R.I.P. 60Frames Entertainment. Sources tell THR that the UTA-backed digital studio is shutting down operations due to a lack of funding. 60Frames joins the ranks of recently shuttered studios ManiaTV, PluggedIn (and HBOlab, to a certain extent), that have succumbed to a combination of dwindling ad budgets and wary VCs.
Incubated by both the UTA and web-based TV ad agency SpotRunner (which is having its own financial and legal problems), 60Frames officially launched in 2007; it raised $3.5 million in funding from Tudor Investment Corp and Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group, among others. The UTA-connection was supposed to give the studio an advantage over rival digital startups when it came to securing talent and distribution deals.
60Frames did have a number of deals in the works, including a content development deal with *NBCU* and comic-book deal with Oni Press; it had also succeeded at getting its shows like Blood Cell (pictured) picked up by sites like TheWB.com and FunnyorDie — but clearly none of that was enough. The studio laid off 6 staffers in November; the remaining seven employees have been let go.
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