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Eliza Jäppinen

Eliza Jäppinen
CEO
Visible Realms
Finland
Pitching: Troll Karl & Lillan

What is the biggest issue facing the animation industry?
It’s always finding the financing; putting together the pieces of the puzzle is a struggle. There are not enough investors.

What is your company doing in response to this?
The basic foundation for my company is to figure out a way around that. The thesis for the business is to create huge franchise IPs, starting with mobile gaming to see if there is a viable product and if it has a market fit. It’s more cost-effective on the production side because it’s smaller scale and easier to find the financing. You also get to have more of a unique voice because you’re not being pressured by the outside voices. You’re going straight to the consumer to validate your ideas. We think that’s a great place to also create more equity and equality on the creator side.

Are physical animation studios essential or is working from home the future of the industry?
Remote offices are the way forward in the future and the idea is that you can have workshop locations that you rent out for a period of time for when you have to be in the room together. Also, talent is a hard thing in this industry, so if you can get people from across the world into your company without them feeling like they are not there, that feeling of dislocation, then that’s another asset.

How do you feel about Disney’s decision to close many of its TV channels around the world?
It’s an interesting scenario but everything is going towards streaming and the monetisation model they have there is pretty clear cut. The European Union stipulating that global streamers have to buy 40% of their content from the places in which they sell their services is good for the industry too. Also, if you’re going towards streaming instead of TV, it opens up a whole new level of creativity because you aren’t pigeonholed into the time slots that linear TV has, which is a good thing for creators. It is going to be challenging and very competitive, but we’re in a great moment with lots of opportunities facing the industry, and especially producers like myself.

Tell us about the project you are pitching at Cartoon Forum.
Troll Karl & Lillan (5×11′) is a Scandinavian magical realism, Hayao Miyazaki/Moomins-type project, but with a very contemporary twist. We’re maybe betting more on the SVoD side, but we’re excited to hear what everybody has to think of it. We have coproduction partners in Den Siste Skilling in Norway and Knudsen Pictures in Germany, but we have yet to get our distribution in place.

 

 

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