Hari
Sophie ‘Kido’ Prigent
Head of sales
Hari
Please tell us about your main objectives at Annecy this year.
We are looking forward to updating our partners on Mystery Lane’s amazing performance and showing them visuals of the Mystery Lane Special Christmas that we are delivering in the fourth quarter of this year. Annecy is also a great opportunity for us to reveal more on our latest show in production, The Weasy Family. Here, Hari has innovated the genre by combining slapstick comedy with a heartwarming narrative that has emotional stakes at the core. Grizzy & the Lemmings season four launches this year and we will discuss the rights available with our different partners for all seasons.
What new shows are coming down the line that you’re particularly focused on?
Mystery Lane (26×22’) is a classic ‘Scooby Doo meets Sherlock Holmes’ packed in a feature-quality CGI animation with sophisticated storytelling. The show racked up a million views in just six weeks on Okoo in France and performs excellently on Disney in Germany and on Rai in Italy, alongside a host of other channels. The investigative comedy adventure series targets kids aged six-plus and their families
In The Weasy Family (78×7’), Hari combines slapstick comedy with a benevolent, heartwarming narrative. The cute and fun factor in this father-daughter relationship will resonate with a wide audience, including parents. France Télévisions, the BBC in the UK, Germany’s Super RTL, TeleQuebec in Francophone Canada and Sweden’s SVT are on board.
What have been your most successful shows of the past six months and why?
Last year we made a raft of deals for Mystery Lane and this has propelled the show to global success. The series has debuted in China via a strategic deal, crafted in partnership with Paris-based Midolala, with Alibaba Group subsidiary Youku Kids, who has picked up the exclusive VoD rights. It has also launched on public service broadcasters across Europe and beyond, including Rai in Italy, YLE in Finland, NRK in Norway, TV3 Catalonia in Spain and the ABC in Australia. The series received critical acclaim at Cartoons on the Bay Festival and won the Pulcinella award for best kids’ TV show. It also scooped the youth prize at the prestigious Lauriers de L’Audiovisuel ceremony in France.
Grizzy & the Lemmings has had an incredible year; it is consistently in the top three animated TV shows on Okoo in France and is a top 10 animated show on Netflix worldwide. The series also delivers outstanding ratings on local TV channels around the world and generates one billion views per year on YouTube, with eight million-plus subscribers.
What is the biggest issue facing the animation industry and what is your company doing in response to it?
Some broadcasters’ commissioning teams have had their budgets cut, affecting the acquisition and greenlighting of shows. We need more partners to finance high-quality shows and more flexibility on terms, such as shorter licence periods, non-exclusivity, no holdbacks or shorter ones etc. We also need to diversify. Grizzy & the Lemmings is a worldwide established IP getting a lot of attention at the moment. Recent licensing deals include a board game, a publishing deal and a loyalty programme in a fast food chain. We’re attending various licensing fairs this year and looking for a master toy partner with whom we can transform the existing success of Grizzy & the Lemmings into a global licensing programme.
How is the use of artificial intelligence in animation developing and how has your company been using it?
Our R&D department is looking closely at the ongoing development of AI in animation. It’s fascinating to see how fast this goes and how impactful this is – it’s like we discovered a whole new continent. It is still early to say, despite how fast it is progressing, but we will most likely implement some aspects of it soon, for the encoding of our pipeline for example. For now we think of it as an assisting tool that helps with some early tasks, not as a replacement for actual creative human task force.
How can animation companies survive and thrive during the economic crisis?
At Hari, we place a huge emphasis on developing high-quality CGI series, bringing together families and inspiring laughter and optimism. Our original characters entertain audiences of all ages, across TV, film and product. And this ensures our shows to stay in high demand.
We have many free, pay TV and VoD partners around the world, with audiences accessing our series through multiple platforms, windows and devices, which is critical for global success. We have ramped up our global YouTube presence, launching two dedicated YouTube channels for Mystery Lane in French and English, and a new dedicated geoblocked US-only YouTube channel for Grizzy & the Lemmings, supporting the series’ schedule on all broadcast platforms. We have appointed digital distributor Soupir to help develop and grow our global digital content strategy, for both Mystery Lane and Grizzy & the Lemmings.
We plan to develop more exclusive and shortform digital-first content for YouTube, including thematic clip compilations, some full episodes, live streams and thematic excerpts. We intend to build the platform as an even bigger communication tool for our fan community worldwide, which will also help grow our licensing and merchandising business. Hari’s characters are this year set to launch their own books, board games, glue sticks, commemorative coins and more. Our licensing and merchandising programme is ever-expanding and the series’ worldwide exposure creates brilliant opportunities for franchise partners.
Sophie ‘Kido’ Prigent
Head of sales
Hari
Please tell us about your main objectives at Annecy this year.
We want to share HARI’s long-term vision with our partners, as we’re creating an ecosystem of IPs. After a promising MipTV, we will be discussing further the opportunities for Grizzy & the Lemmings season four (World Tour), which is delivering in 2024; Mystery Lane, which is delivering in June; and The Weasy Family, delivering in 2025. Plus we will be pitching two new shows in development for the first time.
What new shows are coming down the line that you’re particularly focused on?
We are currently delivering Mystery Lane (26×22’), our new series which is a kind of Scooby-Doo-meets-Sherlock Holmes for kids and family. The broadcast started in the UK on ITV and in Germany and Benelux on Disney. France Télévisions, TeleQuebec in Canada, SVT in Sweden and ABC in Australia will follow soon and we’ll be continuing our conversations with channels outside these territories after receiving some great feedback in Cannes last April.
We recently announced the BBC as our partner for our brand-new slapstick non-dialogue animated series The Weasy Family, alongside France Télévisions, Super RTL in Germany and TeleQuebec. The show is unique in combining comedy-action with emotional family moments and parent/child relationships. It’s the first-ever benevolent slapstick cartoon where no-one gets hurt even when situations get out of hand. 78×7’ episodes are currently in production.
We will also be pitching two new shows that are in development for the first time in Annecy. One is a spin-off and a gentle slapstick comedy, the other is a brand-new original IP that is serialised, with high action and adventure stakes.
What have been your most successful shows of the past six months?
Grizzy & the Lemmings is in the Top 10 Netflix TV shows in 60-plus territories, accumulating over a billion views per year on YouTube with a 40% increase year-on-year. We just signed with the BBC for the latest seasons, which means in the UK alone it is available on Boomerang, Pop TV, Pop Max, Netflix, YouTube and soon CBBC and BBC iPlayer. Thanks to the success of the series, we manage to have remarkable window exposure worldwide.
What is the biggest issue facing the animation industry and what is your company doing in response to it?
The recent budget cuts happening on the broadcaster and commissioner sides, while we’re committed to delivering premium content, means more than ever we need fair terms that take into consideration the fact we need several partners to finance high-quality shows. That can be rolled out via increased windowing, non-exclusivity, shorter holdbacks and shorter licence periods.
How is the current economic crisis impacting the animation sector?
The broadcasters have been focusing a lot on the acquisition of IPs that are established and successful as a way to attract the eyeballs. New original IPs get less air time than before and the quality in terms of animation and storytelling as well as answering some of the main criteria of the broadcasters and streamers are more important than ever to make it to the screens. We’re talking smart and heartfelt comedy as well as high relatability and co-viewing opportunities.
What are your thoughts on the use of artificial intelligence in animation?
Our R&D department is looking closely at the ongoing development of AI in animation. It’s fascinating to see how fast this goes and how impactful it is – it’s like we discovered a whole new continent these last months. It is still early to say, despite how fast it is progressing, but we will most likely implement some aspects of it soon, for the encoding of our pipeline, for example. For now, we think of it as an assisting tool that helps with some early tasks, not as a replacement for an actual creative human taskforce.
