From Page to Screen: An Inside Look at Producing a Feature Film

From 14:45 to 15:30 at Dingle Skellig Hotel

The business of making an animated movie is a long labour of love. If you are considering making an animated feature film, join this panel discussion on the pitfalls, the wins, the whys and the wherefores. Learn about the joy and the art of animated feature film making.

Chair: Shelley Page

Locksmith Animation

Shelley Page is Key Talent and Artist Liaison at Locksmith Animation in London. Following ‘Rons’ Gone Wrong’ (2021), Locksmith is currently in production on the studio’s second feature ‘That Christmas’.

Shelley’s career in animation began in 1982 when she joined the London studio of legendary animation director Richard Williams - which led to a position as head of backgrounds on the Disney film ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ (1988). In early 1995 she was one of the first team of artists recruited to join DreamWorks Animation as co-head of Artist Development. During her 23 years with DreamWorks Animation, Shelley worked in many areas of feature animation production and talent development. She also participated in setting up DreamWorks Animation teams in India and China. She has also worked with other leading animation studios around the world - including Aardman.

Her 36+ feature film credits include: ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’, ‘‘Balto’, The Prince Of Egypt’, ‘Shrek’, ‘Madagascar’, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon’. Shelley joined Locksmith Animation in 2019.

Throughout her career, Shelley has maintained a strong interest in student animation and serves as a Visiting Professor and graduation jury member at many leading animation schools in the UK and around the world.

Eleanor Coleman

Indie Sales, Producer

Eleanor Coleman is a Paris based American producer who has worked for over 25 years in the European animation community. Her career began with a 15-year tenure at TF1 in France as head of in-house production and business development across all platforms for children.

Since leaving TF1, Eleanor works independently in animated feature film acquisitions and development with Indie Sales, where she has built an innovative prestigious lineup including the Oscar nominated film My Life as A Zucchini by Claude Barras. Her cartoon television work concentrates on international business development and pre-sales for the award-winning studio, Blue Spirit in France and Canada. Her clients at Blue Spirit include Netflix Adult Animation, WBA, Marvel CU, many major European broadcasters, as well as streaming services. Eleanor is a founding member and co-vice president of the French association Les Femmes s’Aiment, part of the global Women in Animation network dedicated to gender parity and conscious content production.

She recently produced Iranian director Reza Riahi’s short film The Musician which premiered in Toronto at TIFF, won Best Film at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2021 and was shortlisted for Oscars. The film was sold to Viacom for exclusive broadcaster Paramount+.

Paul Young

Cartoon Saloon

Paul is a co-founder of Cartoon Saloon, an IFTA winner and Oscar ®, Emmy and Bafta nominee. He Produced animated features, My Father’s Dragon, WolfWalkers, The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea & The Breadwinner as well as a number of award-winning TV series including Puffin Rock, Dorg Van Dango & Viking Skool

Paul is also an Award-winning Cartoonist and illustrator.

Producer

Sébastien Onomo is a French producer who has been working in the film and audiovisual industry for over ten years. A graduate of the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), he joined the production company Les Films d’ici (Serge Lalou) in 2010 as an associate producer.

In 2015, he founded Special Touch Studios with Olivier Laouchez and deployed the brand with the creation of Creative Touch Studios, located in the Hauts de France in Valenciennes.

He has produced numerous films for television (Bois d’Ebène by Moussa Touré, Léon Blum haï and adoré by Julia Bracher and Hugo Hayat) but also Le Gang des Antillais by Jean-Claude Barny and Funan, the animated film by Denis Do the winner of the Cristal Award at the Annecy Festival in 2018.

In parallel to his activity as a producer, he brings his expertise to various university programs (Paris 3, Paris 7) and to major schools such as INA, FEMIS and Gobelins. He is a permanent member of various commissions of the CNC and regional state organisations that support creation.

In 2017, he was appointed co-president with Aïssa Maïga for the French-speaking group of Unifrance and has just been elected for the second time member of the board of the Union of Independent Producers (SPI) of the animation college.

Sébastien Onomo Michael Ryan

Director GFM Animation

Michael currently has a dual role; the first as Partner here at GFM Animation and the other as Chairman of IFTA (Independent Film & Television Alliance) where he is serving an unprecedented fourth term. After many years of working parallel to one another, Michael and Guy partnered in 2000 and together have financed, sold and produced over 250 films including The Wild Geese, The English Patient, The General, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Osterman Weekend, the Highlander series and Planet 51.

Michael is a keen singer with an amazing voice and can often be seen at industry events fronting the popular band ‘The Indies’.