial Number 97431686 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2026-06-13.