The dean of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Creative School, the long-time entertainment executive Charles Falzon – who played a major role in bringing the likes of Ringo Starr and George Carlin to an Ontario film studio to make the nineties’ series– says the domestic kids’ TV sector has significantly matured in the past 20 years.
What happened next is seared into the mind of just about everyone who became a parent in the past decade:launched on TVO in Canada and Nickelodeon in the United States. Then the obsession kicked in.that the international sales value of animated shows supported by the Canada Media Fund shot up nearly 160 per cent between the five-year period leading up toAverage production budgets doubled.
When Clive Smith, Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert co-founded Nelvana half a century ago, it took a while to get things off the ground. The National Film Board had supported early animators, and Canadians had launched a few cartoons, such as“Those days were very, very dodgy,” Smith says. They would take on a steady stream of talent from Oakville, Ont.’s Sheridan College, work on half-hour specials, then struggle with new projects or financing and need to let people go.