Nest Family Entertainment is an American family entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas. It was formed on July 1, 1988 as Family Entertainment Network by Jared F. Brown, Stephen W. Griffin, and Seldon O. Young. The company has produced several dramatized radio series, animated films and TV series since the 1980s. Its series include (among others) the Animated Stories from the New Testament, The Swan Princess,The King and I, and The Scarecrow.
History
Nest Family Entertainment started as Family Entertainment Network on July 1, 1988,[1] which was an offshoot of the Living Scriptures company that Brown, Griffin, and Young had formed a decade prior. It specialized in dramatized audio cassette sets and animated direct-to-video series based on stories from the Holy Bible. On October 22, 1991, a sibling company was formed, Living History Productions, for dramatized audio cassettes and animated videos based on noted figures and principles of history.[2]
On September 15, 1993, a single umbrella company named Nest Entertainment[3] owned two production companies, Family Entertainment Network was renamed to Family Entertainment until 1994, and Living History Productions until 1996.[4] They acquired Richard Rich's animation studios Rich Entertainment, responsible for producing the videos, around that time and expanded into other ventures including animated features and live-action children's series.[5]
After Stephen W. Griffin stepped down, Atlanta businessman K. Douglas Martin took over as president of Nest Entertainment. The company self-financed the original 1994 animated feature film, The Swan Princess, with New Line Cinema distributing (now distributed by Sony Pictures). Despite performing poorly at the box office, strong video sales helped save the company from potential debt. The next year, Nest partnered with Warner Music Group to form Warner-Nest Animation, a children's entertainment outlet.[6]
Currently, Nest Family Entertainment distributes short animated films for children's education, such as Animated Hero Classics. The intellectual property rights for The Swan Princess art, logo, and title have been transferred to Swan Princess Partners Utah LLC[7] (DBA Swan Princess Partners).[8] Swan Princess Partners is also owned by Jared F. Brown and Seldon O. Young, and is currently active in merchandizing The Swan Princess brand and creating more animated films with Sony Pictures and Streetlight Productions (Richard Rich's production studio).
