VFX Brown Bag: Leading Irish Animation into the world -

Brown Bag: Leading Irish Animation into the world

It was the year 1994. The Country, Ireland. The City, Dublin.

Two young students Cathal Gaffney & Darragh O’Connell  loved Animation, the subject that they were studying at college.  They also loved photography, art, film making and were super enthusiastic about what they did.   However their alma mater animation school thought otherwise.  They dropped out before completing their course, and founded an animation start-up named Brown Bag Films, with the motto ‘We Love Animation’ which they subsequently trademarked.

In 2002, Cathal Gaffney & Darragh O’Connell  walked the red carpet at The 74TH Academy Awards with a best animation short film nomination for Give Up Yer Aul Sins directed by Cathal and Produced by Darragh.  In its 8 years of existence till then, this was a crowning glory for Brown Bag films in an already studded string of creative and commercial achievements.

Left to right: The Brown Bag Films at the 74th Oscar Nominations, A still from Give up Yer Aul Sins

In March 2012 Doc Mc Stuffins premiered on Disney Junior and became the No 1 pre-school show in the US, Brown Bag, the studio that worked on the show was still shining bright in its 18th year.

A still from Disney Junior’s “Doc McStuffins” (c) Disney

With 2 Oscar Nominations, as well as International ratings topper shows such as Olivia, Noddy in Toyland, The Octonauts and Doc McStuffins, and a total of 9 shows on air Internationally, Brown Bag films the Irish company with the global outlook and a 110 member motivated team, has truly achieved the best of both the worlds – creative and commercial success.

As we enter the studio headquarters in Smithfield in Dublin, the enthusiasm and the swing in the step is evident right from the word go.

Even before we meet him, say hello and ask him about the secrets of achieving animation success, Cathal Gaffney greeting us, points around at his studio and remarks, “It’s a big family we have out here, we trust and respect everybody at the studio.” He adds that a team of 16 members from Brown Bag including him had just returned from the amazing Annecy festival.  “At Brown Bag we like to nurture talent. And we also give a lot of importance to making short films.”

He makes his point giving the example of their 2nd Oscar nominated short film Granny O Grimms Sleeping Beauty directed by Nicky Phelan. “Nicky was a junior and he had just joined but we saw the talent in him and knew he had a story to tell and we supported and encouraged him all the way. Post the Oscar nomination, he is now directing the 2nd season of the Octonauts

Brown Bag Films, Founder and CEO, Cathal Gaffney

So is pitching TV shows easier now after being Oscar nominee and ratings topper and a sterling body of work? How does a studio pitch its show and get the green light from the broadcaster?

“I believe that you sell trust first and the project second” quips Cathal.

Quite a profound statement that.

He adds that “In the early days, I did not establish rapport with the broadcasters and I just frantically pitched my ideas at them, the point is what you think about and develop in a vacuum may be good but it still needs to be handled with a lot of subtlety. Gradually as I matured, I saw and dealt with things in a much more sophisticated way.  You need to understand the needs of the broadcasters, what’s working on their channels. They need to know you, trust that you can deliver, you need to know what they want and how you can make things happen in the way that fits in with their perspective”

Besides its already existing shows on air, Brown Bag has a huge slate in development and production as well. The Happy Hugglemonsters (52 x 11 mins) currently in production is slated to go on air on Disney Junior in the US in fall. The 2nd season of The Octonauts (52 x 11) is also in production for Silvergate Media and will go on air on CBeebies.

Recently, Brown Bag opened its Los Angeles office to make further foray into feature film and trans-media properties. The studio has recently partnered with Valve and celebrated film maker Shane Acker to produce an animated feature titled The Deep through a separate production company from its LA base.  Other projects include the development of an original series for a US network which will be targeted at 18-34 yr olds; pre-school; and 6-11 comedy as well. Brown Bag is also actively exploring the Business to Consumer market through new digital distribution channels.

With so much work going on, surely the pressure to constantly expand the team as well as to best shore some of the production must be always on?

“Ultimately broadcast animation is a sophisticated business and we do look for co-production partners and also for production studios.  With regard to sharing production work, we have a different approach than most studios as we do a lot of the key components in here. Ultimately we do share the production work due to the scale factor and we need able and competent studios that can do some of the heavy lifting. But we are very careful in who we choose to work with, we do a lot of due diligence and we pay a lot of attention to detail. We also ensure that our animation director and director are always present at the location where production is on. “

“In Asia we are working with studios from India, Singapore and Indonesia.” He shares, adding “While China too is coming up fast,  communication is still a problem which is not a case with India, besides Ireland and India have a common history of British rule, both independent now but still speak English.  In fact We have had an enjoyable experience working with Crest on Octonauts series 2 and look forward to continuing our relationship with Madmax and his talented team”

” We are looking at developing more strategic interests in Asia.” he added rather poignantly.

With regard to Co-Production, Cathal pointed out that Brown Bag looks at matching of creative sensibilities and of scale as well. “We were in Cannes recently and a lot of companies came over and owing to our credentials, we were offered close to 40% of budgets upfront but I am more interested in looking if our creative sensibilities match. In the end we believe it’s all about the story telling.”

We then switch topic to studio expansion and fresh talent. While Creativity is one aspect, Cathal points that for new students to be technically savvy is very important as well. The studio which is already a 110 member strong team is currently recruiting for 10 more positions. “I always give the example of Indian Animation Students and freshers and how technically savvy they are” he says.

Quite an ironical statement given the amount of emphasis the industry in India lays on How Indian students are not taught to be creative enough!

The patriot within Cathal shows up as he beams when he talks about Irish Animation. He is as proud of Irish Animation as he is about Brown Bag  and again he stresses about the creativity and story telling.

“You will find a tax credit in almost every state in the US & Canada and in almost every country in Europe but the reason why Irish Animation is so successful globally is because of our creativity and story-telling. Also here we are quite happy to introduce another Irish studio if we are too full to take on work that comes our way.” he says.

On being asked about the good role played by IDA, EI, IFB, RTE, and the other Irish Agencies and bodies, in terms of supporting, nurturing, funding and promoting the Irish Animation eocsystem, Cathal does acknowledge their role to be very important and crucial as well.

Which brings us back to the question that we first began with….what does it take for an animation studio to taste the kind of creative, commercial success that Brown Bag has had?

“Persistence!” says Cathal and creative leadership at the helm, “I believe that the most successful animation companies have creatives at the helm, just look at Pixar or Aardman. Certainly from an artistic point of view, it is more successful when creatives hire business people than when business people hire creatives as the process of producing animation can sometimes treated like a commodity.  I think a love of animation, a healthy respect for the children that watch it and the right environment to produce it are always key ingredients for any successful studio.”

Indeed.

We leave the studio with an increased love for animation. Blame it on an infectious Irish Animation studio called Brown Bag Films.
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