Africa’s biggest animation studio – soon also its biggest gaming developer

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Back in 1996 Triggerfish was a traditional stop frame animation studio. It did commercials for ad agencies and landed a contract to produce the South African version of kiddies show Sesame Street, Takalani Sesame, and did such a good job of it that it soon landed the US domestic version as well. It was in 2002 that Stuart Forrest joined the business as a junior animator. By 2005, he would be MD and have taken over the business with a handful of business partners.

“Africa’s Answer To DreamWorks, Disney And Pixar,” screamed a headline in Forbes magazine recently. ” Hollywood Reporter and Variety has also reported on the studio, currently the largest animation studio on African soil.

[pullquote]In another first, the movie is being dubbed in Afrikaans, and Stuart hopes to take on the box office success of the Leon Schuster movies (also distributed by Indigenous Films, which has taken on Khumba), and of course it ties in nicely with the merchandise angle.[/pullquote]

The fact that Africa can produce top quality kids content suitable for international markets are surprising many in the industry, and are certainly turning some pre-conceptions about the continent on its head. African cinema able to break into the global mainstream (like District 9 for example, or the so far well received kids animation movies put out by Triggerfish) helps break the stigma around what Africa can produce and can change the way the world sees this continent.

How does a junior animator take over a successful studio in less than four years? They don’t. Post Sept 11 the US owners of Sesame Street were cutting budgets and pulling back work into the States. Ad agencies meanwhile had come to view Triggerfish as a producer of kids’ content – hardly anything cutting edge in that – they reckoned. Work dried up. Then the bottom fell out of the stop frame market as CG took over.

The business was about to go bust. In 2004 Forrest became a Partner, in 2005, by which time the work finally dried up completely, MD. He bought Triggerfish with the assistance of four partners. It still had no in-house CG capacity but Forrest set about changing this immediately.

[pullquote]The company won’t be just an animation studio, it’s turning into an innovative content company, and aims to be one of the biggest gaming studios in Africa as well. In fact, Forrest says the business is not a film business at all, instead it creates characters and worlds, and then exploit those worlds across various platforms.[/pullquote]

In 2007 he teamed up with US partners to at first direct, and then produce, the animated film Zambezia. After spending several years raising the money, it went into production in 2009, and was finally released in August last year. The film is still rolling out in certain markets, including Mexico, where it was released May 9th. It did well in markets as diverse as the Netherlands (where it sat in the Top 20 for 12 weeks) and Russia. The only major markets where it did not hit the circuit were the United States and Brazil. Forrest says it made more sense to go straight to DVD in the States rather than spend the millions of Dollars needed to promote it in that market.

The movie did less well than he had hoped in South Africa, says Forrest, even through critics gave it the thumbs up, mostly because its local distributor (Nu-Metro) did very little to promote the movie. It’s currently on offer on DStv’s box office.

Their next release, Khumba, will have a limited release in the US, which might grow depending on initial box office receipts.

Forrest has high hopes for Khumba, done in 3D, and which looks pretty amazing, if the short clip of the ending I saw is anything to go by. It will see its first release in Cannes later this year, features higher production values and is a more sophisticated product than Zambezia. It will hit South African cinemas October 25. Needless to say, Nu-Metro won’t be doing the distribution this time round.

In another first, the movie is being dubbed in Afrikaans, and Forrest hopes to take on the box office success of the Leon Schuster franchise (also distributed by Indigenous Films, which has taken on Khumba), and of course it ties in nicely with the merchandising angle.

Triggerfish is developing an innovative business model to cope with the changing nature of the global film industry and has its eyes firmly set on emerging markets. While companies like Disney might generate a relatively small percentage of revenue in these markets, for Triggerfish they are primary markets. They are also growth markets, and markets where a high percentage of the population are made up of kids, perfect for a producer of quality kids’ content.

The movies also don’t try to be all things to all age groups – Forrest notes that animated movies need to cater to adults in the West or they would not be willing to sit through the films with their kids. In emerging markets, this is not really the case – and his products are solely focussed on entertaining the little ones, for now at least, but growing more sophisticated alongside its market.

Revenue is coming from ancillary products, including games and eBooks – any digital product with global reach and little distribution cost. Khumba will take on Angry Birds, maybe even more so than it will Disney, in some ways. The aim is to build communities, connected via mobile and digital, who relates to Triggerfish products.

[pullquote]Khumba will take on Angry Birds, maybe even more so than it will Disney, in some ways. The aim is to build communities, connected via mobile and digital, who relates to Triggerfish products.[/pullquote]

The company won’t be just an animation studio, it’s turning into an innovative content company, and aims to be one of the biggest gaming studios in Africa as well. In fact, Forrest says the business is not a film business at all, instead it creates characters and worlds, and then exploit those worlds across various platforms.

Forrest aims to build out various departments at Triggerfish, so that the business develops a proper production cycle, with new movies permanently in development. It includes a distribution arm and a gaming division. The focus will remain on family entertainment, and on emerging markets. Cinemas makes sense in densely populated areas, where people want to get away from the confines of home, and remains an affordable and social experience. China can’t build cinemas fast enough, notes Forrest.

Forrest hopes his studio will look a lot more like the Disney’s and Pixars of the world, and create classics with long life cycles. He is currently negotiating with international investors to make this dream a reality, and quickly.

In the meantime the studio has started development on its third feature film, a sea monster story done differently than those that have come before it, says Forrester, who describes it as something along the lines of “How to train your dragon meets E.T.” It’s still a couple of years before it will enter production, he notes, the studio is about half way through the script at the moment.

A sequel to Zambezia is also in the pipeline.

Meanwhile Forrest is considering TV spin offs for Zambezia and Khumba as well, having received enquiries from various markets already. It’s not a sure thing just yet, but would give the IP some legs, and build exposure and awareness for brand future sequels.

Then there is the ten-year plan for a worldwide breakout hit managing a good mix of production value to budget. Triggerfish is bubbling just under the surface, and while it will take a lot of work to catch the wave that makes it a global player, it’s certainly seems like it’s only a matter of time before it does.