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Tiny Onion and Lyrical Media team for Exquisite Corpses and Room Service Feature Films

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Tiny Onion

James Tynion IV’s Tiny Onion and Lyrical Media have announced the development of two horror films, marking a new phase of their growing partnership. The collaboration will bring to screen Tynion’s new bestselling horror comic book series Exquisite Corpses, and a feature adaptation of his short film and one-shot comic Room Service. Tynion, the five-time Eisner Award-winning writer behind Something is Killing the Children, The Nice House on the Lake,​and The Department of Truth, launched Tiny Onion in 2023 with a seed investment from Lyrical Media. The new films expand that relationship, formalizing Lyrical as a key producing partner across multiple mediums.

Exquisite Corpses is a horror franchise centered on a deadly game played every five years on Halloween, when the wealthiest families in America unleash twelve of the world’s most dangerous killers on an unsuspecting town. The first season of the comic book series, published by Image Comics and co-created by artist Michael Walsh, has already become a breakout hit, selling more than 500,000 copies to date. Exquisite Corpses also became the highest-selling original IP launch of the year in the comic book direct market, marking Tynion’s best debut in over three years. A companion trading card game, Exquisite Corpses: The Game, is in development to be released this summer. Lyrical Media and Tiny Onion envision the property as a franchise starter with expansive potential across live-action film, animation, and video games, and are currently packaging the feature with A-list talent. Tynion will produce the feature film for Tiny Onion, with Michael Walsh joining as executive producer, and Alexander Black and Arlen Konopaki are producing for Lyrical Media with Jon Rosenberg from Lyrical Media as an executive producer.

Room Service is​ a feature adaptation of Tynion’s Kickstarter crowdfunded short film, co-created by artist Elsa Charretier and director PK Colinet, about a sinister hotel service that allows its clients to commit their ideal murder scenarios. In addition to the short film, Tynion and his collaborators released a prequel one-shot comic, published by Image Comics. Tynion will co-write the feature script with filmmaker Colinet. 

Exquisite Corpses and Room Service join an aggressive development slate for both James Tynion IV and Tiny Onion. In October, it was announced that Blumhouse Productions had optioned Tynion’s bestselling comics horror franchise, Something is Killing the Children, to adapt both for film and for an animated television series with Tynion attached to produce alongside the series publisher BOOM! Studios. In December, Tiny Onion announced its expansive development slate in animation, including an adaptation of Tynion’s Image Comics series W0RLDTR33 at Netflix, an adaptation of his BOOM! Studios series The Woods, and an original adult animated comedy series developed with production company Irony Point, Tipsy Dragon.

Tiny Onion Kicks Off a Slate of Adult Animation with The Woods and Brings Casey Gonzalez on as Director of Multimedia

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The Woods

Led by CEO James Tynion IV, Tiny Onion is kicking off the production house’s robust adult animation slate with an adaptation of Tynion’s The Woods, based on the award-winning comic book series published by BOOM! Studios. The acclaimed sci-fi horror comics were co-created by Tynion and artist Michael Dialynas. To launch the animation slate, Tiny Onion is bringing aboard Casey Gonzalez as Director of Multimedia to oversee development for the company’s animated projects.

GLAAD Media Award-winning comic book series which debuted in 2014, The Woods tells the story of an ordinary high school in suburban Milwaukee, WI, which is suddenly transported into the midst of an alien forest in an uncharted corner of the universe. With no sign of why they were taken there, or what threats lurk in the dark woods surrounding their school, the story follows a group of students determined to figure out how to survive, and more importantly, how to get home. Tiny Onion has optioned the property from BOOM! Studios. The animated series will see Tynion and Dialynas executive producing for Tiny Onion. Stephen Christy and Mette Norkjaer will executive produce the series for BOOM! Studios.

The Woods will be Gonzalez’s first project as Director of Multimedia at Tiny Onion since joining the team in December. Previous to Tiny Onion, she spent a decade working alongside animation industry legend Fred Seibert (Adventure Time, Bee and Puppycat) as his VP of Development at FredFilms, where she developed original cartoons, including the viral short The Summoning, which is being adapted into a three book series for Oni Press. 

Casey Gonzalez

Gonzalez began her career in publishing, editing bestselling graphic novels for First Second and helping launch the acclaimed Science Comics series while shepherding New York Times bestselling titles such as Eisner Award winner Battling Boy, Hugo Award nominated book The Divine, and Green Book Award winner Coral Reefs. She later transitioned into the role of Head Writer and Producer at Frederator, where she launched the popular anime vertical Get in the Robot, and subsequently at Crunchyroll, the world’s largest anime streaming service. At Tiny Onion, Gonzalez looks forward to uniting her love of comics with her experience shaping top tier shows.

The Woods is a part of an expanding adult animation slate that also includes an animated adaptation of Tynion’s Image Comics horror sci-fi series W0RLDTR33 in development at Netflix. Co-created by Fernando Blanco and colored by multi Eisner Award-winning colorist Jordie Belliare, W0RLDTR33 tells the story of a dark evil within the internet that may destroy humanity. Tynion and Blanco will serve as Executive Producers on the series with Ashley Cardiff (Fear The Walking Dead) set as Showrunner and Executive Producer. Sean Buckelew of Green Street Pictures (Common Side Effects, Scavenger’s Reign) will also serve as Executive Producer and the team has just brought on Guillaume Dousse of Æsten studio (Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, Flee) to lead visual development and art direction for the series.

W0RLDTR33

Additionally, Tiny Onion is developing an adult animated comedy series The Tipsy Dragon with production company Irony Point. The series is being developed by Daniel Powell (Ugly Americans). RJ Fried, Mike Leech, and Zach Smilovitz (Our Cartoon President) are attached to write and help produce. An original concept from Tynion, The Tipsy Dragon is set in a tavern in a world where the age of heroes and legends is long past—and its barkeep and patrons couldn’t care less about their supposed role in an ancient battle between good and evil just outside their doorstep. 

Tynion and BOOM! Studios are also teaming up with iconic horror production company Blumhouse for an adult animated television series and a live-action feature film based on Tynion and Werther Dell’Edera’s record breaking, award-winning, and global best-selling series Something is Killing the Children. Set in a world where children can see monsters, but adults cannot, Something is Killing the Children tells the story of Erica Slaughter, a monster hunter from a mysterious organization more concerned with keeping the secret of monsters from the world than saving their victims. The animated series will be adapted and executive produced by Tynion, with Dell’Edera serving as Co-Executive Producer and visual development consultant. Stephen Christy will executive produce the series for BOOM! Studios, with Mette Norkjaer and Adam Yoelin serving as Co-Executive Producer.

Tiny Onion is backed by a seed investment from Lyrical Media, the Los Angeles and New York-based company that develops, produces, and finances unique stories across multi-media formats, including film, television, video games, and graphic novels. It was recently announced that Lyrical Media has launched Lyrical Animation to tap into global demand for adult animation, with an emphasis on animated features. Lyrical Animation is headed by seasoned Animation industry veterans Jacob Robinson, Daniel Dominguez, and Brad Graeber, and has many projects in development including an adaptation of the video game Death Stranding. Tiny Onion will be working closely with Lyrical Animation on its animation slate.

James Tynion IV launches Tiny Onion a new independent multimedia production company

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Tiny Onion logo

James Tynion IV has announced the formation of a new independent production house, Tiny Onion, with aggressive plans across the publishing, film, television, and animation industries. Tynion is known for comic series such as Something is Killing the Children, The Department of Truth, The Nice House on the Lake, and W0RLDTR33.

Tiny Onion is backed by a seed investment from Lyrical Media, the Los Angeles and New York-based company that develops, produces, and finances unique stories across multi-media formats, including film, television, video games, podcasts, and graphic novels.

In the comics space, Tiny Onion is bringing together the brightest minds in behind-the-scenes comic book production to staff up a full-service independent editorial and design team. Following the principles that have brought Tynion’s work success in the comics market, the team will seek to identify creative partners and elevate them, curating and packaging the titles before bringing them to the company’s publishing partners across the industry. Tiny Onion will not operate as a publisher itself, but rather an independent creative services company with a footprint across many publishers, including BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse Comics, DSTLRY, and Image Comics.

Leading Tiny Onion’s editorial team is Eric Harburn, who helped Tynion and co-creator Werther Dell’Edera develop Something is Killing the Children into one of the most successful comic book franchises of the last decade during his time at publisher BOOM! Studios. While at BOOM!, Harburn also served as editor of the Keanu Reeves comic book series, BRZRKR, which launched with one of the most successful comic book Kickstarter campaigns of all time. Joining Harburn are Courtney Menard (formerly of Z2 Comics) as Director of Production, and Jazzlyn Stone (formerly independent) as Director of Communications.

While its roots lay in comics, Tiny Onion has ambitions in other media. The company will manage a significant portion of Tynion’s backlist of intellectual property and is in the process of developing a slate of new projects across the film, television, and animation industries. UTA, who represents James Tynion IV and Lyrical Media, will now represent Tiny Onion in media rights, where it will help the production company grow its producing profile across film and television.