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Studio Spotlight Giganto Club
Cyber Group Expands Its Giant Footprint Studio Founder Pierre Sissmann discusses recent expansions in the U.K., Italy and Singapore, and highlights his 2022 slate at Annecy.
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yber Group Studios is one of the most active indie animation outfits heading to Annecy this year. Hot off the acquisition of three studios in the U.K., Italy and Singapore in recent months, the studio behind such shows as Gigantosaurus, 50/50 Heroes and Digital Girl will be bringing a full slate to the MIFA market this month. We had a chance to catch up with Chairman & CEO Pierre Sissmann, who founded the Paris-based studio 24 years ago. Here is what the toon veteran shared with us during a Zoom interview: Animation Magazine: Congrats, Pierre, on another very busy quarter for Cyber Group. Can you give us a quick overview of what you’ve been up to in recent months? Pierre Sissmann: Well, the big news is that we acquired a majority stake in several multi-awardwinning companies — U.K. studio A Productions (The Monster at the End of This Story, Love Monster), which is headed by Mark Taylor and managing director Katherine McQueen, and Italian animation studio Graphilm Entertainment, which is led by founder and CEO Maurizio Forestieri and exec producer Anna Lucia Pisanelli. Both of these studios are hugely respected and have won Royal So-
ciety and International Emmy Awards. We worked with Graphilm on the animated series Nefertine. Maurizio also directed the 40-minute project La Custodia (The Case), which set records when it premiered on RAI last year and has won more than 22 awards so far. We also acquired a majority stake in Scrawl Animation (headed by Seng Choon Meng and Wong Chi Kong) in Singapore, which has produced acclaimed shows such as Guess How Much I Love You and partnered with us on Zou. What was the final goal for these recent acquisitions? As you know, we have the U.S. studio headed by Karen Miller, and now with these latest acquisitions, we have footprints in France, West China, Singapore, Italy and the U.K. The idea was to create a network of best-in-class studios and talent around the world. We also have the biggest realtime animation studio in Roubaix, in the north of France, where we are currently working on shows such as our Giganto Club, as well as offering service work. We looked at companies that we knew would fit well with us, in terms of creative philosophy, history and a mission to create the best entertainment for families, and that’s reflected in the number of awards they’ve received over the
years. We are now also looking at the Hispanic market and eying the Eastern Europe territories as well, because of the region’s strong traditions. So, my dream is to create properties that not only will be global hits, but could resonate for kids from all different parts of the world. It’s all about bringing talent together with the latest in technology, which is something we have invested in — especially in the real-time arena, which is something that we have been working on for the past two years. We've also created a big direct-toconsumer division, which is an area in which we have been growing: Our Giganto Club show was produced especially for YouTube, for example. You have talked about the importance of having the means to have creative and artistic freedom. Can you elaborate on that in terms of how that goal aligns with the recent expansions of your studio? I think everyone all over the world is experiencing a very challenging year, both politically and financially. That’s why it’s so important to be able to support the creators in a way that your future only depends on you. For example, we are coproducing our real-time series Alex Player with France Télévisions and RAI, and it’s co-produced
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june|july 22
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