Animation: Co-production is the way forward
Though outsourcing is the current buzzword for the animation industry in India, domestic studios are keen to move away from being an outsourcing company to being co-producers with globally recognised animation brands.
While the co-production treaty between India and UK was signed last year, India does not have treaties with leading animation countries. This is the key reason that slows down the development of animation in India. Hans Vander Sluys, Executive Producer, Context Pictures, Canada, with over 15 years in the industry, threw light on the detailed and intensely organised co-production model in Canada.
Sluys said, “Co-production has been happening for a very long time in Canada. It is important for India to have a co-production treaty with Canada as it is about splitting budgets between the two countries to produce highly advanced animation content in an organised and legal manner.”
The outsourcing work that generally comes from West to East is primarily done to stretch the dollar’s value. Sluys said, “Though Canada is keenly looking at signing co-production treaties with other countries and vice versa, Canadian co-production is a complex and legal negotiation.”
Currently, Canada has treaties with almost 53 countries for co-production. Telefilm Canada has been administering co-production agreements on the Canadian government's behalf for almost 40 years. The official co-production agreements enable Canadian producers and their foreign counterparts to pool their creative, artistic, technical and financial resources to co-produce films and television programs that enjoy the status of national productions in each of the countries concerned.
Sluys added, “Telefilm Canada expects a lot from the co-production partners as it makes use of public money to drive the industry forward. Any company looking at establishing strong co-production ties with Canada must make sure that the co-production partner has strong ties with Canadian broadcasters. The Canadian broadcasters, along with Telefilm Canada, decide which projects get the funding and broadcasters get the budget envelopes based on their audience and reach.” Canada also has provincial funding that funds up to 20 per cent of the Canadian portion and there are almost 20 private funds (raised by large cable operators and IT companies) that are also available for Canadian production partners.
Citing an example of a typical work-split with a European partner, Sluys said that acquisitions, scripts, storyboards, character design, modelling, texturing, and editing were done in Europe while layouts, setup, animation, VFX, lighting, rendering and voices happened in Canada. A typical financial structure in 60/40 scenario with a European partner is 30 per cent with the broadcasters, 22 per cent with Telefilm Canada, 18 per cent with provincial funds, 8 per cent with other funds, 12 per cent with distribution and 10 per cent with the producer. The industry also gets very encouraging support from Canadian banks and large portions of money that producers get come as tax credits after production is complete making bridge financing a necessity.
Sluys advised producers who are keen to work with Canadian production companies to carefully select projects and make sure that the intellectual property is easily approved by the partners and broadcasters. Producers also should make sure that the Canadian production partners have a solid legal and financial team. He added, “The Canadian system for co-production is very stringent and slow but it is a highly organised system.”
Joan Vogelesang, CEO and President, Toon Boom Animation Inc, Canada, presented a case study on the animated adventure Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends. Nelvana controls the underlying rights and the co-production is split with Nelvana owning 80 per cent while Absolute Digital Pictures (UK) owns 20 per cent. Vogelesang said, “Co-production is not so much about money but more about positioning your products in prime slots in other countries as well.”
Some challenges of co-production are having treaties, making an effort to have content recognised as local content, and establishing different levels of style in creating new looks and mannerisms for the characters. Vogelesang explained, “The benefits of co-production are availability of production systems that are capable of handling large productions, meeting demands of local content programming and opportunities to create regional partnerships.”
Commenting on Canada being recognised as an animation hub, Vogelesang said, “The National Film Board (NFB) in Canada is funded by Canadian tax payers. NFB has tied up with several colleges in Canada and it plays a very vital role in professionally training people.”
According to Hari Varma, Director - Operations, Toonz Animation India, the key reasons for co-production are access to funding and penetration in new markets. Studios can choose to be purely service based or even work for hire studios that offer content creators highly advanced systems. Varma said, “To create original IP producers should focus on universal themes and clearly position IPs according to demographic and audience groups.”
The final verdict of the discussion was that while formal co-production treaties will steer the Indian Animation Industry to unprecedented heights, Indian producers first need to realize that co-production is all about sharing skills, exchange of technological know-how, bringing up a common work culture and creating content that has global appeal.
