At the recent Premier’s Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards (PERA), Triggerfish
Animation Studios was named the overall winner and Business of the Year.
Triggerfish also took home the prize for the Business with Global Reach.
Western Cape premier Helen Zille congratulated the pioneering animation company,
which celebrates 20 years in 2016. “Criteria for the overall winners included the
ability of the business to create jobs and grow its turnover. Triggerfish achieved
excellently in both those areas,’ she said. “Triggerfish is a world-class enterprise,
making a major impact on economic growth in our province. They develop films
which are translated into over 27 languages and licensed in over 150 countries. Their films have generated over R1 billion at box offices (and home entertainment)
across the world. Employing 85 people, they are also an important source of
employment for local residents.’
Over 300 businesses entered PERA, which was launched three years ago by the
Western Cape Government and is co-sponsored by Absa, Deloitte, Business Partners
and Entrepreneurs’ Organisation. The 13 PERA winners shared R1.8 million in prize
money, with Triggerfish also receiving an overseas trip as the overall winner.
“These kinds of awards mean a lot to us, because it’s further recognition of the
impact the film industry can have on the South African economy,’ says Triggerfish
CEO Stuart Forrest. “You can make a strong case that film has cultural benefits, like
the role it plays in social cohesion. But we’re proof that there is also an economic
case to be made, that South African films and TV series can travel globally and
deliver a significant return on investment.’
Triggerfish has produced two feature films: Adventures in Zambezia
(2012), starring Jeremy Suarez, Abigail Breslin and Samuel L. Jackson; and
Khumba (2013), starring Jake T. Austin, Anna Sophia Robb and Liam
Neeson. The two movies are among the top five highest-grossing South African
films of all time.
They’ve just wrapped production on Stick Man, a 26-minute BBC
festive season special based on the popular children’s book by Julia Donaldson and
Axel Scheffler. They’ve also started collaboration on another childhood favourite –
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. Both projects are being produced by
Magic Light Pictures, an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning animation company in
the UK.
In the second week of December 2015, Triggerfish will announce the final
participants for their inaugural Story Lab, which was supported by The Walt Disney
Company and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The ground-breaking,
pan-African search for storytellers attracted a whopping 1378 entries from 30
countries.
The shortlist included top African creatives like Nnedi Okorafor, a World Fantasy
Award winning novelist; Charlie Human, whose debut novel Apocalypse Now
Now is currently being adapted by District 9’s Terri Tanchel;
award-winning picture book author Alex Latimer; and award-winning directors
Donovan Marsh, Hanneke Schutte, Jenna Bass, Judy Kibinge and Wanuri Kahui.
The final participants are currently being decided by an expert panel that includes
Peter Lord, the British director of international blockbusters like Chicken
Run and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists;
Hollywood writers Kiel Murray (Cars) and Jonathan Roberts (The
Lion King); and a panel of development executives from both the London and
Los Angeles offices of The Walt Disney Company, as well as South African
storyteller Gcina Mhlope, comedian David Kau, screenwriter Paul Ian Johnson, and
Triggerfish’s development team of Anthony Silverston, Wayne Thornley and
Raffaella Delle Donne.
The final Story Lab participants will start 2016 with a two week immersion trip,
including mentoring from key studio and television executives, at Disney’s
headquarters in Burbank, California. The development process can take a number of
years. For each phase of development, Triggerfish will provide financial support,
workspace, and expert guidance by internal and international consultants and
mentors, as well as a route to market through top-tier relationships with Hollywood
agency William Morris Endeavor.
Watch the Triggerfish
story.
