Surfing Giant Studios expands animation production facilities to Spain’s Canary Islands
Skwigly
Surfing Giant Studios is expanding its European footprint with a new, second animation production facility in Spain’s Canary Islands, building on the 2022 launch of the company’s Manchester, UK based production studio, while leveraging the region’s tax incentives to support the studio’s increasing production slate.
The new studio, located in the Santa Cruz region of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, will open in Spring 2026. The expansion will create more than 100 new animation and production positions, with the majority of hires based locally across Tenerife and mainland Spain.
Surfing Giant’s hit series Hey A.J.! premiered on Disney Junior, Disney Channel and Disney+ last month, earning high praise from critics, spending over ten days in the top 5 daily charts of all Disney+ platform television offerings and marking the studio’s first long-form series launch. Since opening its Manchester facility in 2022, the company has had exponential growth, expanded its slate of proprietary IP, and is set to begin production on a new undisclosed action-adventure series for a major US Network.
Surfing Giant is structuring its European operations as a connected production network capable of developing original content and supporting production of multiple series simultaneously via its Toon Boom Harmony and 3D pipelines.
Surfing Giant’s development slate spans multiple genres and age groups, focusing on high end original IP. Designed as a purpose-built, collaborative workspace, the Tenerife facility will initially focus on 2D animation production, while expanding into additional formats and platforms.
Recruitment for the new studio facility begins in the coming weeks, with roles advertised publicly and applications accepted exclusively through official channels.
Michael Hodges, Co-CEO of Surfing Giant Studios and CEO of Surfing Giant Europe, said:
We have built an amazing global team focused on delivering premium content to the world. They are the best at what they do. Expanding into Tenerife gives us the capacity to grow an even larger family of creatives and support more productions.
Scott Parish, Co-CEO of Surfing Giant Studios and COO of Alcon Entertainment, added:
The Canary Islands provide strong tax incentives and an experienced talent base, which allows us to scale production efficiently and reinvest directly into our teams and projects. Tenerife is a strategic extension of our European operations.
Both the Manchester and Tenerife teams will operate under Head of Studio Helen Brown, who will oversee production, recruitment and talent development across locations.
Brown said:
There’s an established and welcoming animation community in the Canary Islands and we’re excited to be a part of it. We’re focused on building a strong local crew in Tenerife to compliment the talent of our UK studio, creating impressive and beautiful content that they can all be proud to have contributed to.”
Founded by Emmy® Award-winning producer Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (Phineas and Ferb), multi-Grammy® nominated writer/producer Michael Hodges (Blade Runner 2049, The Garfield Movie, Blade Runner Black Lotus), and Alcon Entertainment COO Scott Parish, Surfing Giant Studios is a full-service 2D/3D animation and production company with vertically integrated capabilities spanning development through post-production, music and sound.
With studios in Los Angeles, Manchester, and soon Tenerife, the company’s creative teams have contributed to projects including Hey AJ!, Blade Runner Black Lotus, The Garfield Movie, Batman, Phineas and Ferb, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Harley Quinn, Pete the Cat, and SpongeBob SquarePants.