Glendale-based Hyperion Studio and animator-director Bruce Smith's newly formed Jambalaya Studio, LLC, hopes to bring something new to animation: diversity.
Smith, Jambalaya's majority stockholder, says the studio will work on a broad spectrum of multicultural animation projects.
"I've always wanted to do projects that experimented in terms of ethnic makeup, and the purpose of this studio is to bring other identities to the forefront," explains Smith. "Once you start to put different faces on the screen, it constitutes a fresh approach, but that's just the surface: The cool part of it is what's going to be underneath it all." Smith's recent work includes co-direction of the animation in Warner Bros.' "Space Jam" and the animation of Kerchak, the leader of the gorilla tribe in Disney's "Tarzan;" Hyperion is the producer of the "Brave Little Toaster" direct-to-video series and the Emmy- and Humanitas-winning "Life With Louie."
"Our emphasis will initially be television, Internet-related and direct-to-video projects simply because those are areas which are always looking for material," says Hyperion President Tom Wilhite. "The animation business, particularly the television animation business, is about finding properties that catch viewers' attention. The African American, Latino and Asian American cultures offer imagery and sensibilities that can do that--both in traditional network prime time and in cable and pay TV.
"Because features involve higher costs and a lengthier process, we'll deal with them on a project-by-project basis. We have a couple of things that we're investigating, which I think are perfect feature projects."
The two men have worked together before; Smith directed the first season of Hyperion's "Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child" (HBO). Wilhite co-produced and Smith directed "Bebe's Kids" (1992), the only American animated feature to focus on African American characters. Released by Paramount, the film grossed only $7.5 million, which raised questions about the potential market for ethnic animated properties. But with the increasing crossover popularity of rap and hip-hop, Wilhite thinks it would be a different story today.
Marketing Changes in Crossover Projects
"When 'Bebe's Kids' came out, it was marketed specifically to a black audience, and it did well in a fairly limited number of theaters in mostly black neighborhoods," Wilhite says. "Today, the industry sees the breadth of the audience. If Paramount released 'Bebe's Kids' today, it would be marketed in a whole different way than it was eight years ago."
