Frank Falcone at Guru Studio discusses the Canadian prodco’s efforts to stand out in a saturated, competitive and ever-changing animation market and why collaboration is key.

Frank Falcone

Toronto-based animation company Guru Studio has a string of children’s TV hits under its belt, such as Paw Patrol, Justin Time and Pikwik Pack. Having started out 22 years ago, the business has come a long way, evolving into a prodco that develops, produces, sells and exploits its own originals.

“Our mandate is to find great, interesting characters and to bring them to as wide an audience as possible through whatever medium is currently fashionable and appealing to kids and families,” says president and executive creative director Frank Falcone.

Guru Studio aims to produce content that represents good moral values while providing joy to the viewers. One example is True & the Rainbow Kingdom, which airs on CBC in Canada, Tiny Pop in the UK and on Netflix internationally. In that series, the titular character, True, is patient and kind, whereas her friend Grizelda is rather edgy and sometimes superficial.

“We largely look for ideas, concepts and characters that are there to underscore good socialisation and good behaviour,” Falcone says. “Sometimes the characters are not on their best behaviour, but they’re still good at heart. Grizelda, for instance, can tend toward being very self-centred, and she struggles with that, especially in context to someone like True, who is very giving and very empathetic to others. Yet they’re still good friends.

“In most shows, Grizelda would be the villain you would have to foil; in this show she’s a villain who needs your empathy, and True is patient with her.”

Collaboration is key for Falcone, who says “coproduction is an increasingly important part of the business” in helping with financing. “Finding collaborative partners to invest in shows is equally as important as finding collaborative creators,” he adds.

But when it comes to creative collaboration, Guru Studio is keen to work with up-and-coming creators who have not yet had their big break.

“We’re always looking to collaborate and we’re particularly adept at working with creators who maybe don’t have experience in TV,” the exec says, citing Gyimah Gariba, the creator of CBC’s series Big Blue, as a recent example.

“Gariba was a first-time creator, a couple of years out of school. Guiding him and helping him get his pitch on screen was really crucial. He had a lot of ideas, as young creators often do, but not all of them can make it on screen with the budget and the time that they have,” Falcone says.

True & the Rainbow Kingdom aims to promote ‘good socialisation and good behaviour’

While Guru Studio has a solid pipeline of projects and strong ambitions in the animation space, expanding the size of the company is not a priority for Falcone, who notes that the studio actually decided to limit its growth during the Covid-19 pandemic, when demand for animation was soaring.

“We consciously decided to limit the growth of the studio during the pandemic, even though we saw a lot of projects hitting the market and a lot of money being diverted from stalled live-action productions into animation,” the exec says.

“The reason we did that is we didn’t feel it would be honest money coming into the business – it was just a means to get some productions off the ground. The result of that has been a lot of shows that haven’t connected with audiences.

“There’s probably a saturation of content in the market where we’re not getting enough eyeballs on that content. We may be coming out of an era of having produced too much animation, dare I say it, as much as I love animation and want to make more. If you’re making things that aren’t connecting with the audience, you’re ultimately damaging the reputation of the medium.”

Instead, during the pandemic, Guru Studio decided to strengthen its production pipeline, tools and ability to work remotely. It now works with a series of outsource studios around the world, in turn strengthening its partnerships and collaborations.

“That’s the way in which we’re growing – not in terms of employee count but in terms of how we’re engaging with other studios and working internationally. It allows us to find other, more creative ways to collaborate,” Falcone says.

Guru Studio attended Mipcom this month, where Big Blue was top of its slate. The series, which had already been picked up by international broadcasters including CBC in Canada, ABC in Australia, Nickelodeon in the UK, Cartoon Network in Africa and, more recently, RTVE’s Clan in Spain, MBC in the Middle East and EBS in South Korea, was joined by True & the Rainbow Kingdom, Pikwik Pack and brand new series Scoops.

Currently in development with Time Studios’ Kids & Family division, Scoops is an educational comedy series that aims to teach kids aged 5-8 how to develop a lifelong practice of separating fact from fiction, whether it’s a schoolyard rumour or misinformation online.

Looking at the remainder of the year and beyond, Falcone warns of an uncertain time ahead for independent studios, in the face of increased competition and constant change.

Guru Studio produced Big Blue for CBC Kids and Radio-Canada

“We’re at a tipping point in the industry where there are so many changes happening and there is so much uncertainty that there’s some anxiety around what the future holds for a lot of independent producers.

“There are lots who will find success with user-generated content, but the financial needs of a single person or two people creating for YouTube are very different for a company in a mid-range size like us. And then you have the behemoths operating in the multibillion-dollar realm.

“For indie producers, it is a challenging time to ripple your boat between the giant icebergs and the independent creators who, at home, are able to create something without any infrastructure.”

Guru Studio’s mission, therefore, is to find original content that will withstand the constantly evolving industry, and nurture the creatives behind it.

“The focus for any independent producer like us is to identify original content, things that are going to matter, that have legs, that are going to last longer than a year or two in terms of popularity. Identify the people who can do that, bring them under our wings and develop them, because that’s what’s missing in the market: nurturing, collaboration and the development of ideas.

“Some of the larger companies are struggling with the ability to do that because of the volume they’ve taken on or because their needs are different. Independent producers, more than ever, have a role to foster the creative growth of properties that would maybe not get the same attention or the same commitment.

“That’s how we’re going to survive the challenging years that are ahead as the industry resettles and disrupts, again and again. The only constant in our midst is constant change.”