Finding finance for shorts, animated or otherwise, is a madcap scheme at the best of times. When you are presented with as elaborate and ambitious a story as Piet Kroon's T.R.A.N.S.I.T then you truly need your head examining. However if one behaved logically in this business, you're in the wrong business.

We did have some advantages. First being based in Europe - not generally seen as an advantage for film making! However in this case there is considerable support for encouraging 'younger' talent to make short films. There is also great encouragement for European co-productions - to try and take advantage of Europe as a whole as opposed to the lesser weight of individual countries coping alone. The great danger of this is that you are drawn towards making what is known as a 'euro-pudding' i.e. a compromise amalgam of incidents from different European locations.

The great joy of T.R.A.N.S.I.T, created without any thought to European co-production financing, but at the same time travelling around seven locations within the European 'sphere of influence' (I say this of course because one scene is set in Cairo) is a truly trans-european story, likely to appeal to audiences everywhere. As a producer, T.R.A.N.S.I.T also appealed because it requires different art styles for each of the locations - and this is genuinely an intregal part of the story concept.

In summary, what I was presented with when I first saw Piet's storyboard was this fabulous amalgam of seven exotic locations, each of which required their own particular artstyle. How Gill Bradley, the production designer, went about this is described elsewhere (Gill Bradley's notes). If the film had been a live action concept, the budget would have been inconceivably high but with animation it would be possible to achieve all that the director required - who says animation is more expensive!

Raising finance is not the secret many people perceive it to be. What it does require is a complete belief in the film, a stubbornness to overcome the bad moments and a good deal of luck. We had the advantage of a good director with a successful first film and good relationships with The Dutch Film Fund and Channel 4. Beyond this there are not many opportunities for funding shorts though thankfully the French broadcaster Canal + quickly saw the power of the concept and pre-bought French cable rights. As these parties between them only contributed some 60-70% of the finance, it was still necessary for the 'usual' producers and directors deferrals, as well as a contribution from my company, to allow the project to proceed. From our point of view we had to go into production by the end of 1996 if the logistics and availability of the crew we wanted were to work.

As I knew in my heart of hearts the budget wasn't enough, but there is only so much you can ask for for a 12 minute film (and even then we were asking for more than most people would dare), the likelihood was that we would still face a substantial financial deficit. I would have been faced with either a too rigorous curtailment of the art budget or other compromises that would have severely endangered the final look of the film. So even though we had already commenced production and were contracted to deliver, we applied for An Arts Council of England grant under The National Lottery Scheme. Ideally of course we would have waited for the response on this before committing but for reasons indicated above this was not possible. In the end we were successful and this allowed certain 'luxuries' to help the director, such as line-tests being shot and edited on film.

Throughout the production and despite, or rather perhaps because of the generous budget, I was very conscious of the fact that all we were making was a 12 minute film. With a dedicated team of animators and artists it became all the more important, in my mind, for T.R.A.N.S.I.T to have a life beyond its brief length. Of course whether we will achieve this remains at this stage to be seen. However I do have a number of strong beliefs about - at least - what we were trying to achieve. First, that animation can be a powerful and realistic medium for dramatic storytelling. Second, that there is a difference between animation for the television screen and the big screen. Both of course are equally valid but you must have a clear idea which you are aiming for. Finally I do want the film to have an impact beyond its 12 minute running time.

That of course is up to you to determine, gentle reader.