Camille Trumer of UIP argued that distribution strategies and budgetary necessities need to be considered separately.

“This presupposes that the script has been convincing and/or that the character or story is sufficiently well-known or attractive to persuade the distributor concerned to take a risk on it. In this case, the distributor pays the producer a minimum guarantee and is thus associated with the project from its very origins.

“The worst possible solution is to plan an animated film’s release — or not — on the basis of the production budget. The commercial potential of a film cannot and must not be considered until the film has been viewed — and not as a function of production cost.”

Even if the message being handed out was sometimes a little tough on European producers, the event was undoubtedly a big success. Judging by the positive response of participants, Cartoon Feature is here to stay — alongside the existing Masters of Cartoon Finance, Cartoon Creativity and Cartoon Future.

Bob Swain is an animation scriptwriter for both television and theatrical features. He is based in Brighton, England.