Bubble UK: UK Animation Moves Forward With Wildseed Studios

New UK production team, Wildseed Studios have had some exciting announcements since they opened their doors in 2013. With things looking bright for the team  and some great sounding shows in the pipeline, I caught up with one half of Wildseed’s management for a chat.

You may have seen some excitement surrounding newcomers, Wildseed Studios, on this very site last year. The Wildseed team are getting ready to give the adult animation scene in the UK a good kick up the backside and inject some great content as well as some much needed cash into what some may see as a waning industry. Out of six newly commissioned series announced last year, four are animations and this is just the tip of the iceberg for the Bristol based company.

I spoke to managing director, Miles Bullough, about the industrious new studio at the end of last year.

Vic Bright: Hi Miles, and thank you for joining me! It’s been a good year for Wildseed, you’ve had a great start and you have commissioned some exciting animation. How did we get here? Have you always worked in animation and comedy? I believe you previously worked at Aardman animation?

Miles Bullough: Yes, I was nine years at Aardman and left only recently, in 2012. It was a fantastic place to work but I wanted to be more involved in nurturing a new wave of talent. I’ve know my business partner Jesse since we were at the BBC and we realised we shared a passion for working with new creators. There are kids leaving school at 18 with a great creative outlook but after assessing their options realise they maybe don’t want to be an intern; they can already edit, they can already animate. We’re trying to pick up on their energy and creativity and help them with finance as well as strategic mentoring. What we’re offering is, to them, is quite a large amount of money to make something- we give them the mentoring to make a success of it.

VB: Do you think that the UK has an untapped mine of ideas in the areas of animation of comedy then?

MB: We absolutely do think that! And fortunately, we have been proven right!

Traditional media outlets like Channel 4 and the BBC are facing challenges of their own which centre around dwindling advertising revenues and licensing fee restrictions, their contracting momentum is held back by this. The BBC do offer training schemes and although Jessie and I both found work through these routes, the opportunities are few and far between now.

One of the exciting things we’ve found is a really vibrant scene in the UK comic world; we see kids leaving school and trying to figure out where to go next and they often turn to animation via comics. Their creativity is often largely untapped in terms of moving forward and that’s where we hope to help.

VB: I’m very impressed with the Wildseed mission statement- you seem open to all ideas. Has animation always been a part of your outlook?

MB: Before Aardman I was with (UK company) Absolutely Productions for 9 years. Whilst there we made the UK’s first adult animated sitcom; Stressed Eric. That’s where my passion for animation started, back in 1995. It was the closest we have come in the UK to an American style animated series, stressed Eric was a great character and brilliantly executed, it was a good learning experience.

VB: I remember that, vaguely! When I was a kid, in the 80’s, it seemed that the UK had a great animation scene. led by the likes of Cosgrove Hall. Since then, with the exception of Aardman’s output, homegrown series have been few and far between; why do you think that is?

MB: There’s many reasons for it. I’ll begin by saying though that I think we’re entering into a new golden age of animation, partly due to the recent tax credit and ongoing training. It’s an exciting time for animators in the UK.

Over the last ten- fifteen years, broadcasters have gradually phased out animation, it’s a slow and expensive to make and that doesn’t fit with current broadcasting environment. There have also been a few high profile shows that have sadly failed which doesn’t help. There has been some great success with British pre-school shows but we’ve struggled to punch through with programs for an older audience.

It is mainly economic though, there just hasn’t been the money around to produce good shows so the industry has dwindled until this year when the tax credits came in and we saw an upturn in the number of UK shows commissioned.

VB: Don’t you think, however, that the state of the UK animation industry is reflected completely differently online, it seems to be blooming there. Do you think working online gives a more even playing field? Amateurs and professionals have to start in the same place and build up an audience through word of mouth and social media, what are your thoughts on the YouTube phenomena? I notice Wildseed have a YouTube Channel!

MB: Yes! We will be officially launching that in January or February and it will carry lots of animation. We’re really excited about the possibilities that YouTube has to offer, it’s partly how we’re finding people; they come to us and we’re able to check out their work through YouTube and Vimeo.

It will be a part of how we operate, having a YouTube channel and premiering work through it. Traditional broadcasters are still a little suspicious and apprehensive about the time and expense involved in backing new animated shows. There are things which haven’t worked so well on TV, for instance Full English was on Channel 4 recently and although it was a good show it didn’t make the impact necessary to be a success, that was a shame.

VB: So, if money were no object, which would you choose as a preferred platform for new shows; TV or the internet?

MB:  We want to make great shows with great characters and we are happy for them to be seen wherever people want to see them! It seems a struggle to get things out on TV at the moment so let’s look at the internet and let’s look at video on demand services like Hulu and Netflix and see what they have to offer because I think more and more people are watching their favourite shows that way.

VB:  Why do you think adult animations have failed via this traditional route in the UK? Why don’t we have a Family Guy or a Simpsons here?

MB:  There are many reasons — it’s partly due to economics; in America they can commission long runs of shows with decent budgets and we don’t do that here. The UK may commissions six half hour episodes of something which isn’t a long enough series to get up a good head of steam and be noticed.

Also, the UK tend to do co-productions with say Canada or the US and our feeling at Wildseed is that for a show to be a success it’s a going to have to feel genuinely and authentically  British. This means British writers, voice artists and to be made in the UK, the current co-production structure doesn’t allow for this. For instance, in the comedy world, a series like Peep Show was 100% UK made, British writers and actors giving it the authenticity which resonates with the audience. When you co-produce, some of that can be lost. That can be fatal for adult comedy. Also, In the UK, we’re more into the craft of animating where as in America they are in love with the writing.

VB: Do you think also we’re just not open to animation as a culture anymore? France, Japan and America all have a rich history of animation, both for adults and kids…we just don’t anymore…

MB: That’s possibly true..but it’s also because of some of the shows we’ve been making in the last five or ten years have failed to make an impact.

If we can make the British public fall in love with animation again, if we tickle their funny bones; then we can begin a new love affair with animation. I’m hoping we’re about to enter a new golden age of animated comedy!

VB: I hope so! Tell me about S4C: how did their investment come about and how will it shape the future of Wildseed?

MB: We had a solid business plan and we were out there pitching it to a variety of would be investors and someone put us in touch with them because they have a commercial fund set aside for new enterprises that they find exciting. We hit it off ( with them) immediately, they just seemed to get what we do. S4C could really see a benefit not just for their channel, but for fresh talent in Wales- to give that talent mentoring and finance.

(S4C) wanted to move quickly, as did we, so it was an easy decision to make (to enter into an agreement with them) not just in terms of finance but they are also interested in co-productions and in airing some of our material on the S4C service.

VB: Right, not being Welsh; I’m only aware of what I can see on the S4C channel via the BBC iPlayer I’m told however, that they do have a great deal of pre-school animated series on the channel. Are they as happy to invest in animation as they are live action. Also, is it mainly TV  series they are looking at or are they as excited about web-based series as Wildseed are?

MB: They are interested in whatever appeals to their audience, be it animated or live action.

We are producing , quality, character driven shows; comedies, sci-fi or horror. They can be live action or animated and potentially they could all appeal to the S4C audience.  They just want great shows, ones relevant to the Welsh audience and I’m hoping that’s what we can provide.

VB: I love the idea of the meet and greet for potential creatives you are holding in Cardiff this month, will you be extending these events nationally.

MB: We have held one in Belfast and one last month in Manchester and as you said, Cardiff is coming up, so we’re trying to go all around the UK and hold one a month. We rent a room in a pub or hotel, with an open bar, and put an open call out to new writers, animators or whomever, anyone can come. People come to see us, hear what we are all about and then join our mailing list, most of what we are looking for is covered in our newsletter. After that we wait for people to send in their ideas. It’s a great chance to meet like minded individuals and throw some ideas around.

VB: Sounds great, I will be looking forward to you coming to Brighton!

MB: One of our creators, Ralph Kidson is from Brighton so I’m sure we’ll be coming that way soon!

VB: So, where do you see Wildseed Studios in five years time then?

MB: I hope by then we have created a real impact on the adult animation scene and that we have a very prominent presence on YouTube or video on demand channels like Netflix.

We are all about strong, character driven content and hope to be the studio people think of in association with those things.

We’re very excited for 2014, we’ve got some great animations that we are announcing in the new year, some creators that comics and animation fans may be familiar with. We would love it if your readers subscribe to our YouTube channel an sign up for our newsletter and keep following our progress, they will definitely find it worthwhile!

Thank you Miles and Happy New Year, I look forward to seeing  everything  you have planned, in 2014!

http://youtu.be/ogyqzxby4lc

Above, In development: Peter’s Place by Nicholas Bowe