BY KEITH LACEY
Leanne Benner and Tara Blair were eager to land jobs working on the CBC animated series Chilly Beach. No ordinary resume would do. So they came up with a wacky plan.
 |
HAWES |
They took an empty case of beer, took Polaroid pictures of themselves with nylon masks over their face and wrote a ?ransom note,? which read, ?Hire us or you will never see the rest of this beer.?
The Sheridan College roommates placed their resumes inside the beer case and had a courier deliver it to March Entertainment, the company that produces the series in Sudbury.
?We got a call the next day and both got interviews. We were hired within a couple of days,?said Benner who along with Blair is a graduate of Sheridan?s animation program.
?We had just graduated and had no experience. We felt we needed to do something a little different to get noticed and I think we succeeded.?
 |
Tara Blair sent her resume to Chilly Beach in an empty beer case. Most of the animators there are graduates of Sheridan College?s animation program. |
This kind of creative energy and youthful enthusiasm is a big reason why March Entertainment has quickly become one of the fastest-growing animation studios in Canada.
Nominated for two Gemini Awards in 2004, Chilly Beach, a show about two hockey-loving hosers Frank and Dale, had attracted a cult following when it was originally launched as an Internet cartoon. It is now entering its third season this fall. It is shown weekdays on CBC (channel 9, cable channel 8 at 4 pm.)
March Entertainment is producing a second animation series for CBC, called Yamroll, set to air the first week of the new year. The company is also co-producing a hit Australian animation series called Faireez.
A feature-length film The World is Hot Enough, starring all the characters from Chilly Beach, will premier at this year?s Cinefest.
Most of the design, production and animation for all these projects takes place inside the high-tech Sudbury headquarters, located in an office tower in the Rainbow Centre. During peak season, there are as many as 80 full-time animators, designers and other members of the creative team working in good-paying jobs.
 |
Employees have access to a digital software program that allows them to put together complex storyboards much quicker. March Entertainment is at the forefront of digital animation in the country. |
March Entertainment was enticed to locate in Greater Sudbury with incentives from FedNor, Human Resources Development Canada, and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund. It also received administration support from the city.
March Entertainment is the brainchild of Dan Hawes, a native Sudburian. His sister, Sandra MacLeod, is the vice-president of production. She is responsible for overseeing all projects. (Their brother is Yuk Yuk?s comedian Chris Hawes.)
Working alongside bright, energetic and creative young people makes her work a pleasure, said MacLeod.
?Almost all our writers, designers and animators are very young...and the energy and enthusiasm they bring is very contagious,? she said.
Benner couldn?t be happier with the job she?s landed so early in her career.
?The atmosphere in the studio is just great...and getting to work alongside so many young, enthusiastic people makes coming to work a lot of fun,? she said.
The computers and software they use are the best in the animation business, and working on quality projects makes them the envy of most fellow (Sheridan) graduates, said Blair.
 |
Victor Glasko prepares storyboards for cartoon series. |
?The stuff we do here is cutting-edge,? she said. ?The digital software is way ahead of most other studios and the animation we do is good stuff. Very few places in Canada provide the opportunities we?re getting here.?
Both were hired to work as animators on Chilly Beach, but have advanced quickly in only two years. Benner is being trained as a project manager and Blair works as a project designer.
?If the company continues to grow as it has since we?ve been here, I?m very confident it will be one of the top studios anywhere in Canada or the United States for that matter,? Benner said.
The working environment is high-paced, energetic and fun, but, like many other businesses, if you miss a deadline, there?s trouble, said Benner.
It takes dozens of people to put together a half-hour show and every person must pull their weight, she said. Fortunately, there?s true team spirit and co-workers pitch in and help when deadline is approaching.
?At our age and at this point in our career, I don?t think you could ask for a better job,? said Blair. ?Our bosses give us a lot of responsibility and expect us to produce good work. But we are given a lot of creative freedom and there are real good opportunities to move up and work on bigger projects.?
Paul Guenette, 26, was raised in Sudbury and being able to return home to work in the animation industry is something he is thankful for.
With many community colleges introducing animation programs, getting a good job working on quality projects is something he doesn?t take for granted, said Guenette.
Working in animation is rewarding, but stressful, he said.
?Many times, at the end of a day, when you?ve just met deadline, you?re stressed right out and you feel completely drained,? he said.
?But the people here take their jobs very seriously and want to do really good work.?
MacLeod was a driving force behind convincing her brother Dan that Chilly Beach could be more than an Internet project and had potential for television.
After the CBC committed to a second season for Chilly Beach, MacLeod decided to retire from her 22-year career as a military lawyer and logistics expert to dedicate all energy to helping run her brother?s company.
?I was looking for an opportunity to come back home to Sudbury and being involved in the television series was an opportunity I couldn?t pass up,? she said.
She and other family members and friends were so convinced Chilly Beach could be transformed into a hit TV series, a dozen of them invested $10,000 to $20,000 each to make it happen,
She was friends with a man in Halifax, where she was stationed in the military, who went on to produce the hit series Trailer Park Boys. He put her in touch with Salter Street Studios, which produced CBC?s This Hour Has 22 Minutes. She convinced some executives that Chilly Beach could become a popular TV series.
?People at Salter Street went online and saw Chilly Beach and really liked it,? she said.
Hawes and co-producers Catherine Tait and Liliana Vogt spent several months putting together a pitch to CBC executives to produce Chilly Beach.
The hard work paid off. CBC bosses called back and announced they wanted the series and the first episode of Chilly Beach went to air in early September of 2003.
The series was an immediate hit.
Characters like Dale MacDonald, Frank Shackleford, Jacques LaRock, Constable Al, Angus McAuger, April June and The Penguin have since become household names for hundreds of thousands of regular viewers, most of them chlidren.
Chilly Beach is so popular many top Canadian stars have made guest appearances in the last two seasons, including Leslie Nielsen, Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty, David Suzuki, Elvis Stojko and William Shatner
The first few months producing Chilly Beach were crazy and hectic, said MacLeod.
?With intellectual property, it?s not like you can turn a button on or off,? she said. ?The timelines from getting the script to getting to air were incredibly tight that first season.?
The process of producing one 22-minute episode 26 times a year is mind-boggling, said MacLeod.
Head writer and script editor Doug Sinclair, who works out of Toronto, writes many scripts himself, but has a freelance team of between six to 10 writers who contribute storylines, ideas and scripts.
Mike Drack, also from Toronto, was hired last year to work on scripts for Chilly Beach.
?Doug eventually says yes or no? to all scripts, she said.
After a script is finalized, voice recordings for all characters are put together.
This is done in sound studios in Toronto, with the exception of Sudbury?s Todd Peterson, who does the voice of Frank Shackleford on Chilly Beach. He does his voice work out of the CBC studio in Sudbury.
After voice recordings, the creative team, almost all who work out of the Sudbury office, start performing their creative magic.
A ?storyboard? for each scene in every episode for each series is the next step.
Employees draw pictures of each scene, complete with where characters are positioned and dialogue is worked through scene by scene.
?This is very specific and tedious and is a very, very long process in putting together each episode,? said MacLeod.
For instance, an 11-minute animated short March Entertainment just completed took more than three weeks to storyboard.
Those employees who work solely on Chilly Beach have access to a digital software program that allows them to put together complex storyboards much quicker, she said.
?We?re at the forefront of digital animation in the country,? she said.
After the storyboard process, a design team adds background scenery, special effects, props and character design, all done digitally.
Before full animation is added, a team completes a process called ?animatics?, which is a computerized, visual depiction of every scene, said MacLeod.
The work day usually starts at 9 am, but depending on what project is being worked on, some employees work deep into the night.
The Faireez series from Australia often calls for employees to begin a shift in the middle of the night so they can communicate directly with the production team thousands of miles away.
March Entertainment has a mission to continue producing at least one new quality series each year and continue is ascension as one of the most respected animation studios in the country, said MacLeod.
?We?ve really made a commitment to build the animation industry here in Sudbury,? she said. ?We?re trying to build something that is sustainable and will be around for a very long time.
?We?re constantly looking for new work and new projects...and that means anywhere in the world.?
Becoming a respected company means organizations like CBC are willing to hand over big dollars, but that only happens when you produce quality work that attracts big audiences and big advertising revenue, she said.
?The first few years in this business, you?re trying to build a reputation for doing quality work and creating intellectual property people like and are
willing to invest in,? she said.
?You don?t make any money, but try and raise enough to pay all your employees and be able to bring new projects on board.?
MacLeod said she needs and uses all her skills as a military lawyer and logistics expert to keep a handle on all the good work going on around her.
?It?s a hectic place, but I just love it,? she said. ?When you see a finished product on screen and it entertains a lot of people...it?s very rewarding. I
know all the hard work involved to get it to that stage.?
For more information, webisodes, games, downloads, and Chilly Beach clothing, visit [email protected]. Also visit cbc.ca.kids.
