Pierre Sissmann Talks Cyber Group Studios’ Expansion, Future Growth

Pierre Sissmann, chairman and CEO of Cyber Group Studios, tells TV Kids about the company’s recent expansion and its plans for the future.

The last few years have seen significant growth for Cyber Group Studios. Headquartered in Paris and led by Pierre Sissmann as chairman and CEO, the company set up a U.S. outpost to drive its North American business, scored a global deal with Boomerang for the original series Taffy, created a megahit in Gigantosaurus, airing on Disney Junior in the U.S., and opened a new studio in Lille. The company has also pioneered new alliances, especially in the digital media space, as it looks to expand its business worldwide. Sissmann tells TV Kids about the gains made so far and what’s still to come.

TV KIDS: How has the opening of a U.S. office benefited your business?
SISSMANN: We opened Cyber Group Studios in L.A. a couple of years ago. Richard Goldsmith is our CEO there. He takes care of our business in North America, plus China, Australia and New Zealand. Ira Singerman, who was at Mattel, Universal Pictures and Spin Master, is our VP of development. So far, we have used our office for two main purposes. One is to sell, obviously, and organizing the marketing of our series in the U.S., such as Gigantosaurus, which Richard has been very busy doing. We’ve been working with agents to secure many licensing deals in the U.S., such as apparel, bedding and publishing. We are ready for a big launch of the toys starting this fall. So we’ve been using the U.S. office, and Richard has been instrumental in this, to develop our brands and sell our series in the U.S.

Second, we’ve looked to establish a development slate targeted more to North America and global, interfacing with the French office. So our series become more global. For instance, Ira is working with Pierre Belaïsch [senior VP, creative development consultant, and former head of Lagardère Active], who is based in France, in developing a number of shows.

TV KIDS: Tell us about the U.S. development slate.
SISSMANN: We have Monster in My Pocket, which is a reboot. We are co-producing it with Joe Morrison, the creator of Monster in My Pocket. Joe was at Mattel for a long time. We’re doing a massive CGI reboot, digitally connected. We’ll have a big trailer at MIPCOM.

The other thing we’ve been doing with Ira is developing James and the Ever Afters. It’s what we see as our next big preschool series after Gigantosaurus, which has rated number one in the U.S. in its first three months on Disney Channel and Disney Junior. And it has spread around the world. James and the Ever Afters is being co-produced with Arnie Zipursky of CCI Entertainment. It is a series where James and his group of friends, a bunch of misfits—there’s an elf, a fairy, a little monster who doesn’t freak anybody out—want to make everyone happy in the world. It is a fantasy, comedy-driven bridge series. I think it’s a great series because it’s very optimistic. It is beautifully designed and the bible author is Kate Barris. We’ll have a fabulous trailer at MIPCOM.

TV KIDS: What led to the creation of the new studio in Lille?
SISSMANN: In Paris, we do mostly CG animation. And in Lille, we’ve established a new studio where we’re doing 2D. So in Lille, we’ve been doing part of Taffy.

We’ve moved massively into 2D. As you know, we were preschool, then preschool kids, mostly CGI. Opening this studio in Lille is a very important point because it enables us to address all sides of creativity. Some things are better in 2D, other things better in CGI, some are better with a mix of 2D and CG. The only thing we’re not doing so far is stop-motion. Maybe that will happen one day. But I want to break all the technological barriers so we can address any kind of creative issues. It’s not about, I’m doing this in 2D, this in CGI. It should be, I’m doing what is best for the series, for the vision of the creator.

We are in production on six series and in development on anywhere between five and ten series. There’s Droners, which we are co-producing with Supamonks Studio and La Chouette Compagnie for TF1. Tom Sawyer is coming for ARD and Rai; it’s a mixed CGI 2D series we are co-producing with Groupe PVP in Canada. Nefertine is a great preschool show set in ancient Egypt, co-produced with the Italian studio Graphilm. We are also finishing Sadie Sparks for Disney Channel. We are soon going into production on Goal Force, a new show for Disney EMEA that we are co-producing with La Chouette. It’s about soccer, set in a world of fantasy. And then we are in development of James and the Ever Afters and Monster in My Pocket with MEG Toys and a few others.

TV KIDS: How are you increasing Cyber Group’s presence in the rest of the world?
SISSMANN: We’re doing a couple of things. One of my objectives was to give a global imprint to Cyber Group Studios for a couple of reasons. One is to reach a public that has different needs on a worldwide basis. Of course, there’s the global [shows]. But we also want to cater more to huge regional markets. Last year we signed a partnership with Soyuzmultfilm Studio in Russia. It is the state-owned studio. We are co-producing up to four series with them. Three are at a very advanced stage. Hopefully, the first two will be released next year. We had a Russian team in our offices with our development team, and we send our collaborators to Russia regularly. It started about a year, year and a half ago and now it’s on an ongoing basis. Hopefully, [those shows] will cater to the Russian market but even more on a worldwide basis. What we bring is an international perspective on how to write and of course a robust distribution network, which is being handled by Raphaelle Mathieu, senior VP of sales, acquisitions and new media.

At the beginning of this year, we also signed an agreement with YoBoHo, one of the world’s biggest MCNs, based in Mumbai. They do 1.5 billion monthly views. We are developing two dedicated YouTube series with YoBoHo.

So when you look at what has happened over the last two years, we’ve started to extend our reach. First in the U.S., which was very important, and now we are expanding to China, where we are going to open two new offices. We are already in Russia and we’re working with India. This is my vision of catering to and addressing the needs of kids and families around the world. If you look at India, for instance, it’s a huge market. There are a billion Indian citizens. You need to give them what they’re familiar with. Same with Russia, same with China. That’s been a big move for Cyber Group Studios.

Last year I decided to get back into the movie business. It’s where I started; it’s what I was doing at Disney with The Hunchback of Notre Dame or Tarzan, for instance. We are now in preproduction of Gigantosaurus the Movie. We have Michael J. Wilson, the creator of Ice Age, leading the scripts. We’re looking at a 2022 release. We have two others on the backburner.

So we’re expanding the company horizontally and geographically. It’s amazing to be in a meeting with our French development staff, our U.S. colleagues and now our Russian, Chinese or Canadian partners because you address cultural issues.