here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\nLed by Clint Eland as CEO, Mercury Filmworks was established in 1997 with the vision of being the best animation studio in the world, Ling explained. The company is well-known for its 2D capabilities and was an early player in embracing Toon Boom Harmony and other digital animation technologies. After working on several co-pro projects, the company has embarked on an originals drive, Ling noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been working on a slate for the last two and a half years,\u201d Ling said. \u201cWe have approximately 15 projects; 50 percent of that is coming from our creatives internally. One of our focuses is on building really strong storytellers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019ve deliberately tried to foster,\u201d Kenny added.<\/p>\n
On the work-for-hire business, meanwhile, Kenny said, \u201cWe\u2019re really seeking to be of service at the highest level, but also seeking to understand from the onboarding process of any new show what the needs are of our clients and our creative leaders. Whoever the creative stakeholders are, the first thing we do is try to actively listen. Being able to expand that offer into things that are beyond just animation and moving to other parts of the process, it\u2019s a level of generosity and a hunger for excellence that I think is pretty rare in the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ling added: \u201cMercury started as a service company, and we took that word \u2018service\u2019 literally. We realized we needed to be the guardians of the creative. We take that very seriously. It\u2019s in our DNA from the service, and it\u2019s fed into our originals team as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the expansion into originals, the process begins with identifying the \u201cpillars or the promise of a show,\u201d Kenny explained. \u201cChantal and I go through a sort of thought exercise of figuring out, based on what we believe to be the strategy or the promise of the show, what are the stories we\u2019re telling ourselves that need to be true for this to be a reality? Once we list those in terms of importance, we know exactly what we cannot compromise on for this to be a success. It\u2019s an empowering place to be because you can be a collaborative partner, but you\u2019re not compromising unintentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporting the creative vision is crucial, Ling added. \u201cThe processes that Heath brought into the company have elevated us even further and enabled us to focus on each project uniquely and servicing that project and that creative team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenny added, \u201cWe have a very deep and robust pipeline, but it\u2019s thanks to our people that it\u2019s able to be flexible and agile at the same time. We can do something that feels slapstick, cartoony and almost hand-drawn, and then we do something else that is subtle in its performance and very complex. We can flex and move our pipeline to suit the creative. We\u2019re always thinking about how can we make sure that the technology and our people serve the creative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ling noted that ensuring the slate is diverse and authentic is vital. \u201cWe work extremely hard in our projects to ensure that we\u2019re casting appropriately and have a diverse voice as far as the types of stories we\u2019re telling.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s easier said than done, Kenny added. \u201cSometimes projects get delayed heavily because we haven\u2019t found the right people. We have to wait. We have to keep looking. That\u2019s a passion of ours. When you have the right level of diversity of voices in and around the show\u2019s core team, its potential reach internationally [expands]. It makes a real difference in terms of audience engagement. It\u2019s become a pillar of the way we approach original content.\u201d<\/p>\n
Becoming \u201cthe best storytellers in the world\u201d is the company\u2019s driving force as it expands its slate of original ideas, Ling noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the mantras that we use a lot is this idea of creating a safe place to be creative and a creative place to do business,\u201d Kenny noted. \u201cA lot of people just focus on the projects, but if you don\u2019t create the process for your people, there\u2019s nothing for them to follow. Also, if you ask your people to go from doing one thing that they\u2019ve been doing in terms of expertise incredibly well, and now you\u2019re going to jump into the fear of the blank page. It\u2019s terrifying. So you have to get them ready. It\u2019s people, process and projects. You can\u2019t do it any other way. Part of how we make a safe place to be creative is to openly manage risk. We need to manage the expectations of our creators. As we move into more strategic partnerships, it\u2019s the same thing. We need to understand how we\u2019re managing our risk as partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
On determining a development slate, Kenny noted: \u201cWe need to make evidence-based decisions on how we move projects forward. We need proof of real engagement, and we\u2019ll take the project to the next phase. That means we can make bold and confident moves in terms of the sales tools we\u2019re creating to pitch things and move things forward. Ultimately, it\u2019s bringing clarity, transparency and, again, safety. We want to ensure that our creators feel safe and confident because nothing is worse than a creator that lacks confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The development process ends in the preproduction phase, Kenny continued. \u201cThat\u2019s where all the theories and the stories you\u2019re telling yourself about finance become either a reality or you end up with a gap. At that point, you must decide how to pull the trigger on a green light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenny then outlined the \u201cworkshop process\u201d the company deploys to onboard projects. \u201cOne of the biggest challenges for anyone working on originals or creating content from scratch is alignment. If you lack alignment, you can waste precious money and time and people being misaligned and ending up in different places than you expected. That\u2019s the worst outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercury\u2019s workshop process \u201callows us to identify any property’s core themes and promise. From that, we can create a business and a creative strategy, and we can cast a team that is set up for success. We want to make sure that everyone\u2019s on the same page. And then we\u2019re building sales tools that will deliver on the core promise of a show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenny added: \u201cUltimately, we all know we\u2019re in a risk-averse marketplace right now. The animation industry as a whole has been through a lot of difficulties. We\u2019re learning that our plucky little team has developed a system that may help us manage our risk, but it\u2019s a service that people need right now, and we\u2019re happy to share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenny then discussed AI and how animation show formats are evolving. \u201cThe industry has been driven by the commercial half-hour for the longest time. And then, we shifted from that advertising-driven model to subscriber-driven. That\u2019s a different interaction with content and a different way of consuming content. The next logical thing that AI will empower us to do is create user-driven formats. The next frontier for us as content creators is to find a way to elevate that user experience through AI and to create content that has multi-use cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenny expects AI will also be used in production management. \u201cOpenGPT is interesting in the way it\u2019s creating production management tools. If you give it a timeline and budget, and it can spit out a working plan for you, that\u2019s valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expanding its CGI capabilities is also a priority, Kenny and Ling noted. \u201cAnd looking at new financing models,\u201d she added. \u201cLooking at ways of retaining and managing our rights as we move in the original space in the next 12 to 18 months will be very important as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenny added: \u201cWe\u2019re looking to elevate voices that otherwise wouldn\u2019t have those opportunities. We\u2019re getting a lot of creators coming to us now because they\u2019ve heard the news that this is a safe place to be creative. That in itself is a real win for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mercury Filmworks\u2019 Heath Kenny and Chantal Ling showcased the creativity at the heart of the studio, which is marking its 25th anniversary, during the TV Kids Summer Festival today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":25246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[7766,7773,2302,5973],"class_list":["post-25245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-chantal-ling","tag-heath-kenny","tag-mercury-filmworks","tag-tv-kids-summer-festival","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
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