Ireland’s Lighthouse Studios Ups Gilly Fogg To Head Creative

Lighthouse Studios has promoted Gilly Fogg to the title of head creative. She will manage the young Irish studio’s creative teams and oversee its content, both original IP and service work.

Fogg joined Lighthouse when it launched in 2017, serving initially as studio series director before becoming a showrunner in February this year. She directed its first series to have aired, Amazon Prime’s Bug Diaries, and oversaw the tests that won the studio its service projects like Netflix’s The Cuphead Show.

Starting out as a puppeteer, Fogg then became a stop-motion animator, eventually working up to episodic director on British mega-hit Bob the Builder. She moved to series directing at DHX Media, where her credits include Wishenpoof, Space Ranger Roger, and Animal Mechanicals.

At Lighthouse, her projects include directing as an-yet-unannounced miniseries for a global streamer and showrunning another series currently in development. She is writing an original work that “explores inter-generational relationships in a changing world,” working with the showrunner of the studio’s first adult title, and overseeing its in-house short film initiative.

Lighthouse was founded as a joint venture between Canada’s Mercury Filmworks (animation on Kid Cosmic, Hilda) and Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon (Wolfwalkers, The Breadwinner). Like Cartoon Saloon, Lighthouse is based in the town of Kilkenny. Its focus is on 2d animation, and its credits include Amazon’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Warner Bros. Animation’s Little Ellen.

Managing director Claire Finn said in a statement:

Since taking the reins of the studio in 2018, I am proud of the level of talent we have attracted and the culture we have created that gives our team the environment to thrive, and Gilly has played a huge role in taking Lighthouse to the next level. We have a robust slate of service work with big launches happening in spring 2022 and are gaining strength as we grow our original IP projects.