After more than six years as head of development at Cyber Group Studios US, Ira Singerman has moved on to start a new chapter in his career.

Singerman officially relaunched his consulting/production firm Hero Complex Entertainment this week, sharing the news through LinkedIn on August 27. He noted that he will be transitioning into a consulting role with Cyber Group, where he was responsible for shepherding a slate of animated kids projects including the upcoming toon Press Start! (Peacock).

With a long track record for nurturing lucrative preschool and tween IPs, Singerman worked for nine years as a supervising producer at Mattel (2007 to 2016), where he played a key role in launching franchises such as Monster High and DC Superhero Girls. He later served in senior development roles at Universal (Team Zenko Go) and Spin Master Entertainment (Mighty Express).

Singerman is now looking to channel his expertise into supporting companies in the kids & family space during what continues to be a very challenging time, characterized by shrinking commissions and cutbacks in most areas of the market. Hero Complex’s services will include strategic franchise planning, integrating play patterns, creative production and tailoring development for diverse markets. 

The company will also independently produce original content, and Singerman says he is keen to tell aspirational stories for kids with high-concept hooks and a strong element of wish-fulfillment. “I’m especially interested in projects that have strong play patterns, or at least that have the ability to have strong play patterns woven in organically in the development process,” he tells Kidscreen. “Not all ideas lend themselves to being toyetic, and that’s OK. But if the potential is there and unrealized, then I’m very interested in exploring how to extract it.”

Hero Complex was originally formed in 2018 when Singerman was consulting for a handful of clients. Under the banner, he also created and launched his podcast Best Whatever Ever! Stories for Kids, which he says has generated more than 400,000 downloads to date.