Scotland’s largest animation studio Wild Child Animation has gone into administration after six years, citing AI and a scaling back of commissions as insurmountable challenges.
Joint administrators Gordon McIntyre and Donald McKinnon are looking for buyers for the business and to rehouse the studio’s 32 staff and has set Friday 13 March as the closing date for any offers.
Wild Child currently has 50 contractors on its roster and is currently co-producing CBeebies' 52 x 11-minute animated series Zog with Magic Light Pictures.
Magic Light has now stepped in to meet employee costs and other monthly obligations to contractors on the production, which is scheduled to be completed this autumn.
Magic Light joint chief execs Martin Pope and Michael Rose said their company is “working constructively” with the administrators on “a short-term arrangement designed to ensure production continues smoothly at the studio while we explore longer-term options”.
It added: “Our focus is on protecting continuity for the production and the crew, maintaining the high creative standards of Zog, and ensuring delivery remains on schedule. We have taken steps to provide stability at this point in the process and to minimise disruption wherever possible.
“We are confident that, with these measures in place, the production is well supported, and we look forward to delivering a tremendous series.”
Wild Child co-founder and chief executive Sueann Rochester said: “We built something truly special – not just in the work we created, but in the extraordinary team behind it. I will be forever grateful to the talented, passionate people who made that journey possible.
“While it’s devastating that we’ve not been able to continue, I take great comfort in knowing that Magic Light Pictures has stepped in to complete production of Zog, keeping the team together and ensuring the work remains here in Scotland. That legacy of creativity and collaboration means everything.”
Speaking for the administrators, McIntyre said: “It is a challenging time for the industry and while Wild Child Animation had recently completed several contracts and others had been greenlit, due to uncertainties in the market, partly driven by AI, and partly by the fact that several national broadcasters, such as Sky Kids, have decided not to commission new content, this has caused a crunch in the available work for animation studios, which has resulted in Wild Child Animation going into administration.”
Stirling-based Wild Child has produced animation for Sky Kids’ The Brilliant World of Tom Gates and Jamie's Yoga Adventures, BBC Scotland feature documentary My Old School and CBeebies Piripenguins
Wild Child and HoHo Entertainment had also been developing a feature film spin-off of their Warner Bros Discovery co-production Toad & Friends, backed by Screen Scotland.
HoHo went to the Berlinale 2026 last month seeking further partners for the production, which had initially been slated for release next year.
The administrators' statement does not mention plans for this project.
Wild Child's turnover last year was £5.7m.
