Before Toetag Pictures was founded, director Fred Vogel and special effects artist Jerami Cruise both attended the same university, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh,[3] where they began shooting underground short films with a focus on gore and violence.
Following the success of August Underground and its sequel, Toetag Pictures was able to lease their first studio in Bellevue, Pennsylvania.
Due to the continued success of Toetag, the company was able to move to a 7,000 sq ft studio in Pittsburgh.
[3] After the Pittsburgh studio closed, Toetag went on to work on special effects for the segment "Wet Dream" in the horror anthology film The Theater Bizarre, and also contributed to SFX for the films White Reindeer (2013) and Fractured (2013).
[5] In 2012, Jerami Cruise moved the Toetag EFX department to Los Angeles, California.