Scott Roxborough

Hi, and welcome to Industry Insights, the EFM podcast presented by the European Film Market of the Berlinale. I'm Scott Roxborough, European Bureau Chief with The Hollywood Reporter, and I'll be your host for today's show. This podcast series shines a light on highly topical trend-setting industry issues and is designed as a compass for the film year ahead, helping professionals navigate the fast-changing creative landscape. Industry Insights is a year-round podcast co-funded by Creative Europe Media. Today, in honor of the first ever EFM Animation Days, a new initiative spotlighting Europe's excellence in animation, I am joined by Sixte de Vauplane, the co-founder and CEO of Animaj, the Paris and London-based Next Generation Media Company, which is looking to transform kids and family entertainment through a digital-first AI-powered approach, which sounds exciting. Hi, Sixte. Thank you for joining us. Hi, Scott. First, maybe we should start with the news. Earlier this year in January, Animaj and the German animation studio, Studio 100 International, announced a strategic alliance around Maya the Bee, which is Studio 100's character. It's a very well-known character, particularly in Germany. And it's been made into multiple forms. There was a 2D animation series on Maya the Bee in the 70s, 3D animation in the 2010s. There have been several feature films. But tell me first, I mean, how did this partnership between anime and Studio 100 come about? And what are you both looking to get from it? Why did you do this deal?

Sixte de Vauplane

Yeah, I mean, it was a very different deal than the kind of deals that you can be used to in the industry, because it's an IP ownership deal. It's not a licensing deal. It's not a distribution agreement. We acquired 50% of the Maya property. And we're now moving forward, going to co-own and cooperate with Studio 100, the property to recreate a franchise strategy for the new generation. So in other words, we're going to control the exploitation on the international markets. And Studio 100 is going to keep controlling their domestic markets. So Benelux, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, but also the feature films, the licensing, on the rest, which means the digital, YouTube, Avod, Fast, the music, the gaming, the content, the international licensing and international expansion is going to be on us. So it's a very different type of deal, but I think it's super exciting because it's a win-win for both parties as we're going to, I mean, Maya is going to benefit from both expertise. The core strengths of Studio 100 is definitely their domestic market, the Benedicts in the DACH region is definitely the movie. They are going to release in the coming months, Maya's spin-off called Arnie & Barney, coming to the cinemas pretty soon. But they needed a partner who can make the brand relevant for the digital native generation, and that's nice. So very exciting deal that we announced a few weeks ago in order to recreate a franchise strategy using YouTube as the main platform to regain the audience where they live and using AI to produce at scale high quality content everywhere they are.

Scott Roxborough

Yeah, talk a bit about the AI component of that, because that seems to be core to anime's approach. You have your own sort of generative, bespoke generative AI system tech. How do you use it specifically to create content? And because a lot of creatives, I'm sure, are listening to this talk. What do you do to protect IP, to protect copyright with the use of your AI? I mean, it's core of the model of an image.

Sixte de Vauplane

I mean, we have built the company with this idea that you need a different playbook if you want to operate in today's landscape. I mean, the market has shifted so much. First, the audience has shifted from linear TVs to digital platforms. And second, the budget economy doesn't work right now. You need to produce faster. You need to produce cheaper. You need to produce a different type of content for every platform. And that's where AI makes a lot of sense. So we wanted to create another way of using AI than the traditional, I would say, open source models or of-the-shelf AI models, as you can see in the market, like Sora or V-O-3 from Google and so on and so forth, because we truly believe that those models fall short for like high-quality animation. First of all, when using those models, you have some serious issues when it comes to copyright. You don't know if those models have been trained on a clear data set. And as a filmmaker or content producer, you cannot afford using a tool that is going to create a chain of variety through down the line. The second thing is those models fall short when it comes to consistency, which is not necessarily a problem if you are working on an average content. But if you're working on an IP like Maya, you want to make sure that it is going to be the exact same Maya the bee, not another bee, including the exact same design, exact same animation style. I mean, what makes Maya so unique, right? And the last thing which is super important is the controllability of the output of those models, which frankly is not good enough for a filmmaker. And this is what makes the difference between an average content and a great content is the ability to keep iterating creatively on a shot, I mean, on a storyboard, on an animation piece and so on the force. And those models don't give you this level of controllability. So what we did is that over the past three years and a half, even before CHATGPT, we have invested heavily into our own proprietary data set. So what does it mean on our own proprietary data set, on our own proprietary AI foundational model, which means that we don't rely on anyone else model. It's our own model based on our own proprietary data set on using a very different approach. It's called the sketch to motion, which means that we are able to turn an animatic or storyboard into a pre-wondered animation file that we can tweak, we can retake, that we can basically control as an output, which means that if we go into the technical details, we fast track the block stage and the in-between stage within the animation process, which means that we're able to reduce by 85% of the time of those stages, while giving the full ownership and the full leadership of the creative team, because we still have writers, we still have storyboard artists, we still have animators. We still have a human in the loop everywhere in the process, but AI is just there to fast track the entire production process.

Scott Roxborough

And so with this sort of model, with this tech that you have in place, particularly with now with Maya the Bee, what you expect to be able to be producing in the near future? What should we expect? What sort of projects do you have around this IP that we should expect to be coming out, aside from the film that you mentioned that Studio 100 is doing?

Sixte de Vauplane

Yeah, I mean, that's what is super interesting with the alliance with Studio 100 is we have a five-year content roadmap that is our shared creative vision with Studio 100 and Animaj, which means that we know exactly the kind of content we're going to produce in order to sustain and support the overall franchise strategy. So you should expect very soon the release of Digital First Content made for YouTube content, designed for the YouTube conception. So it's not going to be like a repackaged TV or recycled TV episode. It's going to be new episodes, very short, music-oriented for some of them that are going to be delivered for the YouTube ecosystem in order to recreate a brand momentum on YouTube and on AVOT platforms and on fast channel as well. So that's going to be released in the coming two months and that's really thanks to our AI technology over the past two months we've been able to train the dedicated model for any of those Maya the Bee characters so that we can really scale the content production. And an idea is on top of that to start producing a traditional series, so like the 52 by 11, in order to be designed for the streaming platforms and for the broadcasters like ZDF or TF1, which are like the traditional historical partners of the brand.

Scott Roxborough

And so this sort of model that you guys have set up with Studio 100, on this sort of cooperation model where you're sharing the kind of production you're doing, you're breaking it up into territories and so forth, do you see that as a model for other sort of particular European animation IP? Do you see this as sort of a model that you expect will be looked at and maybe copied by other companies or for your own company use as a model for other interesting European animation IP out there?

Sixte de Vauplane

It's a very good point. I mean, to be honest, at the very beginning, we didn't believe it to be a model because, I mean, at Animaj, we usually acquire 100% of IPs. I mean, we have acquired Pocoyo. which is a big part of Spanish culture, I would say, similar to Maya, but for the Spanish market, for the Hispanic territories. Now we have Maya the Bee we're going to announce. But we realize with Studio 100 that we could get the best of both worlds because we would never be as good as Studio 100 on theatrical movies, on the domestic licensing, on the theme park operations, by the way. And same. I mean, Studio 100 needed a partner who could, can live, who can breathe YouTube every day, who can generate billion of views every month, who can understand how to connect and how to engage with kids on a daily basis on the platforms that matter, especially starting on YouTube. So that's where you're able, if you're able to share the same vision, the same value, and to work together on a very clear franchise plan, frankly, for the property, that's getting the best of both worlds. And we're going to announce in the coming, hopefully in the coming week, some other partnership like this one, because we believe that this is how we can make the bust of the European culture. I mean, Animaj is a Paris-based and London-based company, and we have co-founded a company with my partner, Gregory Drey, with that belief that in Europe, you have a lot of great IPs. And what we want to do is to federate, is to work, is to scale the very best of European culture and to bring them to the world and to make them relevant for the digital native generation. So finding a way to make those brands relevant on YouTube, on Roblox, on all the streaming platforms, on all the music streaming platforms, because this is how we're going to create the franchises for the next generation to come.

Scott Roxborough

But if I'm hearing you correctly, this model with Studio 100 is a bit bespoke to that company and this product, and this IP, that you're not necessarily looking to copy it in other territories with other IP?

Sixte de Vauplane

I would say it depends. It depends on the opportunity. I mean, first, it really starts with the type of IP. We are really focused on federating the very best IPs in the world, and then we can be pretty flexible on the type of deals you can do. I mean, we have the capital to acquire a big portion on even 100% of a property. We recently announced the fundraising of $85 million, led by a hub of you equity partners on bpifrance, followed by another 100 million euro equity on debt investment to Animaj. So we have received the mandate for investors to do this kind of deals. And the idea is to really figure out with the IP owners what do they need to do and what's their pain points on what we can be helpful. We can give money, we can give capital, we can give production capabilities, we can give the distribution scale and ideas to work together on the roadmap, on the growth roadmap, that makes sense in order to create a franchise strategy starting on YouTube and using our technology.

Scott Roxborough

I mean, given also the equity investment that you got in the company, obviously you guys and your investors see a lot of untapped potential out there. Why do you see that? Because European animation, of course, has been around for a long time. There's a lot of these properties out there, but they haven't, with very few exceptions, been real big global money spinners. Why do you think things like Maya the Bee and these other properties that you've acquired or gotten involved in, have real untapped global potential.

Sixte de Vauplane

I think the biggest disruption that has happened over the past few years is really the shift from linear to digital platforms. And that creates a big opportunity for the Indies and the European studios simply because you don't need any gatekeepers anymore. And we know that European studios were lacking of capital and we're lacking of distribution scale in order to exist and in order to build a very multi-platform and global franchise strategy. You don't need that anymore. I mean, if you want to build the next big thing, you need to be very big on YouTube, but you don't have any gatekeepers on YouTube. You need to be able to create great content, have a great IP, and to be constantly producing and filling the YouTube ecosystem on a weekly basis, which means that, I mean, our belief is that in Europe, you have the best diversity of IPs on storytelling, via the rest of the world. We have a lot of untapped potential in some IPs, Maya the Bee, but also Pocoyo, which was in our sense totally untapped from a potential perspective. But they need to find a way to exist in this new economy. So they need to find a way to go direct to consumer on YouTube, on Aver, on those streaming platforms. And I think that with the right scale and with the right playbook, we can figure out a way for Maya, Pocoyo and all the other properties to shine globally.

Scott Roxborough

Yeah, I mean, from the animation perspective, the European animation perspective, we're seeing just over the last couple of years real global recognition of the highest level. I mean, we have two Oscar-nominated French animated films with Little Amali and Arco. Last year, a tiny animated film from Latvia, Flo won the Oscar for Best Animated Film. So there's obviously a huge amount of talent that is also getting recognized. But I'm wondering, do you think more needs to be done to support the animation industry? I don't know, from a European government perspective. I'm wondering if I talk to sometimes to animation studios and they say they're within Europe and they say they're struggling because they don't see the same support as is offered the feature film industry, the live action feature film industry, for example, in Europe. What would you like to see from that point of view, from sort of an infrastructure or government support point of view to help or support the European animation industry?

Sixte de Vauplane

I mean, for me, it's really a key element. It's part of the European cultural sovereignty. If we don't want our culture and our countries to be flooded by American IPs in the coming years, it's an obligation. It's a political obligation to find a way to support the industry from one way to another. And I totally agree with you that we have the best talent in the world. If you look at all the best animators, for example, that are being poached by the biggest US studios, I mean, they're coming from Europe. Because we have great schools. We have a great, I mean, this is part of our culture. I think that it would be a. mistake to ask the governments to subsidize the old model. When I said the old model is like the TV first model, simply because it's gone. I think that if we really want to lead what's going to happen in the next few years, in the next decades, we need the governments to find ways to build the next champions, the next leaders on digital first, AI driven. So how Europe can find ways to accelerate the conversions, the conversion of all the producers from the traditional production pipeline to AI-powered production pipeline. Because if we find a way to do that pretty fast, as we have the talent, as the future is going to be without gatekeepers on YouTube, we could find ways to create next leaders in the market. I was recently working with CNC in France and they've been working actively over the past over the past few months on finding ways to basically shift their subsidy model from TV production subsidies to digital first production subsidies. And I think this is smart because that way is going to really show the industry and show producers that they need to be focused on that. They need to be focused on YouTube. And I think we should be doing the same on AI. I mean, we have Mistral, which is a very great AI company in Europe. We have a lot of AI engineers in Berlin, in Paris, in London as well, how can we leverage those AI engineers to build AI power pipelines for all the content producers for next year? It's going to require investment, but that's how the politic can help. If they're able to support those initiatives, I think there is a big shot for Europe at leading what's going to become the next era of the animation industry.

Scott Roxborough

Yeah, I mean, I guess politically, there's probably never been a better time to talk about, united Europe and to get politicians and governments behind the idea of building up a native industry in that way.

Well, Six, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for your insights and a really fascinating view of both your company, but also of a, yeah, a vision for the future of the animation industry. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Sixte de Vauplane

Thank you, Scott.

Scott Roxborough

Thank you all for listening to Industry Insights. Before we wrap up, just quick look at tomorrow, which marks the start of the European film market and the launch of EFM’s Animation Days supported by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the BFI National Lottery Fund. Running from 12th to the 14th of February, this new platform spotlights Europe's excellence in animation and brings together producers, financiers, sales agents, broadcasters, and distributors around international projects with strong market potential. The three-day program features curated pitches with projects from Canada, Central Eastern Europe, Germany, the UK, and an international selection seeking financing, co-production partners, world sales, and distributors, as well as in works and progress projects presented in an Annecy animation showcase.

You can find the whole program via the pre-filtered EFM event schedule in the show notes. The season of industry insights is co-funded by Creative Europe Media.

Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or on the European Film Market website at www.efm-berlinale.com.

We look forward to welcoming you on future episodes of industry insights.

Thanks for listening and have a great market.