EXCLUSIVE: Starburns Industries, the creator-led studio behind Oscar-nominated feature Anomalisa, has elevated Paul Young to CEO.
In addition, Young and financier Aaron Mitchell have been named to the studio’s board of directors. The news comes simultaneously as Starburns has raised a film fund to finance a five movie slate annually under the guidance of co-founder Duke Johnson.
Young will work with founders Johnson, Dino Stamatopoulos and James Fino to oversee the growth and expansion of the studio which has been behind cult favorites Moral Orel and Rick and Morty.
The new film fund will lean into Starburns’ animation artistry, with hybrid and live-action films a new priority. The studio’s most recent feature was Neon’s The Actor, a live-action drama released last March, directed by Johnson and starring Gemma Chan and André Holland. Starburns Industries will also continue to produce original series television and feature films for outside studios and streamers.
Emmy-winning Young became a partner at Starburns in 2021, when his management of Stamatopoulos and Johnson led to an expansion of their relationship.
“I’ve admired Duke and Dino for years,” said Young. “They started the studio to protect the creator’s vision, which has been integral to producing work that is both original and award-winning.”
Starburns Industries was founded in 2010 by Johnson, Stamatopoulos, Fino and Dan Harmon, quickly making a name for itself as a stop-motion and 2D animation studio. Its inaugural project was the Emmy-winning Community Christmas special, Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas, which was written by Stamatopoulos and Harmon and directed by Johnson. The studio earned its first Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations in 2016 for Anomalisa, which Johnson produced and co-directed with Charlie Kaufman, with Mitchell serving as EP. The studio’s stop-motion series, Moral Orel won two Emmys, and Rick and Morty, which originated at Starburns, likewise won two Emmys.
Starburns’ mission remains working with top artists with original and even idiosyncratic visions.
“We’re mad scientists,” said Fino, “always curating new approaches to 2D, 3D, stop motion and hybrid animated techniques.” Fino has also led the studio’s efforts in cultivating emerging artists and executives.
Young will continue to manage a few select clients with a focus on building artist-driven businesses like Starburns. He recently helped Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz build Hurwitz Concerts, which has produced more than 100 live-to-film concerts, and he also manages writer-producer Dan Lagana, who has an expanding slate with TriStar’s The Breadwinner and Skydance’s The Chasm.
Young has been a leading figure in the comedy business for more than two decades. In 2000, he co-founded one of the industry’s preeminent management companies, Principato-Young Entertainment (now Artists First), which launched the careers of artists like Jonah Hill, Jordan Peele and Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. Young concurrently served as the Chairman of the Groundlings Theater, which incubated a generation of comedy icons, including Will Ferrell, Melissa McCarthy and Cheryl Hines. He’s produced several TV series including Reno 911, Key and Peele, and Married. Young’s feature credits include The Actor, Central Intelligence and Keanu. Young began his career as a reporter at Daily Variety in 1995, and then served as Director of Creative Affairs at Paramount Pictures before co-founding Principato-Young in 2000.