New York live action/animation production company Graffiti Filmz has signed four animation directors for exclusive representation in the U.S.
Directors Alexander Bychkouski in New York, Zoltan Horvath in Geneva, and Vladimir and Elena Petkevich of Minsk, Belarussia, signed in the beginning of May.
The directors encompass a range of animation styles, according to Graffiti co-founder/ animator/director Sash Andranikian: "Vladimir Petkevich and his wife, Elena, focus primarily on sand over glass animation, which has a unique look. Alexander Bychkouski is another director I was eager to start working with. He moved to New York in ’99 [from Minsk], and we met again over his latest work. He does projects in cutout animation. We were looking to represent someone working in that style as well." Andranikian described Horvath’s work as "a combination of live action, CGI cutouts, traditional animation and hand created artwork."
These international directors come courtesy of Andranikian, who worked throughout Eastern Europe before coming to the U.S. in ’92. Co-founder/executive producer Vernon Church said, "Signing these new directors from overseas is a very important step for us in terms of growing our client base, because we can now deliver different types of animation to people here in the States."
For Moscow native Andranikian, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union seemed the natural place to find talent. He commented, "I worked in Eastern Europe for years before I moved to New York. Obviously I knew a lot of professionals in the industry; I kept my eye on the very talented directors, watching their progress. So after we established a company here in New York, I went to the Krok World Animated Film Festival in Kiev, the Ukraine, in September ’99. There I met directors I knew before again; I saw their work and we chatted. Each of the directors work in their own style and genre."
Church observed, "Sash’s connections with [overseas] directors really help us a tremendous amount because there’s such a group of creative talent over there that’s really untapped in the commercial space. He of course has personal relationships with a lot of people over there and knows the best of what’s available and [that has allowed] us to really find the best people."
Andranikian and Church founded Graffiti Filmz in ’99 after collaborating on a live- action feature film screenplay called Jack For Hire. Church explained, "In the course of doing that, we realized that we had complementary business experience as well." Church had previously worked in new media at Newsweek Interactive, HarperCollins Publishers and John Wiley & Sons Publishers, and also had been a journalist for Newsweek, Discover and Popular Science.
Andranikian studied animation at Moscow’s Elite Film School of Film Directors and Scriptwriters, graduating in ’84. His 10-minute film, Every Evening, won the Grand Prize at Kiev’s Youth Film Festival in ’87. Prior to founding Graffiti Filmz last year, Andranikian was a director at Zander’s Animation Parlour, New York, for four years. While there, he made AT&T’s "Nasty Ads" for FCB, New York; Club Med’s "Boardroom" for Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/ Euro RSCG, New York; and General Mills’ "Cowboy" for Saatchi & Saatchi, New York.
Andranikian believes that U.S. agencies will appreciate the directors’ skills: "More and more agencies are looking for a variety of unusual and unique styles [of commercial animation]. Strategically, that was the idea. We didn’t just sign them to expand the pool of directors in our company. We signed people who represent those unique styles in the animation industry."
Church agreed: "The clients do seem to be becoming much more sophisticated in their knowledge and their expectations of TV animation. We realized that if we wanted to satisfy those expectations, we needed to have all the techniques possible at our disposal. [That would] help us compete in a very tough marketplace here in New York. There are a lot of major animation studios and this will really put us on an equal footing with them."
Graffiti Filmz is currently seeking representation.
