Production veterans John Attard and David “Doc” Abbott have launched Showdog Studios, a content company based in Franklin, Tenn.
The partners are self-financing the business and have established a development fund to create their own content. The pair are at work on an anthology series, “Revive: Portraits of Redemption,” with producer Tom Evans that they intend to shop to buyers down the road. Another industry veteran, Robert Harris, has joined Showdog as executive producer to help shepherd “Revive” and other projects. Franklin is about 20 miles south of Nashville.
“Doc and I are extremely excited to have Robert join the Showdog Studio team. We want to create stories of hope along the lines of the stories I’ve enjoyed watching over the years – many of which were deftly shepherded by Robert’s steady hand,” Attard said.
The partners vow to produce TV shows, films and other content that revolve around messages of “change and hope” with an emphasis on “well-crafted stories that transcend cultural, religious and societal boundaries to connect audiences through a shared experience.”
Abbott elaborated on that vision, noting that Showdog’s “sole mission” is to champion “powerful and meaningful stories that focus on true heroes who inspire and uplift audiences.”
With “Revive,” the partners aim to produce episodes in a range of genres to show the versatility of content with uplifting themes.
“Facing and overcoming adversity, each of these characters is to have impact on the people and community around them as well as their collective futures. Redemption stories are geared to providing hope in even the most challenging of circumstances,” Evans said.
Attard has spent the past 20-plus years as a visual effects producer in Hollywood, working for such studios as Warner Bros. and Disney and vfx shops such as MPC, Mill Film, Avid and Autodesk. His credits include such blockbuster films as “The Avengers,” “Gladiator,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Jungle Book,” “Pitch Black,” “Minority Report” and “Holes.”
Abbott is a director-producer who has crafted music videos for DreamWorks, Sony Entertainment, Capitol, Warner Bros. and Curb as well as the 2003 indie “Charlie’s War” starring Olympia Dukakis, Lynn Redgrave and Diane Ladd. He’s also directed hundreds of hours of syndicated TV.
Harris previously worked in production and development capacities for Universal TV, Imagine Films Entertainment, and he was an early broadband strategy executive for AOL.
