Major animation studio chooses Tenerife for new base
The company Surfing Giant, creator of the animated series ‘Hey AJ!’ which premiered on Disney this year, will open an animation production studio in the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) this spring in Tenerife. The move is set to create more than 100 animation and production jobs, with the majority of hires based in the Canaries and mainland Spain.
Strategic European expansion
In a statement, the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC)—the low-taxation area the studio will utilise—detailed that this opening consolidates the launch of its production centre in Manchester, UK, in 2022. The studio is leveraging the fiscal incentives in the Canaries to support its growing production volume. “The Canary Islands offer solid fiscal incentives and an experienced talent base, allowing us to scale production efficiently and reinvest directly in our teams and projects,” said Scott Parish, co-CEO of Surfing Giant Studios and COO of Alcon Entertainment. He added that “Tenerife is a strategic extension of our European operations.”
The ZEC notes that Surfing Giant is structuring its European operations as a connected production network between its Manchester and Canary Islands centres. This network will be capable of developing original content and supporting the production of several series simultaneously using its Toon Boom Harmony and 3D workflows.
Building a global creative family
The studio’s development portfolio spans multiple genres and age groups, with a focus on high-end original intellectual property. Designed as a collaborative, made-to-measure workspace, the Canary Islands facility will initially focus on 2D animation production while expanding to additional formats and platforms.
Surfing Giant Studios is backed by Alcon Entertainment, a major Hollywood group behind productions like ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Garfield’, and owner of franchises like ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Mad Max’. Its other partners are Jeff Marsh (an Emmy winner) and Michael Hodges (a multi-Grammy nominee). Since 2022, the company has experienced significant growth, expanded its slate of owned IP, and is about to begin production on a new, as-yet-unannounced action-adventure series for a major US network.
Joining a thriving animation community
The hiring process for the new studio will begin in the coming weeks, with positions advertised publicly and applications accepted exclusively through official channels. Michael Hodges, co-CEO of Surfing Giant Studios and CEO of Surfing Giant Europe, explained they have “built an incredible global team focused on delivering top-tier content to the world,” and that the expansion in Tenerife “gives us the capacity to grow our family of creatives even further and support more productions.”
Both the Manchester and Canary Islands teams will operate under the direction of Studio Director Helen Brown, who will oversee production, hiring, and talent development across all sites. “There is a consolidated and welcoming animation community in the Canary Islands and we are thrilled to be part of it,” assured Brown, stating her goal is to build a strong local team in Tenerife that complements the talent at their UK studio.
Pablo Hernández, President of the ZEC, considers Surfing Giant’s arrival as “another milestone where the Canary Islands’ animation ecosystem continues to grow and position itself as one of the world’s leading digital arts hubs.” He concluded, “It is undoubtedly a unique global success story, because in 2017 there was practically no animation in the Canary Islands, and now it is one of the leading European and global hubs.”
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