First of all, thanks to Aaron at Cold Hard Flash for for whacking our pilot up there! It’s much appreciated.
And as I said on the front of nakedfella.com, check out Rove this Sunday for a bit of animated fun from BigKidz. Sounds like my stupid side jokes even made it in!
MIPCOM is pretty much like any other trade convention you’ve ever been to, but it’s larger, it’s beside the Mediterranean and there’s red carpets. When we weren’t having meetings I spent my time roaming around the trade floors looking for info on other adult animation series and any other stuff that looked interesting. And scamming free food. More on this later.
Here’s a clip of Woody the Producer assuring me that we’re making headway, while I act like a “box of birds” (a descriptor given me by one of the ladies from Beyond International when I expressed some negativity).
Here’s some interesting stuff I found:
Most of the material I picked up because the art appealed to me, and this was one of the nicest I saw (I’d scan it, but I mailed home all the flyers I picked up and they’re not here yet). Apparently this show was made a few years ago, based on comics by French cartoonist Lewis Trondheim. I’ll have to look for some of his work. The show is available on DVD.
This is cute looking. Yes, it’s another show about kids going to
Here’s a trailer, or the titles or something
What? Australians trying to make a teen/adult animated series? Preposterous. But they are. Captain Cowboy is a confusing (but attractive) combination of the superhero and Western genres which I’d love to see made just to see how the hell they do it.
The Screen Australia drinks provided a useful breather in the home stretch of the market at which I was lucky enough to meet Adam and Ben Marr (Marrtoons), whom I was very happy to chat with. Following the drinks I cut out with them for shop talk and pizza, a relaxing end to a packed out day.
Things from FatKat
Like I said in an earlier post, we met Gene Fowler, apparently the fattest kat, and learned a bit about his studio. They’ve got stuff happening all over the shop. They’re doing SPACE KNIGHTS for Teletoon’s The Detour and THREE DELIVERY with Animation Collective. We liked him.
Disturbing bratwurst song
The very nice looking pilot for THE INSATIABLE MR BANKS was playing at MIP but it’s not online yet.
League of Super Evil
Nerd Corps Entertainment (more Canadians!) have a neat looking show in production about inept supervillains. Looks like cel-shaded 3D, but nicely done!
A studio in Finland! We met with them because the Finnish stand looked nice and homey. They set us up with Petteri Passanen and Kalle Maatta from Anima Vitae, who amazed us with tales of how fast their animators can spit out scenes. They’ve even done a cop show before: PASILA.
Wish I knew what they were saying, why they’re talking about Phil Collins and why the lead character has a dummy in his mouth.
Another cop-related series. This one’s a series of teeny little episodes about a convict trying to escape jail from Future Thought Productions and Cyber Group Animation. Cheap, but nice.
I thought the main character looked cute! He’s a fat little superhero. Again, no idea what he’s saying (it’s Spanish, I think). Tried to meet these guys (Nikodemo Animation) but heard nothing back, unfortunately.
240 – The Clone Kid That Comes In A Packet
It’s original looking! But probably not my cup of tea. Still, one of the few adult cartoons I saw at MIP with a whiff of independence about it, you know what I mean? Like maybe whoever came up with this did so because they thought it was a funny idea as opposed to a marketable idea.
Some of the other concepts I saw looked calculated as hell (also, pure “animated sitcom”, Family Guy-style). I won’t name them!
I wonder if The Precinct looks like that to outsiders? Do I seem as though I’m attempting to “cash in” on the success of cop shows? Well, I am. But also I really like them, and hopefully I have a more ambitious design for the show than “take existing cartoon format, make characters into fish” or “take existing live-action format, animate it, don’t change anything but the character names”…
I’m a bitch!
Oh, yes: free food.
MTV had nice food. We waited around hoping to chat with somebody and they invited us to snack on their lovely patio. Thanks to the MTV ladies for their kindness and their delicious pizza slivers.
Another helpful good eatin’ tip: schedule an early morning meeting at one of the fancy Croisette hotels. Then head for the buffet table! If you’re in the lobby of the Grand Hotel at 8am, SURELY you’re a guest there, and therefore deserving of tasty eggs, bacon and fruit.
PS: Orangina rocks. It’s what Fanta should be, but isn’t.
So that’s the stuff I found at MIPCOM! Here’s me at the Screen Australia stand, admiring my own work like some kind of sad bastard:
And here’s the absolute most exciting project I saw!!!
OH MY GOD IT’S COP DOG HE’S GOT A BADGE IN HIS MOUTH THIS IS FUCKIN AWESOOOOOOOOME
Kids entertainment? Quality, all the way.
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