India Attracts Animation Business, But Where Are The Animators?
In the face of competition from animators in the Philippines, Korea and Taiwan, India will have to churn out at least 10,000 professional animators of international standards, according to the director of the animation movie Hanuman VG Samanth.
Just this week, U.S.-based Turner Entertainment Networks tied up with three Indian production houses - Miditech, Graphiti Multimedia and Famous Studios - to produce local CG animated feature films and television series. And that was soon after Disney (NYSE: DIS) partnered with Yash Raj Films to create Disney branded animated films.
“Barring one or two films, I am not happy with the quality of animated movies being made in the country,” Samanth said. “People are entering into the business just to make quick money. They produce low cost, low quality animation movies.” The Indian animation industry is predicted to reach $869 million by 2010, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 25 percent over 2006-2010, according to the Economic Times article. Currently, 300 small, medium and big animation companies employ approximately 12,000 people in India. Nasscom estimates that India could use 3,00,000 professionals in content development and animation by 2008, up from 27,000 in 2001, the article said.
Without adequately trained animators, India could end up losing the race to this lucrative business. The Indian production houses inking deals with international companies need to take the initiative to train and retain employees. While it is true that animation houses find India attractive because of the lower labor cost, their Indian partners will have to remember that if they pay peanuts they are only going to get monkeys.
Posted In: Entertainment, Movies, Jobs & Layoffs
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