UK prodco Magic Light Pictures has formed Stirling Animation Studio (SAS), a new facility where it will be able to complete its CG-animated series Zog (pictured) and possibly more.

Wild Child Animation, which went into administration last month, had been working on Zog for Magic Light, its primary client. The new Stirling-based SAS was set up as part of a buyout deal for Wild Child, and will be 100% owned by Magic Light. Business turnaround specialists Gordon McIntyre and Donald McKinnon from Wbg secured a pre-pack administration process for the sale of the business and assets.

Of the 32 Wild Child staff the administrators cited in a press release, 30 members’ jobs have been saved with this deal—as have roughly 60 freelance contractors who were working on the 52 x 11-minute episodes of Zog, a highly anticipated picture book adaptation for CBeebies.

“We’ve acted quickly to protect something valuable: a brilliant team, a major production and a key part of Scotland’s animation capability,” Magic Light co-founders Martin Pope and Michael Rose said. “It’s been important to provide stability and renewed confidence for the crew at a critical time.” 

The current priority at SAS is to complete Zog by the end of October. But Pope and Rose also expressed hope that the studio can support Scottish animation talent and “be a platform for future productions,” though no further specifics were shared at this time.

Wild Child cited challenges like the continued commissioning cutbacks and market downturn for UK animation, as well as factors like AI, when it entered administration last month, a move that was met by an outpouring of support from the animation community and orgs in Scotland. 

“I am incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved at Wild Child Animation over the past six years,” co-founder and CEO Sueann Rochester said at the time. “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.”