Projects from the U.K. and France still dominate Cartoon Forum. On the right, participants view pilot projects over breakfast. Courtesy of Cartoon Forum.

One of the few people to have attended all 14 editions of Cartoon Forum so far, Bob Swain was in Varese, Italy, in September 2003 to check out the European projects most likely to make it through the co-production system and into full production.

Organized under the umbrella of the European Media program and moving on from country to country each year, the event was originally set up to encourage a stronger European animation sector, increase the number of co-production partnerships and encourage a faster investment cycle. And it has proven to be a big success — with some 30 to 40% of projects pitched since 1990 having been produced.

It’s not a market as such, as the gathering is open only to producers whose projects have been selected for presentation and to invited investors. These buyers attend a series of 40-minute pitches — 81 of them this year, over a three-day period in four meeting rooms, seeking a total investment of €280M.

Overall, standards were high — although there is still a surprising number of poor projects that make it so far. Sadly, these are mostly from less economically developed countries. Although the dream is of a powerful Europe-wide industry, the truth is that this is a business still dominated by a few major countries. The U.K. and France are the two most powerful — with the U.K. consistently winning out on creativity.

In terms of attendance, this year’s most popular project was Village People from The Illuminated Film Company. Essentially a British sitcom meets The Simpsons, it has been carefully designed to appeal to a family audience. Producer Iain Harvey is looking to make an initial series of 26 half hours with a budget of €213,000 per half hour.