Rick Calabash

Rick Calabash began his career as a teenager, designing sets for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968). He went on to work with animation legends William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, developing content for their most famous characters: Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo. When media giant Ted Turner acquired Hanna-Barbera Studios, Calabash was teamed with music superstar Michael Jackson, with whom he developed feature films and television projects for Turner Pictures. Calabash served as a Writer and Musical Sequence Director on Turner Pictures' Annie Award-winning animated feature, Cats Don't Dance (1997). The film was choreographed by acclaimed actor/dancer Gene Kelly and starred Scott Bakula and Hal Holbrook with songs by Randy Newman and Natalie Cole. Calabash next joined Walt Disney Studios where he earned two Emmy nominations and won a Golden Reel Award and an Angel Award for Excellence in Media for producing and directing the animated series 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997). Calabash then worked with Studio Chairman Roy Edward Disney as a writer and director on the Emmy Award-winning series, House of Mouse (2001), featuring James Woods and John Cleese. After five years working with Disney's classic characters, Calabash was sought by Walt Disney Imagineering to serve as a Creative Consultant on the 3D musical featurette, Mickey's PhilharMagic (2003). This unique multi-media attraction premiered on the largest screen in the world at Walt Disney World, followed by installations at Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Disney's California Adventure. Calabash next joined forces with The Zanuck Company where he worked with award-winning producers Richard D. Zanuck and Dean Zanuck developing family content with Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil and Warner Bros. Pictures. Calabash then teamed with Dean Zanuck to form Zanuck Family Entertainment, where Calabash continues to oversee development and production on a slate of multi-platform content. The first to go into production was Little Ludwig, a 3D animated rock opera, with Warner Bros. Pictures. Currently in pre-production at ZFE is The Rise and Fall of Arbogast J. Hogg, an innovative multi-platform venture encompassing movies, books, apps and other digitally integrated products.