By IANS
Bangalore : India’s upcoming animation firm Paprikaas would set up a dedicated studio here for the US-based leading DreamWorks Animation SKG to provide creative and technical services, the company said Monday.
Thomson, the 6.2-billion euro ($9.23 billion) European digital video technologies firm, which has a controlling stake in Paprikaas through its Technicolor services division, will invest in building and equipping the studio.
“Our investment in the studio will be multimillion (dollars) in phases. It will be the first studio for DreamWorks outside the US with technology, infrastructure, training facility and on-site creative supervision,” Thomson’s India vice-president Thierry Pasquet told reporters but declined to specify the proposed investment.
“Paprikaas will more than double its headcount to 500 over the next 12-18 months from 200 employees, including fine arts students (artists) and graphic designers,” he added.
Besides technical and support services, Paprikaas studio will have a centre of excellence to offer visual effects for live action films and commercials to be sourced by DreamWorks and Technicolor worldwide.
“Though the global animation market is estimated to become $26 billion by 2009, growing at nine percent annually, it is still evolving in the sub-continent. With the advantage of talent pool and cost arbitrage, the animation development market in India has potential to grow by 34 percent to generate $950 million in 2009, as projected by IT industry representative body Nasscom,” Pasquet said.
As independent American animation studio, DreamWorks has produced blockbusters such as “Shrek”, “Shark Tale”, “Madagascar”, “Over the Hedge”, and “The Bee Movie”.
With two studios at Glendale in California and Redwood City in the Silicon Valley, DreamWorks will assist Paprikaas and Technicolor in developing and nurturing top-tier animation talent with tools, curriculum and faculty for creating a world-class studio in India.
“Our game plan is set shop in India, where a vibrant market is growing for animation, video games and digital content, thanks to a burgeoning economy, strong education and IT base and the world’s largest entertainment industry led by Bollywood,” Technicolor Services head Ahmed Duri said.
DreamWorks executive producer Joe Aguilar said the animation firm would certainly explore creating multimedia content for the Indian market based on local requirements and native material such as classical epics Ramayans and Mahabharata.
“We are foraying into India with strategic partners Thomson and Paprikaas to build an ecosystem for sourcing a range of services spanning technical, design, digital content creation, commercials and full-fledged movies in leading Indian languages for theatres and a number of television/entertainment channels,” Aguilar said.
Paprikaas CEO Nandish Domlur said the strategic alliance with Dreamworks would be a turning point for his start-up firm, which grew from seven-eight people to 200-strong over the last six-seven years.
“We have begun the process to expand our operations by first hiring laterals, followed by talented artists with creative skills and graphics to work on multiple projects of DreamWorks’s forthcoming productions,” Domlur said.