The deal accelerates the public TV subsidiary’s creative hub expansion to the South of France while providing a more robust infrastructure and access to cutting-edge real-time technology.
French national public television broadcaster subsidiary france.tv studio has acquired a majority stake in Dwarf Animation Studio. The deal provides the public TV subsidiary with a more robust operational infrastructure while accelerating its goal of building a creative hub in the South of France.
Dwarf Animation Studio is known for Netflix series, My Dad the Bounty Hunter, the Oscar-winner Glen Keane executive-produced Netflix show Trash Truck, and Monsters at Work for Disney+. The company incorporates cutting-edge technology and traditional media in its work, exemplified by the new shorts it’s producing using Unreal Engine.
“I’m incredibly delighted to join forces with the amazing team at france.tv studio to welcome the creative community to the South of France,” commented Dwarf Animation Studio Founder and Chief Creative Officer Olivier Pinol. “Having such an opportunity to grow and develop Dwarf Animation Studio as well as build a creative hub together is a truly gratifying and eye-opening experience.”
“We are proud of this partnership with Dwarf, which is a great opportunity,” shared france.tv studio Chairman Arnaud Lesaunier. “Dwarf’s industry expertise fits perfectly well into our creative ecosystem and activities, allowing notably for technological synergies to grow within our studio.”
Laurence Schwob, CEO of france.tv studio added, “This partnership with Dwarf Animation Studio, who is pushing the envelope in real-time animation, comes at an exciting time as france.tv studio was recently awarded an endowment by the French Ministry of Culture as part of the ‘France 2030’ initiative, which aims to develop advanced technology in France associated with production innovation of new forms of entertainment.”
Located in Montpellier, France, the Dwarf Animation team boasts a wide range of experience, including asset building, animation, lighting, compositing, and rendering.
Pinol added, “Our ambition is to help shape the next phase of the animation production pipeline by adding greater flexibility through a quicker iterative process. We’ve initiated a Discord Server dedicated to real-time animation and VFX to help build community and share knowledge with other studios around the world.”
Dwarf Animation Studio will leverage the creative and technical facilities owned by france.tv studio to become an all-in-one production solution. It plans on building out front-end pre-production offerings such as visual development, storyboarding, and editorial while collaborating with best-in-class creators.
Source: Dwarf Animation Studio
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
