Curious Pictures has finalized a deal to represent Stockholm’s Filmtecknarna F. Animation (FT) in North America. The FT studio is comprised of directors Jonas Odell and Jonas Dahlbeck.
Curious Pictures, based in New York and San Francisco, also has a Los Angeles office which is involved solely in television development. FT was founded in ’81 by producer/CEO Lars Ohlson and directors Stig Bergqvist and Odell. Director Martti Ekstrand later became a partner and when he left in ’94, he was replaced by Dalhbeck and by Magnus Carlsson, who directed Radiohead’s "Paranoid Android" video (which was animated at FT). Although Carlsson’s now with Swedish production company Happy Life, he, Dahlbeck, Ohlson, Odell and Bergqvist remain FT’s owners. (Bergqvist is repped in the U.S. by Hollywood-based Class-Key Chew-Po Commercials.)
FT’s early productions included shorts such as The Man Who Thought With His Hat (’84) and Dawning (’85), which were funded by the Swedish Film Institute. The directors’ spots were shown at movie theaters in Sweden. However, Ohlson explained, "when commercial television started in the late eighties, our involvement in spots grew."
Dahlbeck’s commercial credits include Boddingtons’ "Cream of Playboy," "Horror Hoof" and "Market" for Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), London (co-produced with London-based Nexus Films); the Swedish Film Industry’s "Monster" for Manne & Company, Stockholm; and "Theatre" for the Cartoon Network, Atlanta. Odell directed "The Monk" for the Swedish lottery through OCH, Stockholm, as well as "Thing to Do" and "Atom Ant" for the Cartoon Network. Both are seasoned directors: Odell is best known for the "Alligator Liberator" episode of Wally Gator, and the "Running Under Water" installment of Jabber Jaw, both of which were shown on the Cartoon Network. Dahlbeck’s short Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me won a Guldbaggen (Golden Ram) from the Swedish Film Institute in ’94.
Although Curious Pictures’ executive producer/head of production Richard Winkler had been aware of FT for some time, he didn’t consider teaming with the company until last summer. "We saw them as peers and potential competitors, and finally we said, ‘Wait a minute, why don’t we try to team up?’" Winkler said. "They’d won a jury award at the Broadcast Design Association’s conference in San Francisco last June for "Atom Ant." When we got in touch, they were just starting to think about [expanding to] the U.S. I invited Jonas Odell to a panel I was organizing in Amsterdam on Desktop Production, and then I went to Stockholm to work out the larger points of the deal."
Ohlson was likewise enthusiastic: "Our cooperation with Curious Pictures will give us access to the U.S. market—both for commercials and other commissioned productions, but also for features and television series."
According to Winkler, part of the stimulus leading to the agreement was a mutual interest in work-sharing and globalized access. "We’re going to do a work-share by T1 lines. FT is comfortable with remote working, job sharing and being in several places at the same time," he said.
Winkler remained closemouthed about current jobs: "FT is bidding something out of a New York agency, so it’s a bit too soon to be specific about that. They’re also developing their own content, and I think we’re going to collaborate on that in the future." He noted that FT’s directors are versed in various animation techniques, including 3-D, classic cel, and what Winkler calls "a more graphic cel. They also do stop-motion animation with models."
Curious Pictures’ directorial roster includes Steve Oakes, Mike Bennion, Chel White, Flea Circus, Denis Morella, Mo Willems, David Kelley, Jerry Van De Beek, Nick Hewitt, Joan Raspo, Mike Bade and Tuesday McGowan. Curious also reps the British collective Tomato in the U.S.
Curious is repped by New York-based Rachel Klein on the East Coast and in Oregon; Chicago-based Karen Kovach in the Midwest; and Darr Hawthorne of Burning Motor Home, Sherman Oaks, Calif., on the West Coast. Ohlson represents FT in Europe and Sweden.
