May 30, 2017

Mexico's Next Generation of TV Animation Creators Can Be Found at Idea Toon

A unique animation boot camp was held in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca for four days last week. The event was a precursor to the Ideatoon pitching program, one of the centerpieces of the upcoming Pixelatl festival to be held in Cuernavaca in September 2017.

Ideatoon was originally conceived in 2013 as an opportunity for young Mexican animators to pitch their projects to potential buyers from international companies. The event has grown rapidly, and this year the organizers received over 300 submissions, from which 28 projects were selected. Symbolic of the event's importance and growth, this year, for the first time, the doors were opened to participants from across Latin America, with applications from 13 countries.

Cartoon Brew spoke with Jose Inesta, founder of Ideatoon, and past program participants to understand how Ideatoon has evolved into a driving force in the Mexican animation industry.

Inesta, who is also the founder of the Pixelator Festival, recalled that the first Ideatoon revealed the immaturity of many Mexican studios. Several animators had no portfolio, no character designs to sell, and were improvising illustrations of their projects on napkins in front of producers. When we started," says Inesta, "some Mexican professionals even thought that a TV show could target all ages. 'We were forced to teach them the value of basics like market trends and target demographics.'

Iniesta believes that increasing television production in Mexico is essential to the development of the Mexican animation industry. He said, "With feature films, animators often move from place to place, but with television programming, companies can settle in one place, develop their business, and work in a more stable way.

The pitching program has evolved each year since its inception; in its second year, Ideatoon began providing guidelines for writing an animation bible and began inviting international entertainment executives to provide feedback. The two major changes made this year--the launch of a boot camp before the pitching event goes live and the opening of the application process to artists from across Latin America--were based on feedback from executives who attended the event.

According to Iniesta, in previous years "most of the submissions, while great ideas, lacked development and were not ready to begin production." At the boot camp, professional mentors worked with 28 creators from seven Latin American countries to help them develop their projects.

Last Friday, the selection process narrowed down to 12 Mexican projects, with the exception of one from Brazil, and the six advisors will continue to work with the 12 finalists to further refine and strengthen their projects before the next pitch stage, which will take place in September.

These recent changes and additions to the program have raised expectations for what Ideatoon can offer. Previous events have already been very successful, with many of the participating projects, including Discovery Kids, Cartoon Network, and Atomic Cartoon, being sold to international companies.

Miriam Lopez is one such success story. Her 2015 project "Molly and the Codes," developed at her former company Monster View, received backing from Sony Pictures Animation, won that year's event, and was subsequently sold to Gaumont Animation. Lopez admits that Ideatoon is an excellent resource for a small company like hers. Without the resources to produce an entire series, "I prefer to focus on developing and selling intellectual property."

Another example is Oscar Hernandez's project Deedee Wahoo. which was selected for Ideatoon 2014. Hernandez said the endorsement he received at the event is the reason his company, Platypus Animation, is currently in negotiations to sell the project to a major American television network.

Mighty Animation's "Viking Tales" won last year's event, and the company, founded in 2012 by Claudio Jimenez and Luispa Salmon, acknowledges the importance of its participation in Ideatoon. Salmon said that the most important thing for them is "the feedback the project receives during the event.

While Mighty is still developing "Viking Tales," the studio continues to grow in other ways as well. The company has hired about 70 new staff members and outsourced another 33 artists to Los Angeles.

Mighty is one of the companies that has participated in Idea Toon every year to date. This shows that the Iñasta event has created a strong bond and sense of community among animators in the area. Another good example is Joe Alanis, who has participated in Ideatoon since its inception and has produced two teasers for the event.

The TV series My Brother the Monster, which Alanis is currently developing at his company Gasolina Studios, was not originally his own work. The idea came from a project by Ernesto Molina, whom Alanis discovered at Ideatoun and instantly fell in love with. Alanis recalls, "This festival is not only important for the development of my idea, but it is also one of the most interesting networking opportunities for the Mexican industry."

Alanis explains how Ideatoon's international reach has attracted the attention of the Mexican government and various related organizations." Recently, IMCINE, the Mexican state cinematography institute, began supporting TV animation, thanks to the influence of Pixelator and Ideatoon.

Ideatoon 2017 finalist projects to be presented at Pixelatl this September include: