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Irene Sparre

Irene SparreCEO
Sparre Production
Denmark

Pitching: Women in War
 
What is the biggest issue facing the animation industry?
Right now, the current challenge is to come back after the Covid-19 lockdown. Many of the buyers, whom we depend on completely, have been restricted to not buying anything because no one knows if or when society will open up again.

What is your company doing in response to this?
We’re reaching out to contacts we already have and we’re building on those relationships. We’re also trying to reach out to new contacts, but it’s harder to build relationships when you’re not able to meet in person for the first time. But we have started meeting up in small groups so that we slowly get the opportunity to have direct interaction.

 

What impact could the Covid-19 pandemic have on the animation industry long-term?
We probably won’t notice the effects until spring 2021, because we can continue a lot of the work that we do virtually. But even though we can continue developing, because of the buyers being reluctant to invest in development, we could see the same problems the live-action world encountered during the pandemic.

 

Women in War
Women in War

How are SVoD services changing the animation industry?
They are changing the animation industry in a lot of positive ways, because they introduce producers to different ways of exposing our content. If you have a deal with an SVoD service or a public broadcaster with a strong streaming presence, it basically opens you up to a global audience. Netflix in Denmark is not the same as Netflix in the US, so there are limitations, but it still gives the audience a lot more content to choose from.

 

Tell us about the project you are pitching at Cartoon Forum.
Women in War (26×11′) is the story of how women fought for European democracy during the Second World War. We’ve had tons of WW2 tales for decades, but the stories about the women who became explosives experts or assassins and helped fight against the fascist regime have not been told. We are coproducing with Godo Films in France and Letko in Poland and are in talks with broadcasters in those countries and in Denmark. Arte in France has reviewed the show and we’re aiming to target that channel first because it would fit our profile perfectly.

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