By: Kiana Wilburg
After much perseverance, Guyana will have for the first time, a local animated series that will explore a number of societal issues through the eyes of a young girl who goes by the name Nancy.
The series which has been in the making for some time is being produced by local animation company, Tinninben which is led by CEO and Chief Storyteller, Alex Graham.
The premier of the series took place recently at the Herdmanston Lodge. Present at the event were Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence, Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin, Head of E-Networks, Vishook Persaud and CEO of the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED), Ramesh Persaud.
Members of the audience were treated to the first 12 minute episode of the series which was also shown on Saturday night via E-Networks’ E1 cable Channel.
Tinninben CEO and Chief Storyteller, Alex Graham
Social Protection Minister, Volda Lawrence
Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin during his address
The Minister of Social Protection expressed her pleasure at being a part of the initiative. She said that her Ministry is appreciative of the works produced by Tinninben. Her sentiments were also shared by the Business Minister.
Gaskin is of the firm belief that the series has the potential to reach a wider global market place. The politician said that the Nancy’s School Daze series also has the potential to be a revenue earning medium for the nation.
Equally elated to be part of the project was E-Networks owner, Vishook Persaud. Persaud said that he believes in the promotion of Guyanese traditions and culture in a package that is unique and professional. He said that he is also pleased to be part of the initiative that embodies his beliefs in that regard, and is a world class product in its entirety.
While IPED’s CEO, Ramesh Persaud called for more members of corporate Guyana to provide sponsorship for the ambitious project; he said that the Guyanese series underscores the need for the issue of copyright laws in Guyana to be addressed with some amount of urgency so that the nation’s intellectual property can be protected.
In his address to the audience, CEO of Tinninben Animation Alex Graham remarked that while there were a number of challenges, there was no stopping the premier of the series.
He then reflected on the beginning of the Nancy initiative and its evolution to the Nancy’s School Daze series.
Graham said that Nancy’s School Daze is an episodic animated television series in which Nancy and her classmates are drawn into a conflict with a school gang comprising mostly older students.
A scene from the series Nancy’s School Daze
Another scene from the series
He said that in the series, Nancy uses her wit and brilliance to help her crew stay one step ahead of trouble and be successful at their school work. Along the way, Graham said that Nancy and her colleagues confront the personal struggles of adolescence, struggles of teamwork and leadership, and the ugly social issues of peer-pressure, bullying, violence, abuse, etc.
The CEO said that Nancy’s School Daze is designed with older children and young teens in mind but is suitable for general audiences and family viewing and should not require parental guidance or viewer discretion.
He said that in Nancy’s School Daze, Nancy is the evolution of the primary school child from Nancy’s Story and the recently released Nancy’s Story – Boys Too.
He added, “In Nancy’s Story she was the victim of sexual abuse who learned that disclosure brings an end to the abuse and begins the healing process. In Boys Too, Nancy emerges as a considerate friend who could identify the pain of abuse; one who is willing to share her story to encourage others, and a girl on the way to becoming a feisty leader of her peers.”
Graham said that Nancy’s School Days seeks to draw on the success and critical acclaim of Nancy’s Story to build a character that continues to connect with children and youth to help them through the ‘daze’ of growing up and learning life in both its beauty and often ugliness.
The Chief storyteller said that the production of this series has led to the continuation and/or creation of seven permanent jobs at Tinninben Animation. He noted that the company has also created another seven part-time jobs and between 10 and 20 occasional jobs for actors and others.
“There has also been a number of business-to-business opportunities created that allow us to use the services of other studios for parts of the production. For example, we are producing music at Brutal Tracks Recording Studio and recording and processing all of our voices at Kross Kolor Records. There are even two ladies with small catering businesses who are a part of the production network, because apparently animators don’t like to go home at night and need to be fed.”
Graham said that the company should have a new episode every two weeks until the season ends in May 2017. That he said would lead to about 12 episodes in Season One of the show.
“Our hope is that the season in those overseas markets that take the show would start in January and end in May as well…Any channel that doesn’t have the show during the season will have the entire season one available for broadcast and reruns when we start season two.”
The CEO said that the series is intended to entertain.
“However, we continue to work the content and execution in ways that will still allow for it to be used as stimulus material for discussions among children, in the family and at the level of school, faith based organisations, and other groups where the issues explored must be discussed and ventilated further as we seek to build a safer and more cohesive society.”
The Chief Storyteller said that all of the products produced by Tinninben Animation, with the exception of Igloo Ice-Cream commercials, are intended to confront social issues affecting young persons in our society.
“We have successfully tackled the issue of child sexual abuse and intend to set out focus on related issues like Trafficking in Persons, bullying, drugs, alcohol and the like. We hope that greater synergies could be found with the Ministry of Social Protection on some of these issues and products…”
“This however takes me back to my mention of Igloo Ice-Cream a moment ago. Nancy’s School Daze and much of the products we produce would not have seen the light of day were it not for Igloo Ice-Cream and Mr. Ramsay Ali. Social issues are not sexy and so commercial support for tackling them is often hard to find.
“We have been giving away our best products in the interest of the children who we believe would be helped by them. But in between producing those products Nancy’s and some of her classmates have appeared in Igloo Ice-Cream Commercials. We have won an international award for one of those ads, hopefully Igloo sold more Ice-Cream and certainly it has kept the studio at Tinninben operating.”
That, however, wasn’t enough. The CEO said that by the time his company had released, for free, Nancy’s Story – Boys Too, the studio was totally out of money and didn’t have the tools to keep the commitment to producing this animated series and expanding the influence and reach of Nancy.
Graham said that Nancy’s Story – Boys Too has been seen by influential stakeholders in the Caribbean and Africa and there are potential opportunities so a financial crisis at the studio was a bad thing.
He said that it was just then that IPED announced that it had set aside $50 Million for the creative industries, thus Tinninben decided to test to see if this is true. That testing has got them to where they are today.
Graham said that the size of the global animation industry is approaching USD 300 billion. He noted that the major animation markets include the United States, Canada, Japan, China, France, Britain, Korea and Germany. Most of the segments in the animation industry are growing at the rate of seven percent year on year.
Graham said, “The demand for animated entertainment has expanded with the increase in broadcasting hours by cable and satellite TV along with the growing popularity of the ubiquitous Internet. In the past, animation series were aimed at children aged nine and below. Now, TV stations have been producing animation series for teenagers, adults and the whole family…”