Thailand’s M2 Animation has hired former Technicolor VP Owen Hurley as a studio head to lead its teams in Bangkok and Mumbai.

M2, which has done service work for the likes of LEGO and Games Workshop (Warhammer 40K), is on a mission to grow its international presence and support a push into more original production.

Based in Bangkok, Hurley started this week and reports to M2 partner and CEO Torsten Jakobsen. He is leading the 280-person team in Bangkok, as well as the 70-person studio in Mumbai, which opened in April.

Hurley worked at Technicolor for over a decade before joining M2, most recently in a dual role as VP in charge of studio transformation and global integration and VP of Technicolor Games. Before that, he held director-level positions at animation studios including WildBrain, Relic Entertainment and Mainframe Entertainment.

M2 is shifting into originals and has two projects in production for NBCUniversal streamer Peacock, including Team Mekbots Animal Rescue. A collaboration with former Mattel execs Rob Hudnut, Shane Amsterdam and Steed Sun’s More Minds Studios, the 39 x seven-minute preschool series was announced in February and tracks four kids who use tech skills to create giant robots that help them save animals around the world.

M2 is also working on its own IP and has three concepts in late development, Jakobsen tells Kidscreen. One of them was fully created by M2, and the other two stemmed from a joint-venture between M2 and LA-based studio Tremblay Bros (SWAT-KATS Revolution).

One of these M2 Tremblay projects is animated series Harold and the Bearsy Bears, about a bear who comes up with different ways to spread happiness and improve people’s lives in his forest community. Both partners are currently pitching for distribution deals and funding, and Jakobsen says interest has been expressed by toy companies.