animator and director Philip Hunt, the creative director and founder of the Emmy and BAFTA-winning Studio AKA, and Marcus Armitage, animation director at Studio AKA.
Studio AKA is one of London's most innovative animation studios, and one of our long-standing industry partners. Philip Hunt and Marcus Armitage talked about the work of Studio AKA, the current state of UK animation - and how Escapees can flourish in a rapidly-changing industry.
Philip Hunt is the creative director of the Emmy and BAFTA-winning Studio AKA, and a graduate of St Martin's School of Art and also The Royal College of Art. Marcus Armitage is animation director at Studio AKA
Studio AKA
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| BAFTA and Emmy-award-winning Hey Duggee |
Notable productions include the BAFTA and Emmy-award-winning Hey Duggee, a TV series aimed at 2 to 5 year olds produced for CBeebies, and Lost and Found (2008), an animated short film based on the children’s picture book by Oliver Jeffers, which won a BAFTA in 2009.
Official Studio AKA Site
The event was very well attended, with an excellent Q & A session afterwards, in which the students asked many follow up questions. As some of the students are already have ambitions of one day forming their own animation studios, this talk was of particular interest.
History of AKA
The overall take away was that what Studio AKA did was to turn what could have been a quite a doom – laden scenario into a net positive, and what this involved was the courage to make a paradigm shift: - “If advertising has gone, now is the time to make the animation we have always wanted.”
Personal Projects
Studio AKA are now balancing their commercial work with their own, bespoke personal projects, one of which is already a graphic novel. Another thing that has changed about the industry is that a lot more speculative work now has to be done in order to get a commission.
Once, it was enough to present an animatic to a client. Now, it is necessary to make a pilot in the same way that TV series once had to. Philip and Marcus described the draws at the office full of speculative work that did not necessarily open doors at once, but which eventually led to other opportunities.
Commercial Realities
This still leaves the problem of how to make money. The key to Studio AKA’s survival as a sustainable, going concern were these simple principles:
1: Don’t grow too quick. Many animation studios get a rush of jobs at first and rapidly start renting expensive studios in London, Paris and New York. When the jobs dry up they now have very expensive liabilities that they have to service, leading to rapid bankruptcy. Stay small and viable, proactively promote the range of animation you produce, and get clients where you can for those bespoke, high quality jobs.
2: Don’t sell off too much of your company. Any more than %50 percent and someone else now owns your company, and you essentially become an employee at an enterprise you started.
3: Aim for diversity, not just in terms of media and animation style, but also of clients. In the past it was advertising, films, and children’s tv series. Money is running dry in these genres.
Now, a client portfolio should include: advertising, children’s series, short films, commissions from the government, the BBC (A public broadcasting network is unlikely to churn out AI slop, because if word got out the viewers would start asking awkward questions about why their licence fee money was going to something that anyone could type out on chat – GPT.)
Commercial Realities
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| BAFTA winning Lost and Found (2008) |
1: Don’t grow too quick. Many animation studios get a rush of jobs at first and rapidly start renting expensive studios in London, Paris and New York. When the jobs dry up they now have very expensive liabilities that they have to service, leading to rapid bankruptcy. Stay small and viable, proactively promote the range of animation you produce, and get clients where you can for those bespoke, high quality jobs.
2: Don’t sell off too much of your company. Any more than %50 percent and someone else now owns your company, and you essentially become an employee at an enterprise you started.
3: Aim for diversity, not just in terms of media and animation style, but also of clients. In the past it was advertising, films, and children’s tv series. Money is running dry in these genres.
Now, a client portfolio should include: advertising, children’s series, short films, commissions from the government, the BBC (A public broadcasting network is unlikely to churn out AI slop, because if word got out the viewers would start asking awkward questions about why their licence fee money was going to something that anyone could type out on chat – GPT.)
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| Philip Hunt, Director of Studio AKA |
By looking to expand in terms of talent, skill set and expertise, rather than in wasteful and expensive real – estate, an astute business becomes much more viable.
Be Ambitious
The other big take away from the evening was this: - it is possible to rise through the ranks very quickly in this industry if one shows that one is competent, driven, passionate, resourceful, and full of initiative, as well as being a team player.
Philip recalled the case of a runner there, who was quite good at character drawings. Studio AKA was asked to pitch for a job, in which they had to design a rabbit character. The runner asked if it was okay to submit one of his drawings. Philip said by all means, everyone could enter a design.
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| Philip Hunt and Marcus Armitage |
The runner was promptly promoted to director on the spot and his career as a director took off from there.
It can happen very quickly if you are talented, tenacious, and if you arrange to be in the right place at the right time.
Overall, this was one of the most fascinating of these talks that I have ever attended. I very much hope that these two inspiring individuals will return to Escape again one day."
- - Kevin Richards.
The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for one of our courses, follow this link.
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