Madrid-based animation studios Ánima Kitchent and Able & Baker are looking southwest as they team up to build a future together.
The two companies have launched a new service studio called Monkeys & Dinos in the Canary Islands, leveraging the autonomous Spanish region’s tax rebates for animation.
The Canary Islands offer a 45% to 54% tax rebate on eligible spend for service studios working on foreign productions. To qualify, animation and post-production projects need to have a minimum US$210,000 spend, and the incentive is capped at US$10.5 million.
In addition to the tax incentive, Ánima Kitchent and Able & Baker cite the Canary Islands’ infrastructure (which includes universities that offer animation programs) as the reasons they chose the location for their new venture.
Carlos Tschuschke (pictured above), the founder and CEO of Able & Baker, is in charge of the new studio. Monkeys & Dinos is set to start production on its first projects in 2025. The studio is close to landing a job doing service work on a feature film, and if that comes through, Monkeys & Dinos will soon start the hiring process, according to a spokesperson.

Pictured is Angel Molinero, CEO of Ánima Kitchent (left) and Carlos Tschuschke, founder and CEO of Able & Baker (right).
Ánima Kitchent, which produces 2D and 3D animation, is best known for its flagship series Cleo & Cuquin, based on a classic Spanish animated show from the ’60s and ’70s called The Telerin Family. Cleo & Cuquin revolves around a young boy who’s always getting into trouble and his big sister, who’s always getting him out of it. Mexico’s TelevisaUnivision renewed its rights to season one and two (78 x seven minutes) in November.
Able & Baker’s credits include Love, Death & Robots—an animated anthology series for adults—and the Netflix Original children’s series Bad Dinosaurs from Snafu Pictures, which premiered in March.
Although a long way from the Spanish mainland home of its founding companies, Monkeys & Dinos won’t be isolated from the kids content creation community. A handful of animation studios have started setting up shop in the Canary Islands in recent years to take advantage of the generous tax credit. In October, Helsinki-based Gigglebug Entertainment opened a new studio there, and Studio 100 acquired a stake in Canary-based 3Doubles Producciones.