From Gamers’ Fave to Streaming Success
How avoided the curse of many gaming franchises and became a show loved by both fans and Netflix bingers. By Ramin Zahed
lots of crowds, high-end visual effects, elaborate lighting — and it’s all done in a fast-paced schedule. You have to deliver one episode each week, and thankfully, we have the budget and great partners to stay on schedule.”
Rogers says working on the second season of the show has been quite a blast for him and his team of writers. “We got to dig deeper in the characters and their back stories,” he notes. “Spyro made this epic decision to turn ered the final lock until April or May of 2017. We look at about a 10-month process from start to finish. Then we had from June to October to get the 13 episodes done. Right now, the writing for the third season is all finished, and we’re deep into the animation for that season.”
Positive Word of Mouth Rogers and his team have been quite pleased with the way fans have embraced the show. “I am a Twitter guy, and I banged the drum pretty hard when the show first premiered,” he notes. “I am not trying to exaggerate here, but we’ve received almost 99 percent positive feedback. It’s been also quite fun to see how everyone reacts to the finale of our second season. The jaw-dropping effect that we wanted to see was happening.”
The serial nature of the show on Netflix has also allowed the show’s creators to reward the binge-watchers. “We knew about eight to 10 episodes in the first season that we were going to air on Netflix, so we reworked the show to have more of a serialized thread,” explains Rogers. “We were able to make it a really connective show and sew it all together. I think one of the most important lessons we can learn is that the comedic side of the show is just as important as the action elements. It has been such a fun ride and has opened so many doors for us.”
and the changes in the TV landscape, the U.K. animation scene, the VFX of Okja, behind the scenes of Disney Junior’s Miles from Tomorrowland, and the promise of the VR universe. One of the highlights was an insightful panel on the making of the acclaimed short Dear Basketball, with animation icon Glen Keane and basketball legend Kobe Bryant.
“This is our sixth year of bringing together some of the amazing people who work behind the scenes of our beloved industry,” said event founder and Animation Magazine publisher Jean Thoren. “It’s so rewarding to see talented folks from all over the world come together at the Summit to share their experiences and lay the groundwork for more quality productions in the future.”
As Emmy-winning producer and veteran animation exec Sander Schwartz put it, “The World Animation and VFX Summit provides a much-needed forum for professionals of all levels to meet, greet and to learn. Between the panel discussions, fireside chats and master classes, there’s ample opportunity to meet new people from around the world, as well as to pursue new business opportunities.”
We couldn’t have done this event without the amazing support of our volunteers, panelists, attendees from all over the world and generous sponsors: CelAction, COP DreamWorks Animation, The Gotham Group, Illumination Entertainment, Natural Talent, Nickelodeon, Paris Images Digital Summit, the PGS Company, Shellhut/Tiny Island and WOW! Unlimited Media. A big shout-out to event director Kim Derevlany, who worked long hours for many months to make sure everything went seamlessly. If you missed the fun this year, we hope you can join us in 2018. For more info, visit www.animationmagazine. net/summit.
Mickey Mouse debuts in Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks’ Steam- Godfather of manga Osamu Tezuka ( Astro Boy) is born in Osaka on Nov. 3.