Triggerfish, a premium content animation studio based in Cape Town and Galway, has launched a pan-African Story Artist Lab sponsored by streaming platform Netflix.
In a statement on Thursday (24 June), the two entities called for entries from African story artists interested in developing their skills.
Paid skills development
Successful applicants will have three months of paid skills development with international industry experts. Leading story artist Nathan Stanton, who has worked on Oscar-winning features such as Brave, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, will lead the training programme.
The Story Artist Lab comes hot on the heels of the successful Mama K’s Team 4, which was produced by an all-female writers lab under the auspices of Triggerfish and Netflix.
Mama K’s Team 4 led to nine African women being placed in the writing room for the first animated Netflix series from Africa.
“Story artists translate screenplays into animatics, the loose first version of the movie that then shapes every step of animation that follows,” says Tendayi Nyeke, Triggerfish’s development executive.
“So having skilled story artists from the continent in control of how their stories are told is a game-changer, not only in grooming the next African directors, but also in giving pre-production artists the opportunity to establish their own voice as they bring African stories to life.”
Pan-African Story Artist Lab: Where to apply
African citizens with concept art and/or storyboarding portfolios can apply at https://www.triggerfish.com/storyartistlab/. The application deadline is Friday, 23 July 2021.
Applicants must be available full-time for three months from August 2021. Triggerfish and Netflix have encouraged remote working.
For African story artists, this is a great opportunity to work with a prominent animation studio. Just last week, Triggerfish won the 2021 Mifa Animation Industry Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
It was hailed for the “pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely.”
Recent initiatives to develop the African animation industry include the Triggerfish Story Lab, a pan-African talent search that has already seen two series greenlit for the world stage: Mama K’s Team 4 for Netflix and Kiya for eOne, Disney Junior and Disney+, as well as the free Triggerfish Academy online training course.