Shoreline Entertainment and Perfect Circle Productions have partnered on a new animated acquisition and production division called Straightline Animation.

Dean English will head the unit, which officially launched at the Annecy Animation Festival in France, set to run through Jun 11.

Shoreline CEO Morris Ruskin is currently producing the animated film The Living Corpse and serves as executive producer on the stop-motion film O’Apostolo. Ruskin has several animated features in development.

“The Living Corpse is the first animated film that I’ve produced, and I’ve loved every minute of the process,” Ruskin said. “On top of this, the market is interested in the product, therefore it is a venture that I’m excited about and it makes business sense. We joined forces with Dean because of his vast experience in this world.” 

“Combining our appetite for animation and Shoreline’s ability to effectively bring projects to the market should put some smiles on the faces of producers and directors,” English said.

Shoreline is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary and to date Ruskin has produced close to 50 films and Shoreline has handled close to 200.