64 Zoo Lane, from the pilot film directed by An Vrombaut, a Belgian filmmaker who lives and works in London, produced by Zoo Lane Productions, 1994.

The Seventh Cartoon Forum has just ended. This year it took place in the Connemara Coast Hotel, overlooking Galway Bay, home of wild salmon, oysters and Guinness. The sun shone on the 500 delegates, a mix of producers, broadcasters, international distributors, video companies, merchandisers, investors and VIP observers.

This event has become the single most important annual event both for the producers of children's animation, the sellers, and the program investors and buyers. It's organized by CARTOON, part of MEDIA II (Measures to Encourage the Development of the Industry of Audiovisual Production), the European Union organization which funds and supports all aspects of film and television production in Europe. The Forum is a private event to which every delegate is invited either by virtue of being an investor in European children's programming, or by being a producer with a project which has been selected for presentation.

The event has now become so successful that it engenders an air of privilege amongst the delegates and a feeling of exclusion amongst the rest. The situation is heightened by the discretionary powers that CARTOON exercises over its right to invite or exclude a certain category of investing organization--for instance, the American-owned companies with European satellite offices like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney, Fox, Warners, etc. This year Janie Grace, one time invitee in her capacity as Controller of Children's Programmes at Meridian Broadcasting, now Chief Executive of Nickelodeon's UK office, was excluded. She came anyway under the BSkyB umbrella. John Coates, Managing Director of TVC, was excluded because he had no project to present this year, but slipped through in his capacity as Honorary President of the UK International Animation Festival. So the event acts as a powerful magnet within the professional animation community.

Once-in-a-Lifetime Moments
So what's the attraction? If a project is selected for the Forum, then the producer is given the opportunity to present that project at an appointed time and venue during the Forum to an assembled audience of investors from all over Europe. It's the "once-in-a-lifetime" moment for any project. For the buyers, it's an equally unmissable opportunity to compete for the best European projects of the year. The presentations are highly charged events. The big ones attract audiences of 100 or more people. The producers, who are often accompanied by their creative teams, are nervous and excited. The buyers hide their interest behind tight lips and feigned nonchalance. Afterwards, there is a chaotic rush to arrange meetings and do impromptu deals.

Many of the projects that are selected for the Forum have already received pre-production aid from CARTOON. This twice-yearly competition awards funding in three categories: graphics, script and pilots. The top award is 40,000 ECUs (the European currency unit) and the decisions are made by juries comprising makers and buyers. From the seller's point of view the importance of this funding source is that it enables the small producer to stay independent of investors who are hungry for equity. A tiny investment at an early, and therefore risky, stage of development can often secure a disproportionate slice of equity. From the buyer's point of view it means that the risk of investing too early in a project which is unrealizable is minimized if producers can afford to develop their projects to a professional standard.