TRIVANDRUM, India-Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd., a new animation production studio in India, will have a limited unveiling in August, with an official opening slated for November. Toonz will offer a full range of production services for episodic TV series and commercials.
Toonz will also be dedicated to developing original pilot shows based on Indian folklore and mythology. "India has a rich treasury of folklore which will form the basis for many of our pilot shows," said company president/CEO Bill Dennis. "Our plan calls for the creation of four pilots during our first complete year of operation. We are also actively seeking production partnerships with American and European studios."
Cartoon Network, Hong Kong, has already signed on to be the new studio’s first client. Toonz will be completing a series of commercials for the network. "Given the tremendous depth of experience in our team of artists, we plan to target the middle to top range of animation work," related Dennis, a veteran production executive who was most recently CEO of RM/USL Studios, Bombay and Singapore. Prior to that, he spent four years as president of Fil-Cartoons, a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting, located in Manila, and was a VP at Walt Disney Feature Animation during the period of its resurgence into classic feature animated film production.
Other Toonz staffers include commercial director K. Subra, who will act as creative director and is the former founder and head of Animata Studios Pte. Ltd., Singapore; studio manager Cathy Peza, who spent 13 years as head of production at Fil-Cartoons, Manila; Tom Tilbury, formerly of Cambridge Animation, USA, who will act as the 2-D technical director; and Ajit Rao who comes over from RM/USL Animation to handle training. Rao will be assisted by veteran animator/director Jeff Hale, and Prescott Wright, former director of The Tournee of Animation and animation instructor. In addition, five key animators and five department heads are being secured from other studios in Southeast Asia. Staff is currently being recruited and trained to fill the remaining positions. "We are making a substantial investment in training. We’re recruiting from throughout India for the best available talent to be trained in all animation disciplines. Right now, we’re recruiting 50 artists to be trained for animator positions," explained Dennis. By the time of its opening, Toonz will employ 150 full-time artists.
Located on the southwest coast of India on the Arabian Sea, in Trivandrum, a city situated in the tropical state of Kerala, Toonz will offer a state-of-the-art production facility. The studio will occupy over 10,000 square feet, expanding to 20,000 within the next 18 months, and is situated inside a 180-acre facility called TechnoPark Campus. The studio will feature such resources as a fully digital ink and paint suite with 20 seats utilizing various software systems.
For its November opening, Toonz will host "A Week with the Masters" which will bring top names in international animation pre-production together to discuss the importance of story boarding, character design and story development. This event is billed as being the first of its kind in South Asia and will be open to all studio creative professionals. Promising to become an annual event, "A Week with the Masters" will benefit from Technopark’s International Conference Center and such guests as keynote speaker, Rob Coleman, Industrial Light+ Magic’s animation supervisor on the feature film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Other participants confirmed thus far are: producer, director, writer Derek Lamb, Ian Diamond of Cartoon Network and representatives from Wild Brain, San Francisco.
