“We are looking to collaborate with people who come to us with good projects and not merely finance them”
A few months back, Adlabs & Ocher Studios launching a 3D Animated feature based on the Icon from the south Rajnikanth caused a flurry of excitement in the industry.
This was followed by the formation of a separate animation division at Adlabs with Siddhartha M Jain joining as Head. The announcement that Adlabs animation was looking at project financing and development finance for IP creators, again caused quite a buzz full of anticipation…
In the past couple of months many an original content developer has fancied and anticipated working with financial and production partners like Adlabs Animation. The scene at Adlabs Animation too has been that of anticipation… the lookout for projects with mass appeal and depth…
Even as the next big idea searches for the right producer and vice versa, Animation Xpress.com Editor Anand Gurnani met up with Adlabs Animation head Siddhartha M Jain to know from him what the latest developments at Adlabs Animation were, as well as to know what kind of partners and projects the entertainment company is on the look out for…
Excerpts…
What is Adlab’s plan for animation?
The objective is to produce animation feature films primarily for Indian audiences, which should have potential to travel to foreign markets. Simultaneously, we are exploring opportunities with international animation companies for completely international projects. Ideally we would like to get involved in 3-4 projects by 2007.. . Theatrical animation films usually take a long time to produce, so one needs to have a long term view and deep pockets.
Our first Project is “Superstar” modelled on.Mr Rajnikant which was announced a few months ago and is currently in development. We are co-producing it with Ocher Studios.
What are you looking for in projects that are pitched to you? Have you got some exciting projects since you announced your intentions for financing development of animation projects?
The content has to be entertaining.. At Adlabs we are not harboring any pre conceived notions like mythology will work well or contemporary will do well. At the end of the day the film has to be compelling, engaging and fun. We are looking at ideas and concepts that have more mass appeal. It has to be fun and something that’s not possible in live action. The premise of the story and characters should justify its need to be done in animation.
We are looking to collaborate with people who come to us with projects and not merely finance.. We want to be completely involved in all aspects of the project. We are interested in doing few films, but whatever we do has to be high impact and something that we are proud of.
In the past couple of months, we have received close to 25 projects from Indian studios and companies; but we haven’t yet frozen in on anything. Of all the ideas and concepts pitched to us, only two to three are bound scripts complete with Bible and storyboards.
The whole business of animated features in India is new and nobody knows the “magic formula”, so we are following our instincts and experience in the film business. That is why we are also developing our own projects.
A lot of players had developed concepts and ideas for TV. With the success of Hanuman and the opening up of the feature film market as a business, the studios are trying to convert the same TV concepts and plots into features, which in most cases will not work.
Do you see good projects coming by soon, or will it take some while?
I think it will take around 6 months before we see some really well written animated feature film scripts. Iit takes time to develop scripts and it has been only six to eight months since the animated feature film opportunity has gained momentum. 2007 will see a lot of new concrete ideas for animation features that will come from Bollywood and not IT companies.
Animation studios and the bollywood need to work much more closely. Film business is a different ball game and I believe that animation studios need to be tuned in to the same frequencies, similarly film companies that get into animated features will also have to grasp the intricacies of producing and story telling in this medium.
There is a lot of interest in this space and original Indian animation is in a critical phase.
Please elaborate
We need a sustained string of successes to ensure that the impact that animation has had is not lost. The next few animated releases are going to be crucial and will decide how seriously this space will be taken as a core business.
Overall I think it is very important for the local content industry in Animation to look at the big picture. Just imagine the scenario if the each of the next 2-3 animation films do 15 to 20 Crores worth of business, that will be great. But what if the wrong projects are released and they don’t do well. That could slowdown the momentum.
In Bollywood sometimes even mediocre movies ride on the stars’ shoulders and get great openings. But anything that is mediocre in the animated feature film space may not work.
This means that all the existing animation players as well as the Film companies coming into this space, need to make sure that they select the right projects. Each successful animated feature will add to this business being taken seriously. Of course there is a learning curve that we all will go through.
What approach is Adlabs taking to ensure that the projects it works on are the best?
We are in the process of setting up a development ecosystem wherein we can brainstorm on ideas and develop them into exciting projects.. We are trying to build a group of people who can constantly churn out innovative ideas.
We need to take “smart risks”. Ice Age is an example of a smart concept that made the project feasible in terms of production resources and time. We need to look at various mediums including flash or even mix media. As technology progresses we are going to discover ways of doing animation at lower costs and lesser time.
On the production front we need to find innovative ways of producing more for less and quicker, on the other hand we also need to ensure that we progress ahead in terms of the visuals as well as story telling. Be it Indian audiences, the diaspora or the International audience, they have all seen Pixar and Dreamworks features and any feature that we release needs to have its own strengths in terms of entertainment and cultural value to be able to stand up to them. Also they should not look outdated at the time of the release.
Lastly, since we operate on the outsourcing model for production, we have the flexibility to use the best of technology and talent from across the world.
Is the Rajnikant project going to be completely produced in India?
We will be doing work in Europe and Asia, including India.
A lot of International talent will be required in various departments. This is going to again have a positive impact on the local talent here in terms of knowledge and experience sharing.
Parting Shot?
We are very optimistic on the potential for Indian animation features and the next 2 years will define the growth momentum for the next decade.