SpindleHorse Toons

SpindleHorse,^[1] commonly referred to as SpindleHorse Toons, is an American animation production company founded by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano in 2018, based in Burbank, California. It is responsible for the Hellaverse shared universe animated series,^[2] whose main series Hazbin Hotel is co-animated with Bento Box Entertainment and co-produced with A24. It is the sole animation studio of its spin-off series, Helluva Boss.

SpindleHorse

Company type	Private
Industry	Animation
Founded	2018; 6 years ago (2018)
Founders	Vivienne Medrano
Headquarters	Burbank, California , U.S.
Key people	Sam Miller (art director) Skye Henwood (animation director) Tom Murray (head of production) Cécilia Goncalves (design lead) Sam Haft (lead composer) Richard Horvitz (voice director)
Products	Hazbin Hotel Helluva Boss
Owner	Vivienne Medrano
Website	spindlehorse.com

SpindleHorse has also produced several animated shorts, including "Holidaze" and "Bad Luck Jack", all of which are available on Medrano's YouTube channel. Medrano has stated that the company's name comes from a childhood character of hers named Spindle.

History

Vivenne Medrano founded the animation studio SpindleHorse Toons, under which the pilot for Hazbin Hotel, the pilot and first two seasons of Helluva Boss, and several animated shorts would be released.^[3] Medrano serves as the director, lead writer and lead character designer for SpindleHorse Toons.^[4] In an interview with Cartoon Brew, she said that much of the Hazbin Hotel pilot was funded by money from her Patreon, rather than income from YouTube's algorithm.^[5] The company Horseless Cowboy assisted Medrano with voice casting during the first season of Helluva Boss, with Richard Steven Horvitz serving as the voice director.^[6] Cartoon Brew described her as a "paragon of indie success in animation".^[7]

In October 2019, the pilot episode of Hazbin Hotel was released on Medrano's YouTube channel.^[8] In November 2019, the pilot episode of Helluva Boss was released to her YouTube channel as well.^[9] On December 25, 2019, a short entitled "Holidaze" was released. In July 2020, Medrano released an animated music video for Hazbin Hotel called "Addict", featuring the Silva Hound song of the same name.^[10][11] In August 2020, Hazbin Hotel was picked up for a full series by A24.^[12][13] Animation Magazine said that A24 was taking a "bold step" by picking up the series.^[14] In 2023, scholar Ben Mitchell described Medrano's Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss as series which were "sensationally popular" and an effective use of Patreon to subsidize the show's art "through monthly tiered payments".^[15] Hazbin Hotel would go on to be released in January 2024 to critical acclaim.

On September 30, 2020, Medrano released an animated short film titled "Bad Luck Jack", based on her webcomic ZooPhobia.^[16] The short was nominated for and won for a Ursa Major Award in the "Best Dramatic Short Work" category.^[17][18] The short was also listed as a "Recommended Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work" on the Ursa Major Award website.^[19] From 2020 to 2021, Medrano released several "Voxtagram" animated clips of the characters of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss in a crossover slice-of-life setting to a series of in-character Instagram accounts run by SpindleHorse employees, alongside normal posts of character art depicting characters' selfies.^[20][21]

Animation productions

Television series

Title	Released	Original network(s)	Notes	Ref(s)
"Pilot"/"That's Entertainment"	2019	YouTube	Hazbin Hotel pilot	[22]
Hazbin Hotel	2024–present	Amazon Prime Video	Co-production with Bento Box and A24	[23]

Web series

Title	Released	Original network(s)	Notes	Ref(s)
Helluva Boss pilot	2019	YouTube	Pilot	[24] [25]
Helluva Boss	2020–present		Series	[25]

Music videos

Title	Released	Original network(s)	Ref(s)
"Inside of Every Demon Is a Rainbow"	2018	YouTube	[26]
"Oh Millie"	2020		[27]
"Addict"			[28]
"Just Look My Way"	2023		[29]
"Polkamania!" ("Vampire" segment)	2024

Shorts

Title	Released	Original network(s)	Ref(s)
"Holidaze"	2019	YouTube	[30]
"Bad Luck Jack"	2020		[16]
"Hell’s Belles"	2024
"Mission: Antarctica"	2024
"Mission: Weeaboo-boo"	2024
"Mission: Chupacabras"	2024

References

1. "Secretary of State". bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
2. Medrano, Vivienne (January 31, 2024). Hazbin Hotel Live Q&A with Cast. VivziePop. Retrieved January 31, 2024 – via YouTube.
3. Amidi, Amid (August 7, 2020). "A24 Picks Up Online Pilot 'Hazbin Hotel' For Series". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
4. "Making Your Own Cartoon with Special Guest VIVIENNE MEDRANO". Creative Talent Network. September 2, 2020. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
5. Vollenbroek, Tunde (April 29, 2019). "7 Tips For Building A Successful Animation Channel On Youtube". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
6. "'Hazbin Hotel' creator Vivziepop teams with Horseless Cowboy on devilishly twisted 'Helluva Boss'". Skwigly. October 7, 2020. Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
7. Dudok De Wit, Alex (September 23, 2021). "6 Unmissable Events At This Week's Ottawa International Animation Festival". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
8. Brueheim, Jackson (May 13, 2020). "Hazbin Hotel: 10 Astonishing Pieces of Fan Art". CBR. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
9. Short, Dan (December 18, 2020). "Helluva Boss". Animated Views. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
10. Troup, Margaret (November 2, 2020). "'Hazbin Hotel' creator releases new episode of spinoff series 'Helluva Boss'". Iowa State Daily. Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
11. James, Tito W. (July 17, 2020). "'Hazbin Hotel' Returns With A New Music Video 'Addict'". Comicon.com. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
12. Dudok de Wit, Alex (September 1, 2020). "Here's The Biggest Animation News You Missed In August". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
13. Alexa, Laurén (September 1, 2020). "Unconventional A24 Picks Up Controversial 'Hazbin Hotel'". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
14. Milligan, Mercedes (August 7, 2020). "A24 Checks in to VivziePop's Hellish 'Hazbin Hotel'". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
15. Mitchell, Ben (2023). Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 87. ISBN 9781000849189. Archived from the original on July 6, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
16. Short, Dan (October 5, 2020). "ZooPhobia: Bad Luck Jack". Animated Views. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
17. "Voting". Ursa Major Awards. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
18. O'Reily, Rod (May 2, 2021). "The Ursa Major Awards for 2020". Flayrah. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
19. "Recommended Furry Art and Literature List". Ursa Major Awards. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
20. Medrano, Vivienne (June 21, 2020). "Voxtagram". Hellaverse. Retrieved June 21, 2020 – via Tumblr.
21. Veggie Gamer (August 28, 2020). 🐀❤️ Val & Vox are an Item? ❤️📺 – Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss Instagram Part 2!. VivziePop. Retrieved August 28, 2020 – via YouTube.
22. Hemenway, Megan (December 27, 2023). "Why Hazbin Hotel Season 1 Is Releasing 5 Years After The Pilot". Screenrant. Archived from the original on December 28, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
23. Shuman, Sean (November 19, 2023). "Hazbin Hotel: What Changed From the Pilot?". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on February 20, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
24. Dumas, Zoe (July 2, 2023). "Why Helluva Boss Is the Best Web Series Right Now". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
25. Dumas, Zoe (July 2, 2023). "How Does Helluva Boss Replace Hazbin Hotel?". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on January 28, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
26. Medrano, Vivienne (October 6, 2018). Hazbin Hotel – "Inside of Every Demon Is a Rainbow" (Original Song) Not For Kids. VivziePop. Retrieved October 6, 2018 – via YouTube.
27. Medrano, Vivienne (February 14, 2020). Oh Millie (Official Music Video) – Helluva Boss. VivziePop. Retrieved February 14, 2020 – via YouTube.
28. Medrano, Vivienne (July 17, 2020). Addict (Music Video) – Hazbin Hotel. VivziePop. Retrieved July 17, 2020 – via YouTube.
29. Mullinax, Hope (December 3, 2023). "New 'Helluva Boss' Music Video Teases the Future of Stolas and Blitzo's Romance". Collider. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
30. SpindleHorse [@SpindleHorse] (December 24, 2019). "Very very soon... ❄🎃 #Holidaze" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 26, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2024 – via Twitter.