Los Angeles, CA (September 26, 2011) - Shotgun Software announced today that Academy Award®-winning animation company Blue Sky Studios has chosen the Shotgun web-based production management system. The studio is integrating Shotgun into its pipeline as the central platform for studio-wide collaboration among all of its 400 employees, as well as directors and producers working on productions at Blue Sky.

“Data tracking is a key component of every production,” said Blue Sky Studios Vice President of Finance Jason Wasserman. “As we have grown, we now regularly have two or three features in production at the same time. As we share resources across all of those projects, it became critical to have an efficient, robust framework to manage all of the data. Shotgun has a number of attractive features we need right out of the box. It’s a cost-effective option to investing in building and maintaining a proprietary tracking system, so we can focus our R&D and engineering efforts on developing the core artistic tools that are our expertise.”

Designed specifically for studios working on visual effects, CG feature animation and video games, Shotgun enables all parties involved in a project with instant access to critical data, messaging and real-time project progress. It is also highly flexible, with an API that enables studios to easily write their own tools and integrate Shotgun with other pipeline tools and creative software applications.

Blue Sky’s decision to choose Shotgun came after the studio undertook an extensive ‘grassroots’ evaluation among a small group of managers, artists and technical directors who took the system through its paces and gradually exposed it more broadly throughout the studio.

“Everyone who has touched Shotgun has loved it,” said Blue Sky Studios Production Manager Denise Rottina, who drove the evaluation process. “With manual processes like email, meetings, and weekly status reports, so much data falls through the cracks. Shotgun centralizes all of that communication, which will facilitate more effective collaboration. Also, our TDs are thrilled that the API is so easy and intuitive to work with.”

Blue Sky is currently integrating Shotgun with its internal systems and plans to deploy it on “Leafmen,” the upcoming Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox animated feature releasing in 2013.

“Blue Sky has a reputation for developing amazing in-house tools, so it means a lot to us for them to embrace Shotgun,” said Don Parker, Shotgun CEO. “We’re very pleased to have their expertise in the Shotgun family and look forward to building the next generation of Shotgun tools with their input.”

About Blue Sky Studios
Blue Sky Studios is the Academy Award®-winning, feature CG animation studio behind the wildly successful ICE AGE franchise. Using their propriety rendering software, CGI Studio®, Blue Sky creates photo-realistic, high-resolution, computer-generated character animation and rendering to tell timeless stories to children of all ages. Blue Sky’s productions include ICE AGE (2002), ROBOTS (2005), ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN (2006), DR. SEUSS’ HORTON HEARS A WHO (2008), ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (2009), RIO (2011) and ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT, in theaters July 13, 2012. Blue Sky Studios is wholly owned by Twentieth Century Fox.

About Shotgun Software
Shotgun Software was founded in 2006 by a group of visual effects professionals to build production tracking and pipeline solutions. The founding members worked together on a major studio animated feature and developed Shotgun to fill the mounting industry need for a commercially viable system to manage complex projects spread across multiple locations. Shotgun is actively developing the system with its customers – more than 300 studios including Digital Domain, Double Negative, Reliance, Framestore, Rainmaker, Playstation, Blizzard, Zoic Studios, Dr. D and Laika. For information and an online demonstration, visit http://shotgunsoftware.com/

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