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United States of Animation Daniel Lennard (left), director of animation for Cartoon Network, Toonami and Boomerang in Europe, believes European animators will only produce a global 6-11 hit if they take onboard a US sensibility.  Anyone doubting the health and creativity of European animation need only look at hit film Belleville Rendezvous or the UK’s enviable preschool tradition. Not to mention the strikingly original animation in music videos and commercials across Europe.However, the European animation industry has never managed to successfully penetrate the international 6-11 year-old animation series market. Where is the European equivalent of Dexter’s Laboratory, Spongebob Square-pants, Powerpuff Girls, Fairly Odd Parents - a phenomenal kids’ hit that is smart enough to appeal to kids and adults alike? There hasn’t been one, and this needs to change. Now, I’m not suggesting that the European creator subsume his personality into a generic American formula, but there are undoubtedly lessons to be learned. There are a number of reasons why the shows mentioned above are successful, but the one thing they all have in common is a shared sensibility. At its most basic, this can be described as seeing the world from a kid’s point of view, communicating in a tone that combines sweetness and cheekiness, and above all, never patronising its audience. And it’s this uniquely American sensibility that makes Pixar movies so universally successful. In Europe we have a tradition of creating beautiful, detailed animation, often at the expense of strong characterisation. An animated series is no different to a live-action series in that you need to care about, and empathize with, the characters. Or why would you expect the audience to continue watching? If you fail to engage your audience, then no amount of ink and paint is going to save you. We have a tendency to gravitate towards ‘the educational’ when dealing with children’s television. There is definitely a place for learning within animation - and it’s called pre-school. When kids of five years upwards get home from school, they want escapism. They want excitement and adventure. They want loveable characters doing stupid things. They want fighting and farting. Not edutainment and certainly not blatant ‘moral journeys’. At the other end of the spectrum, some artists regard a show as a platform to play out their personal artistic obsessions. Unsurprisingly, scatology, bizarre sexual unions and controversial social satire don’t necessarily translate into international kid hit shows. We need to consider the demographic we are looking to entertain. In animation there is a misconception that anything goes, but it doesn’t. In fact, very little goes, if you want a kids’ network to broadcast your series. When I joined Cartoon Network Europe it became clear to me that we needed a transition period, where European artists take on board lessons learned by the US. We needed to harness the incredible creativity coming out of Europe and imbue it with an American sensibility in order to shape it into an international success. Robotboy, the latest series I am exec producing for Cartoon Network, is a case in point. Robotboy is the ultimate kick-ass fighting robot. But when he’s not destroying evil genetically-modified clones, he’s actually rather sweet and is curious to learn how to be a real boy. He’s an unlikely cross between The Terminator and Pinocchio and given that Pinocchio is a European creation and Terminator an undeniably American one, it made sense to combine elements from both cultures when setting up the production. Robotboy was created at French animation studio Alphanim by a Belgian, Jan Van Rijsselberge. We hired Charlie Bean, a director who could do his vision justice. Bean has spent the last few years of his life storyboarding Dexter’s Laboratory and the Powerpuff Girls. The cross-fertilisation of approaches and sensibilities is producing exciting results. We’ve just developed a CGI project with Aardman called Chop Socky Chooks, the everyday tale of Kung-Fu chickens battling a psychotic piranha. Aardman is a quintessentially British institution, yet CSC creator Sergio Delfino discovered the benefits of working with an experienced American story editor to give his project the right sensibility. Again, this is shaping up fantastically well. My hope is that Robotboy and Chop Socky Chooks will break down the barriers and show that Europe can produce internationally successful series for 6-11 yr olds. I think Kofi Annan would be very proud. I feel a group hug coming on… Daniel Lennard 18 May 2004 © C21 Media 2004 
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