The first session of the Animation Lab saw DreamWorks Animation SKG, US senior creative, acquisitions & co-productions Damien Tromel, speak to a closed group on how independent and smaller studios can work hand in hand with the studio.
“DreamWorks Animation is always known for its franchise movies like Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Despicable Me, among others; but we also create a lot of content for the small screen as well, for which we primarily look at co-producing those content globally,” reveals Damien.
The studio has a very clear business model in place, wherein the production company/producer is in-charge of hiring the talent to work on the assignment, is responsible for proofing the concept and scouting for local funding, if possible. Whereas, DreamWorks Animation will look at co-funding the project, conduct a market study, help in the creative development and finally also look for global financing of the series.
“For a show like Dragons, which is based on the movie franchise, it takes nearly $ 500,000 for a 30 minute episode to be produced, keeping in mind the complex character art and design that is involved in the project,” reveals Damien. “On the other hand, the development of a series like Noddy, co-produced by Gaumont Animation, will cost anywhere between $ 300,000 and $ 350,000 for the same duration; and for a series like Turbo, produced by WFH and animation done by Titmouse Studios, it would vary keeping in mind that it has both 2D as well as 3D elements in the show.”
He finally ended by saying that DreamWorks is open to working along with anyone as long as they bring the right creative sensibility and understanding of the medium. They must also be open to working with a studio like DreamWorks because though the rights of ‘local distribution’ will remain with the co-producing studio, the ‘global distribution’ rights will stay with DreamWorks Animation. Now that’s a really smart way of doing business, reminding one of the saying ‘have one’s cake and eat it too’!