Sony Pictures TV Inks Overall Deal with Animation Duo Adam & Craig Malamut

Sony Pictures Television has signed an overall deal with writers, producers and animators Adam and Craig Malamut. The Game of Zones creators will focus on developing animated series across streaming, cable and network.

Currently, The Malamuts are the creators of Universal Basic Guys and serve as executive producers for the FOX series. The series will premiere as a special market screening at the world-renowned Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 12.

Universal Basic Guys centers on two brothers, Mark and Hank Hoagies, who lose their jobs to automation and are given $3,000 a month in a new basic income program. Now, they’re using their free time and free money to find purpose in a world where they’re no longer needed.

“As a massive fan of Adam and Craig’s work on Game of Zones, I knew we had to work together on their next project,” said Frank Ochoa, Vice President of Adult Animation, Sony Pictures Television, who oversees adult animation development and programming. “Their creativity, passion and talent are unmatched in the animation space, and they have put all of that into Universal Basic Guys. We are so excited to have The Malamuts call Sony home as we continue building on our animated comedy slate.”

The brothers commented, “Sony has been an incredible partner, and we’re thrilled to officially join the family. From the beginning, they’ve supported our vision and encouraged us to stay true to our creative voice. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to join such a legendary studio and look forward to continuing our partnership.”

Adam and Craig Malamut most recently created and produced the Sports Emmy-nominated hit web series Game of Zones for Bleacher Reporter. At Bleacher Report, they helped grow the animation department from just the two of them into a full, in-house animation studio, where they produced and starred in other hit animated series, including The Champions and Gridiron Heights, as well as creating The Sports Gods and viral one-off hits like Superteam: A Warriors Musical and Let It Tank.

After teaching himself to animate, Adam created the short Baseball Friends, which led to the series Sports Friends on Yahoo Screen. To help with the production of Sports Friends, Adam enlisted the help of his younger brother Craig. The brothers have done everything soup-to-nuts including writing, voice-acting, music composition, directing and animating.

Adam and Craig Malamut are repped by CAA and Yorn Levine Barnes Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner Endlich & Gellman.