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Since her arrival at Sony Pictures Animation only four years ago, President Kristine Belson has reinvigorated the studio with her bold creative vision, dynamic envelope-pushing projects and a remarkably talented team of artists and writers. She is responsible for spearheading the studio’s strategy and growth as well as overseeing the development and production of all theatrical, serial and short form content on the Sony Pictures Animation slate. We’ll talk to this uniquely talented animation veteran about her studio’s hugely successful, Oscar-winning movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, as well as the upcoming 2020 slate, which includes bold, original features such as “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” and “Vivo”, the studio’s first musical animated feature, which showcases songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. She will also reveal her take on the state of animation worldwide and her plans for short form and small-screen projects for the years ahead.
L.A. is home to some of the most prolific, creative indie animation studios in the world. We will talk to some of the key creatives from local studios to get their take on the recent animation boom, their survival strategies, how they work with streamers and more traditional outlets to keep the quality toons humming in the pipeline.
This eclectic panel on various business and professional aspects of the animation and VFX business will highlight important things every studio owner, producer and artist needs to know. Panelists will offer helpful tips on how to protect your animation ideas, copyrights, digital rights, sales and licensing rights, attracting financial investors, as well as the latest technology solutions to help you with the tools you need on your operating system and on your devices.
Asia continues to be a hugely important territory for animation, both in terms of content production and as an audience for content produced by the U.S. and Europe. In 2019, we have witnessed the success of Chinese animated features such as “White Snake” and “Ne Zha” and the growing appetite for anime series and features by streamers such as Netflix and Crunchyroll. This timely panel will feature some of the key animation players in China, Japan and Singapore, as they share the financial and creative details of their productions and discuss how they work with production partners around the world, especially with U.S. producers, financiers and artistic talent to continue this growth pattern.
While VFX-laden movies continue to dominate the box office, running a VFX studio continues to be a daunting and challenging business affair. We’ll talk to some of the top VFX supervisors working in the field today to find out about the latest developments, technological inventions, financial climate and other key topics impacting this complicated and fascinating sector of the entertainment business.
If you’d like to meet some of the major creative forces behind some of the best-loved and acclaimed animated movies of the year, this is the right spot for you. Find out the behind-the-scenes secrets and development/production successes and headaches of some of 2019’s Oscar season contenders.
Canadian entities continue to dominate the global animation scene. We’ll talk to some of the top execs at some of the Great White North’s top studios, find out about some of their upcoming projects, and how they take advantage of the great government tax rebate programs to kickstart new ventures and develop international co-pros all over the world.
We have seen more enticing examples of studios and individuals relying on new and creative ways of producing animation in recent years. In this eye-opening panel, we will talk to some of the imaginative animation producers who have come up with innovative uses of Unreal Engine and Unity real time engines to deliver stunning CG animation that is far from the low-fidelity examples we had come to expect from these alternative animation methods in the past.
Can you make a decent living just by doing shorts? How can you make festival and awards season exposure work for you as an animated shorts director and producer? What are the best strategies to negotiate with shorts distributors around the world? We will chat with some of this year’s acclaimed animated shorts producers/directors to learn more about out the latest trends and strategies to increase exposure in this fast-growing area of the animation business.
How are some of the indie animation studios in the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, and other countries in Europe facing the challenges of producing content overseas? This timely panel will feature some of the bright forces in each region as they discuss their individual projects, their financial models, animation pipelines, and how they work together with entities around the world to deliver fresh content for buyers.
In recent years, we have seen how great animation auteurs have experimented with the VR format. We’ll spotlight some of the new innovators in this field and find out about some of the hottest VR projects of 2019 and the latest VR tools that make these amazing works possible and available for consumers today.
Traditional linear outlets continue to deliver a wide array of original animated series and specials. But the new streaming and digital players have changed the landscape drastically in the past few years. Putting more emphasis on diversity and unique voices, these new offerings have been able to attract a wide array of original talent and show runners. We’ll catch up with some of the top development execs at key linear and digital outlets and find out what they’re looking for in 2020 and how they’re making their brands stand out in a very competitive arena.
More than ever before, animation projects are used to raise awareness for social causes, fight discrimination and fund financial support for refugees and other at-risk populations. We’ll catch up with some of the active forces in this arena who will highlight working with indie.