Sarah Baisley talks with Marc du Pontavice, founder/president of Xilam, about how and why French producers have gained the advantage in the global animation industry.
Marc du Pontavice, founder/president of Xilam, was the first French producer to sell animated series to the U.S., Home To Rent (Stupid Invaders) and Oggy & The Cockroaches on Fox Kids in 1997. At that time du Pontavice was head of Gaumont Multimedia in Paris. That was a remarkable achievement then as European animation producers struggled to gain acceptance from American broadcasters and indie studios in the U.S. had a distinct advantage. A decade later, du Pontavice tells AWM that French producers have gained the advantage, for a number of reasons, in the global animation industry.
The first reason, according to du Pontavice, is talent. He said Europe has developed a great pool of talent not only in design, but also for direction and boarding.
The second main reason is cost, claiming that French animation studios, "know how to produce much cheaper than the U.S. No, it's true!" he exclaimed. "I think it has a lot to do also with what we call above the line. We don't spend as much as the U.S. above the line."
He added, "For some reason, and I hope it's going to stay like this, there is no star in the animation business," meaning there is no premiere studio or animation talent that everyone tries to emulate or compete with.
He said American studios, "spend a lot on the executives because, don't forget, in the U.S. the independent world has pretty much vanished. Now it's all about the studios and we all know that the cost of running a studio is very expensive." He thinks it shows in the production cost.
He said French producers don't spend nearly as much in this area. Another key factor is that in Europe, mostly in France, "there is no vertical integration like you guys have the in U.S.," said du Pontavice. "It's really independent." He guesstimates that 95% of the animation business in France is composed of independent companies.
When asked why the producers had not become vertically integrated he responded. "We have very strict regulation that precludes the networks from owning their own shows, that includes the networks to produce their own shows," he pointed out. He said the situation was similar in America until 1995 when, as he puts it, "the syndication rules exploded."
He said French studio operate mainly as creators and producers. "Yes we have our own distribution. I don't think there is a single producer in France that has more than five people in its entire distribution team, so it's very cost effective."
In addition to the talent and the cost, du Pontavice said the third big advantage is, "significant financial resources within our own market. If we initiate, create and produce a show out of France, you can collar almost 50% of the budget out of that market. That is a significant advantage."
Certainly an advantage that many producers around the world have changed their business model for as they seek French partners to finance budgets no longer funded by the ever-diminishing license fees of broadcasters.
"It's very important to point out, " he said, adding the French business model wouldn't work without the resources, which work out best in France and Canada. "A lot of other territories have tried that," in Europe he said. "There are a lot regional funds and subsidies, like in Germany or Spain," which have not realized the same success.
Partly, he thinks, "Because subsidies, themselves, never grow along a business. You must pair them with a good talent pool and great production or several companies."
Reflecting on the last decade, he said, "When I started exporting to the U.S. in '96, I was pretty much the only one, which is not a good thing."
Responding to a perplex look, he said, "It's true, it doesn't create a market."
Around that time, other shows were tried but often didn't work out. These included Calamity Jane by Kayenta Prods., Walter Melon from Saban Paris and Marsupilami from Marathon. Marathon soon got itself a hit and franchise with Totally Spies.
"What is good now is that there are at least six, seven or eight studios in France who have that capacity of producing and having a show on in the U.S. So that's very good for the business."
In the highly competitive world of entertainment, animation seems to distinguish itself by welcoming competition, figuring that each breakthrough such as primetime, may help pave the way for others to gain acceptance and business.
While de Pontavice was the first French producer to penetrate the U.S. airwaves, much credit is due to Christian Davin, now head of Alphanim. A decade ago he helped organize French producers to meet with and learn from American studios their production systems and expectations from them, as well as those of U.S. broadcasters. Amongst this learning curve and networking to gain familiarity and trust, his group lobbied the French government and broadcasters for support to enable more French-produced shows to make European airwaves, and schedules in North America, which increased their worldwide appeal.
Davin was head of France Animation at the time, which was absorbed by Antefilm. France Animation and Antefilm were renamed Moonscoop, which recently bought a majority stake in the American animation production house, Mike Young Prods. The combined entities have many shows on the U.S. airwaves and around the world, as does Davin's current company, Alphanim.
Back to Xilam, which, like other French producers is in a growth phase. When asked what he does to attract talent with the growth, he responded, "It depends upon what area of talent you are talking about. If in preproduction, we don't have a problem, there is still plenty of good talent," in France he said. "The problem we faced last year, and will still be the same this year, is that some of the subsidy system has evolved and grown to support more local work for the production, as opposed to preproduction."
More line production -- meaning animation, layout, backgrounds -- has to be done in France in order to get funding.
According to de Pontavice, "This created an incredible boom in the market."
"Because of the subsidy system in France," he said, "we produced Shuriken School entirely in France for Nickelodeon. We had 90 people just for that show working out of France. It was a hell of a nightmare to put this pool together, because half of them are very young, not very experienced, and the company goal is always to deliver the best of the best." He related it took a lot of time to get the team up to the speed and quality level they wanted.
"We're not the only studio doing this; many other studios are doing this," he added, "There is a very, very strong demand. So in the long term it's very good. It's a bit challenging in the beginning," but called it a "very nice, positive curve -- more talent, more business. It's good," he smiles.
What helps keep Xilam busy and its growth healthy is working on a variety of things. Studios can't just do 26 half-hours shows for television any more they used to. Even with the increase in channels and broadcasters, slots are limited. "There aren't that many shows you can run together at the same time unless you lose quality," du Pontavice said.
So his studio has diversified. "We are doing a variety of different formats, which is very good," he explained.
In addition to traditional television, Xilam is very active doing feature films. He said 40% of the studio is busy with a feature film based upon the comicbook hero Lucky Luke, who will ride onto the big screen in Tous A L'ouest in fall 2007.
"And on the other side, you've got the very short format, like Rintindumb, one-minute, formats," he continued, featuring the dumbest dog in the west, Lucky Luke's sidekick, which airs on France 3. "It's very good, because on a format like this, it's a very small team -- eight to nine people max. It's completely creator/totally talent driven.
While short format is not a huge industry, du Pontavice likes doing them, calling them, "very efficient in terms of storytelling, directing. All of this is very nice. You create shows that have incredible value, not only for the long term, for the shelf life, but also because of mobile, Internet. So those sort of formats are a very interesting evolution."
In addition to the growing mobile and Internet demand, du Pontavice points out, "Believe it or not there is a market on television that is growing fast." Using them as fillers, interstitials, broadcasters are doing much more of that he said. Broadcasters are coming to him and asking him for short formats, so he is happy to make them.
"It's very good. When you do 26 half hours, you are depending upon two or three shows maximum, which, from a business model, is very risky. When you have a variety of formats, from long features films to very short formats, you can work at least on five or six different titles minimum a year, which is a good business."
Outside of television, mobile and the Internet are becoming important mediums, he claims. "I'm not saying it's a huge cash revenue right now, but it's the future," and so he is very keen on that kind of format.
"To survive, you have to project yourself a little," he said.
This French producer knows a thing or two about surviving. A futurist, du Pontavice led his first animation studio, Gaumont Multimedia, which was part of the bigger Gaumont producer/distributor, into gaming and feature production in 3D (Kaena The Prophecy), as well as penetrated the U.S. airwaves. When the parent company, Gaumont, decided to pursue only live action, he started up Xilam in 1999, was able to purchase the Gaumont Multimedia assets and set up the studio in his old headquarters. Xilam Animation (www.xilam.com) is an audiovisual and multimedia production company that creates, produces and distributes worldwide, both 2D and 3D CGI animated content for TV, film and videogame formats. Located in the heart of Paris, Xilam now is a public company listed on the Paris stock market.
According to du Pontavice, "Animation is all about projecting yourself. It takes a minimum of three years by the time you make a decision to develop a show to the time you get it on the air. You have to project into the future or you're dead."
Sarah Baisley is the editor-in-chief of Animation World Network.
