- Top Draw Animation

NEWS
What’s Inside
Inside
What’s
Alo, Alo, Alo
02
Keeping Eliot’s Dream
Alive
02
HOW SWEET
the
For those of you who
are not aware, Mango
Distribution
Draw’s
Toon Boom & Top
Draw are in Harmony
03
When “short” doesn’t
mean vertically
challenged
03
Adieu to you & you
05
And don’t forget
your ‘cossies
06
HR Corner
07
Bucket & Bouquet
08
In-Production
08
M ANGO
joint
is
Top
venture
company with Sydney
based
Sticky
that
specializes
Pictures
in
distribution in Australia,
New Zealand and Asia.
FOREIGN CAPITAL
INFLOWS TO THE
PHILIPPINES UP
602%
New inflow of foreign portfolio
investments into the Philippines
grew by 602% in the first quarter
reaching USD 384.75 million
from USD 54.78 M in the same
period last year, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas... >>> Continued on page 04
Using the analogy of
the mango tree itself,
we were fully expecting
to take 5 years before
Mango would bear fruit.
This was especially...
>>> Continued on page 04
From
From THE
THE BIG
BIG KAHUNA
KAHUNA
Hello everyone,
It’s hard to believe that we’re already well into the second quarter of the year and that’s far enough for us
to get a real sense of how the year is tracking.
There’s no doubt that business is soft when compared to last year although it needs to be noted that this
year had some pretty big shoes to fill given that 2009 was our second biggest year on record. I should
also chime in quickly too andput the term “soft” into context. We’re very fortunate to have our good
friends Studio B, SAMKA and Imira all with series in production with us....
>>> Continued on page 02
>>> from The Big Kahuna continued from cover
and so we’re thankful to be better off than most.
It makes sense to me that the GFC is the cause of the timing of our slight downturn,
especially given our relative position in the animation production food chain. When
advertising dollars start to show a downturn, we can expect the impact to hit us 18
months to 2 years later and the same applies to a recovery.
I was interested to read an analysis of global ad spends from Zenith Optimedia the other
day. After the global ad spend shrank by more than 12% in 2009, according to Zenith,
this year it’s set to stabilize and then grow by around 3% per annum over the next couple
of years. TV is expected to maintain its 40% market share and I can marry those stats
with the general upbeat sentiments expressed when speaking to my industry mates.
Apart from the global trends, I have analyzed our own performance over the past ten
years and it’s interesting to note that, despite an expanding client base both in terms of
size and geographic spread, a recurring two-year cycle is evident. I’m wondering, is that
specific to us or is it a trend that you also experience? It would be interesting to know
and it’s something we’re working on trying to address.
I look forward to sharing the climb back with you all and have already reserved a table
at the summit restaurant. A case of crisp, cheeky, but unpretentious Savignon Blanc is
waiting on ice and I invite you all to share it with me.
TOO
We’ve got
every reason
to be
optimistic…
the good
times,
they are
Cheers,
a’ coming!
Wayne
And a hearty welcome back to
our longest standing friends at
Studio B. It’s nice to say hello again to
Kid vs. Kat; back for their second season and equally good to say hi for the first
time to My Little Pony. Thanks guys for again having confidence in us.
KEEPING
ELIOT’S DREAMS ALIVE
Imagine your dreams becoming real and the everyday world as a
playground for your overactive imagination – that’s what Eliot Kid is all
about.
Eliot Kid series 1 was a rip-roaring success and its accolades are many.
A ratings winner on its primary broadcasters TF1 and BBC, nominated for a
BAFTA in 2008 and so fabulously sold internationally by Cake Distribution.
This is what made Season II possible. Eliot Kid II is in production now and
all 26 x half hours will be delivered to SAMKA by September this year.
Thanks again to Samuel Kaminka and his team at SAMKA for letting
us play with them again and welcome back Eliot, Mimi and the gang!
02
TD NEWS
TOON BOOM & TOP DRAW
ARE IN
Harmony
A new technology milestone was reached by Top Draw
when, in January this year, we introduced ToonBoom’s
Harmony software into our arsenal.
Joan Vogelesang, Grand Poobah of ToonBoom, may still
be seen to wince slightly when Wayne Dearing’s name is
mentioned… but then the smile will likely come. Wayne has
certainly been a hard nut to crack when it came to convincing
him to use the new software and Joan and her team have
been plugging away at it for awhile now. Don’t get us wrong,
we’ve been a fan of ToonBoom for years and have been a
committed OPUS (US Animation) user since 2001.
Harmony, has become the software of choice for our newest
co-production: Lucky Fred with Spanish based Imira
Entertainment.
Volume 9
WHEN “SHORT”
DOESN’T MEAN
VERTICALLY CHALLENGED
For a couple of years
now, we’ve had fun
working on many
“shorts” with our
Florida based friend,
Kevin Riley – of
rileyanimation
I’m Not A Little Ant
studios. Kevin is a great
communicator and his clients in this instance have been
more community services based ranging from the Childrens’
Hospital to the Florida Aquarium. From our point of view, we get
a chance to work outside our traditional arena and Kevin’s sense
of design is fresh and fun.
The ToonBoom training was comprehensive and their
specialist trainer, Jean-Raymond Lenieus (JR), soon became
accepted as one of the Top Draw gang. The learning curve
was steep and our team quickly applied their Flash expertise
to the new platform.
Now that we’ve become a convert, there’ll be no looking back
and Harmony will become an important string to our bow
alongside Flash.
Lucky Fred is 52 x 12 minutes directed towards 6-12
year olds. It revolves around Fred, a lucky kid with a
shape-shifting robot pal named Friday. Whatever Fred
needs, Friday becomes – a pair of boxing gloves, a jet pack,
even a translator for girl speak. Thing is….. Friday actually
belongs to the girl next door (Brains), and while she could use
the robot’s help, he now only responds to Fred’s voice
commands. So now Fred, Friday and Brains must work
together against evildoers and still attend middle school.
Top Draw’s Mango Distribution will represent Lucky Fred in
Australia, New Zealand and Asia (excluding Japan).
Sunburn Serenade
It was no surprise to us that three of Kevin’s projects with
us, namely: I’m Not A Little Ant, Sunburn Serenade and A
Chicken Named Mac, were nominated for the 2009 Global Awards
competition held in Sydney last November. Global Awards is
an event designed to honour creative excellence in healthcare
communications and was judged by over 60 healthcare
communication agency executives around the world. It’s also no
surprise that PBS so willingly snapped these shorts (and others)
up and put them to air.
Imira will be showcasing Lucky Fred at MIPCOM 2010.
Chicken named Mac
03
>>> how sweet the mango continued from cover
the expectation given that the primary source of the Mango
catalogue would be Top Draw’s and
Sticky Pictures’ own co-production
activities and the lead-time for
those is reasonably long.
Happily, we’re ahead of the game
and our special thanks go to
the folks at Word World for
entrusting us with such a great
property……it’s simply gone
gangbusters in Asia and has
really given us a great leg up.
Donna Andrews (Sales Director with Pearlie)
We’ve now added Sticky
Pictures co-pro, Pearlie to our catalogue as well as Top Draw’s
co-production with SAMKA, Invisible Network of Kids. Both
series were at MIPTV. Coming down the pipeline for 2012 is
Top Draw’s co-production with Imira, Lucky Fred.
Our agenda is not to represent a major library but rather to
give personal attention to a smaller, quality catalogue that is
more in line with Sticky Pictures and Top Draw’s own agenda for quality production. Much of it, as mentioned above, is expected
to come from our own co-production activities but we’re going to supplement these titles with third party titles. Our penchant
is to build up to 10 titles within the next 18 months
We’d be happy to discuss Asian distribution for your own catalogues.
>>> from foreign capital continued from cover
(BSP) reported April 15. In March alone, foreign portfolio investments rose by 138% to USD 76 M. Data from the BSP
showed that the latest foreign portfolio investment inflows were a result of USD1.6 billion in gross inflows and USD 1.27
billion outflows.
I’m certainly hoping that the election theory is correct and that it will all calm down after May, setting the stage for a
weakening of the Peso. Otherwise we’ll be calling it the US Peso and the Philippine Dollar.
On face value it’s good for the country although the resultingly strong Peso doesn’t do the export sector any favours. Yep,
and that’s us.
The official position is that it’s an indication of foreign investors’ growing optimism towards the country and other
emerging economies and that may well be true at least partly. But if you ask me, you also have to take into account that
there were elections in May. I read the other day that each candidate individually has the same “campaign” spend as all
the combined candidates in the US elections and I’m willing to believe it. A mate of mine works in the aeronautics industry
and he was saying that they sold more planes and helicopters in the past 3 months than they have sold for the past two years.
04
Pearlie)
TD NEWS
A D IEU
TO YO U
AND
Volume 9
YOU
I t’s always sad when our productions come to an end. It’s like saying goodbye to an old mate.
A sad farewell indeed
to our Network of Kids, Vin, Newton, Zero and Trixie and what series would be complete
without a great villain…. we’ll miss you Macbeth!
Happily, our involvement with Invisible Network of Kids (INK)
is set to continue through our distribution responsibilities.
The series is set to soon launch on France’s
SAMKA
France 3, Germany’s SUPER RTL
and Australia’s ABC. Mango has
PRODUCTIONS
Australian, New Zealand and
Asian distribution rights.
PGS Entertainment has
distribution rights in
the rest of the world and is
already doing a fabulous
job. Philippe Souter,
their MD, says that the
Broadcasters love the wacky,
kid-centric humor and he’s already
Invisible Network of Kids
Macbeth
been able to confirm sales with
Nickelodeon in Netherlands and Scandinavia,
MNET in South Africa, SIC in Portugal and Noga in Israel.
At the time of this writing, it was the week of MIPTV and I’m sure that we will have much more
to report once MIPTV week has concluded.
We must also say see ya to Rudolf, our consummate
door to door salesman. The production of Rudolf
represented our first dealings with our new friends at
JEP in Cologne and we extend our sincerest thanks to
Ege, Doro and their team and look forward to when we
next work together.
Rudolf
05
…AND
DON’T FORGET
YOUR ‘COSSIES
One of the better-kept secrets is the fantastic array of tropical, hide-away resorts just
waiting for you to come and play. Gilligan eat your heart out. The juxtaposition of the fabulous
quality of the resorts themselves against the local, provincial charm makes you feel like
you’re another world away. If you haven’t dived or snorkeled in the Philippines, you
really don’t know what you’re missing.
The colours are simply amazing and only matched by
sunsets like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
And
so,
pass
on
we
thought
we
good
word
the
could
and
feature a different resort in each of our
newsletters, starting with one of our
most spectacular –
EL NIDO RESORTS
The El Nido Resorts are
located on Lagen Island
and Miniloc Island in the
northwestern tip of the
Province of Palawan,
430km
southwest
of Manila. Scenic
landscape, crystal clear
waters and relative isolation attract and fascinate most travellers to El Nido.
06
TD NEWS
Volume 9
>>> continued from page 06
Trees and limestone cliffs
provide various niches
for a diverse variety of
birds
and
Among
mammals.
the
available
activities
are
hiking,
lagoon tours, cave tours,
mangrove river tours, bird
watching, picnic lunches,
sunset cruising, kayaking,
windsurfing, hobiecat
sailing,
snorkeling
and
diving.
Check out the website on:
www.elnidoresorts.com
HR Corner
It’s girl power at the HR
&
Accounting
Congratulations to our Finance
offices
Manager,
with new hires: Jorelle
Ison
(HR
Tonie Sitchon (HR staff),
Karen Gomez (HR staff),
Christine
Accountant),
Joanne Gay
Supervisor),
Silos
Mabutol for
Maricel, Tin & Macy
giving birth
to a
(Sr.
bouncing
Maricel
Sibbaluca (Accountant)
baby boy,
and Macy Resus (Payroll
Justin
Master).
Karen, Jorelle & Tonie
Welcome aboard girls!
Mommy Joanne with baby Justin
Marcus last
May 15.
Justin Marcus Mabutol
07
B UCKET
&B O U Q U E T
A
s wonderful as our animator team is, those of you who have managed a team as large as ours
will understand when we say that mixing an animator with commercial discipline is sometimes a little
like mixing oil and water. Asking an animator to come to work on time is sometimes akin to extracting
a tooth from a rhino.
So why not, we thought, have a little fun with it…. and so
enter “Bucket and Bouquet”. Simply, you get a bucket
when your attendance or output is among the worst for
the week and, on the flip side, you receive a bouquet when
you’re at the top of your class (so to speak). And for those
bouquet winners, they also get free meals for a week in our
Animation Café.
Our thanks go to Animation Director extraordinaire, Kiko
Lerma, for designing and making our award Buckets and
Bouquets. He likes the attendance “Bucket” so much
that he’s won it four weeks in a row. Ah, small steps!
ccttiioonn
u
d
o
r
u
P
d
o
n
II n - P r
ject:
Name of the Pro
Details:
thod:
Production Me
Client:
Commencement
Date:
te:
Completion Da
Eliot Kid II
52 x 15 minutes
Flash
d
ject: Lucky fre
52 x 12 minutes
Details:
om harmony
thod: Toon Bo
Production Me
ent
Imira Entertainm
Client:
Commencement
January 2010
Date:
December 2011
te:
Completion Da
Name of the Pro
ons
Samka Producti
t II
ject: Kid vs. Ka
52 x 11 minutes
Name of the Pro
August 2009
Details:
August 2010
thod:
Production Me
Client:
Commencement
Date:
te:
Completion Da
Flash
Flash - Layout
& BG
December 2009
August 2010
Pony
ject: My Little
nutes
mi
22
x
26
Name of the Pro
ject:
Name of the Pro
Details:
thod:
Production Me
Client:
t Date:
Commencemen
te:
Completion Da
Hosp
All Children’s
1 x 2 minutes
Flash
on
Riley Animati
May 2010
June 2010
ital 2010 Telet
hon
Details:
thod:
Production Me
Client:
Commencement
Date:
te:
Completion Da
Flash
ctions
Studio B Produ
March 2010
November 2010