ABC eyes China animation ties

“I was very impressed at how keen Chinese Producers are to engage internationally and make their programs accessible to the wider world outside China,” he said.

Mr. Brooke-Hunt was part of a 20-person Australian delgation that attended the X|Media|Lab “Wealth of Animation” event in Suzhou last week.

The event brought together international mentors including Raman Hui, the co- director of Shrek the Third; Michael B. Johnson, the head of Moving Pictures at Pixar Studios; Duncan Brinsmead, the Principal Scientist for Maya software; Suresh Seetharaman, the Founder and President of Virgin Comics and Animation; Sue Erokan, Supervisor of Character Animation at Dreamworks; and Mr. Brooke-Hunt.

The Mentors worked together with more than 40 local Chinese animation companies on creative idea development, business planning, and international distribution opportunities.

The Director of X|Media|Lab, Brendan Harkin, said the Lab was a great experience.

“We provided personal translators for each Mentor for the full duration of the Lab. This greatly increased the quality of the communications between the particpants. The Lab was an experiment in constructing new frameworks of dialogue and exchange between international visitors to China and the China digital media industries,” he said.

 

“The biggest surprise was learning that the agencies of the provincial governments in China are actively seeking to license and distribute inbound animation content for the China market. If the provincial government agencies successfully license and sell foreign animation content into any of the 3,000 China television networks, they benefit from deriving tax receipts internally.

 

“They are actively seeking foreign animation content. There are huge opportunities for people who understand this, and who have the connections to get their content made available in the China market.”

 

[release from X|Media|Lab]