The firm was founded in 1977 by veteran writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. Both men started out as sound editors at Hanna-Barbera and later branched out into writing stories for such programs as Space Ghost and The Herculoids. In 1968, they created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! for Hanna-Barbera. They were also writers and producers for DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.