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May 6, 2008
With
a staff of about 160 people, Animation Collective is the largest animation
studio in New York. The company has built up a solid reputation as a
work-for-hire outfit, working on productions like Speed Racer: The Next Generation,
and is also busy developing and distributing its own shows, all created and
executive produced by the company’s CEO, Larry Schwarz. “We
really focus on creating, producing and selling our own stuff, which is a
little bit different from other studios,” says Schwarz. Among
the company’s proprietary productions is Three Delivery, for
Nicktoons, YTV and the BBC, about teenage heroes who use extreme biking and
kung fu to protect a magic cookbook from an evil sorcerer set on destroying
Chinatown and the world. “We just sold it to Canal+ in France and
Nick Australia,” Schwarz says. Also
on the slate is season four of Thumb Wrestling Federation: TWF,
whose broadcast partners include Nicktoons, the BBC and Cartoon Network
Asia, while Latin American deals are being handled by Televix
Entertainment. Selling
his own properties has been a rewarding experience, Schwarz notes.
“You really do understand what the broadcasters want. Each meeting
for us is a focus group and I think that’s a real advantage we
have.” Schwarz
adds that since all of Animation Collective’s proprietary shows are
pre-sold—most before there’s a script in
place—broadcasters have an opportunity to provide feedback as the
series is being developed. “So what they are getting is almost the
level of creative input that they would get with a show that they’re
funding, either making in house or doing as a co-pro, but they’re
paying the price of an acquisition.” Selling
shows on the international market is a relatively new turn in
Schwarz’s career, but he is not new to the kids’ business.
Prior to founding Animation Collective, Schwarz set up Rumpus, a multimedia
children’s entertainment company that operated the websites
Rumpus.com and Zeeks.com. Rumpus.com was, Schwarz says, operated like an
online kids’ network, delivering animated and live-action shows as
well as interactive entertainment. Although Rumpus was “a victim of
the Internet bust,” Schwarz says, the opportunity gave him plenty of
experience in “creating and producing content inexpensively.” The
years leading Rumpus also gave Schwarz an understanding of the importance
of new-media content for kids. Indeed, one of Animation Collective’s
biggest hits, Thumb
Wrestling Federation, was initially conceived as a
made-for-mobile property before being scooped up by Nicktoons in the U.S. Schwarz
notes that TWF
is also indicative of the breadth of styles Animation Collective is able to
work in. “We really don’t have a studio style. We work in
Flash, we work in CG, we do live action. We focus on great stories with
characters that the kids care about.” That
variety in style is seen in Animation Collective’s upcoming slate of
shows currently being pitched to broadcasters, which includes the tween
animated series Jolly
Rabbit and HTDT, and the slightly
older-skewing live-action show Black Dawn. —By Mansha Daswani |
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