"total drama island" was developed and produced by fresh tv, starting in 2006, with an early name for the series being "camp tv". the season was animated at elliott animation and was directed by todd kauffman and mark thornton. it was primarily targeted at eight-to-twelve-year-olds, and the creators, tom mcgillis and jennifer pertsch, studied what tweens liked and disliked about reality television shows in the writing process. mcgillis said that they used a "countrywide online research project" to determine this demographic's likes. fresh tv inc. partners mcgillis, pertsch, elliott and irving produced the series. the budget for the series was $8 million. it was animated in flash, at elliott animation's studio in toronto. every cast and crew member on "total drama island" had to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose who the winner was. all the characters were designed by kauffman. voice actors from the freshtv series "6teen" have lent their voices for "total drama island": christian potenza, who played the character jude on "6teen", played the role of host chris mclean. potenza said that the best part of the job was that his character could not be voted off the show. emilie-claire barlow plays a recurring role as chrissy on "6teen" and plays courtney on "total drama island". barlow stated that courtney was her favorite character that she had ever played. other voice actors from "6teen" include julia chantrey as eva; drew nelson (kai) as duncan; megan fahlenbock (jen) as gwen; adam reid (wayne) as justin; stephanie anne mills (kirsten) as lindsay and katie; and rachel wilson (melinda wilson) as heather.