In the production arena, as in many areas of life, things seem to be getting bigger.

On the live-action and the animation fronts, the major players have expanded into more comprehensive studios and account for more and more work. Happily, this reality has not meant the disappearance of the small shops. Talent has often sprung from a grassroots level and the smaller companies continue to operate, fed by work from bigger players, and many are now making the transition into content creators themselves.

For smaller animation companies, the keys to survival and growth lie in establishing a solid reputation, doing work for the major studios, and building the confidence of more and more industry players, thereby attracting more – and higher-profile – work.

Building a base in service work is in turn one of the ways a shop can move into the arena of proprietary production and attract the necessary financing and clout brought by a larger coproduction partner.

The animation landscape now contains an array of small and mid-sized shops in various stages of development, including those smaller shops which have gone through the rigors of service work to become bigger players themselves, and each has its own set of challenges and strategies for carving a niche in a market dominated by a few giants. The following is a list of small shops and what they’re working on, both service projects and their own creations.

*Boomstone Entertainment

For Lee Williams and his Ottawa company Boomstone Entertainment, a carefully nurtured emphasis on quality is the primary concern. Although Williams has significant experience in the animation industry – he was previously vp production for now-defunct Lacewood Animation – building the reputation of the new company is the main issue.

Boomstone was founded in December 1996, originally to work with Lacewood in developing projects, but became a solo effort after Lacewood and Paragon ceased operation. The company is under the creative helm of Williams and Rich Vanatte and consists of about four full-time and typically around 12-15 subcontractors at any given time.

‘We only take on as much as we can oversee,’ says Williams. ‘The most important thing now is the company’s reputation. I want to take baby steps, I don’t want to jump in and grab everything. But as people gain confidence in us, then we’ll take on more work.’

Boomstone has been doing service work for a raft of Nelvana properties including Stickin’ Around, Ned’s Newt, Flying Rhinos and Bob and Margaret.

In its early days as a company, Boomstone had been developing a 26 half-hour series project called Yeti (with Kelson Enterprises), the company’s first exposure to the process of developing a show as a small independent company.

The shop is also in early development on other proprietary projects, with the focus on adult-oriented content. Williams is looking to joint-venture scenarios with larger studios as a means for bringing the seeds of the ideas to fruition.

Boomstone recently completed a service job for tv movie and Yasmeen Bleeth vehicle Undercover Angel from Stellar Films. For the mow, the shop brought to life a character from the story to walk across the screen at the end of the film.

The shop has also been working with Ottawa’s Funbag Animation on a series called Anthony Ant. ‘It’s great to see these studios like Funbag that were around six years ago now becoming major players,’ says Williams, ‘and we hope to follow suit in the next five years.’

*Collideascope Digital Productions

For Halifax company Collideascope Digital Productions, establishing a business meant carving out a niche in a nascent market as a new media company servicing the film and tv industry, with a specialization in show packaging.

The company provides full graphics and sometimes music for shows like cbc’s First Edition supper-hour news, the pubcaster’s Street Cents series and Salter Street’s Mrs. Greenthumbs.

Collideascope’s Steve Comeau had worked with the cbc and with other production companies previously and was able to bring that industry profile to the new company. Comeau also says the size of the company (currently six staff with more hires planned later this month) is an advantage in exploiting the segment of the market in which it deals.

‘We are able to offer a cost-effective package because we are a small lean company and it remains lucrative for us,’ he says.

Comeau also says rather than just being ‘tech heads,’ he and partner M.A. Kuttner have leveraged a full art and design background and that this training is a factor in getting and keeping work in their area of expertise.

Collideascope is also developing original projects and the company recently sold a short animated film called Tongue Twister to Teletoon. The short, which is also playing in a number of film festivals including this month’s Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, was created using software and a magnetic tablet, but the look is very 2D, says Comeau.

On the strength of that project, the shop is developing several other shorts.

‘Our aim is to remain modest now so we can develop the confidence of potential partners like Teletoon,’ says Comeau.

Working with a Toronto-based agent, Collideascope is also trying to pitch Ollie’s Under the Bed Adventures, a series of shorts about a hyperactive kid’s make-believe world, as well as McNeill’s Cove, ‘Canada’s answer to South Park,’ which has enlisted the writing talents of This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ Ed Kay.

Internally, the shop is developing two other, perhaps darker, shorts – The Legend of Raggot, described as ‘the tragic love tale of two men and their hamster,’ and When Nosebody is Looking, about a ‘nasally obsessed’ man at a bus stop.

Comeau says the more twisted, attention-grabbing properties are being developed in-house while the shop works with others on more mainstream projects.

*Reel Wonders

Vancouver’s Reel Wonders, ‘an eclectic little animation studio,’ has been handling animation, storyboards and layouts for all genres of productions and recently has begun branching into projects entailing more computer elements – from digital ink and paint to 2D and 3D composites.

Founder John ‘Moose’ Pagan says low overhead and a strong talent base provide advantages for a small shop. The ever-present challenge, he says, is to persuade larger producers and broadcasters to explore new ideas from small shops.

Reel Wonders is currently developing a series called Angus and Tim and is set to start work on a short film entitled The Prize.

*Barking Bullfrog

Establishing a reputation for quality and building relationships were also cited as the cornerstone approach for Mark Freedman of Vancouver shop Barking Bullfrog.

The company was established in 1996 by partners Mark and Ian Freedman and has a studio capacity of about 20 artists. The shop recently completed service work for Disney’s Doug as well as for mgm series The Lionhearts and is working on several home video releases with u.s.-based companies.

The challenges for a small shop undertaking proprietary production, says Freedman, lay not only in the costs but the time involved in developing concepts as well as finding the opportunity to access the all-important broadcaster.

*Canuck Creations

Toronto’s Canuck Creations, founded in 1993, is a company which has reached the stage where it has developed the industry relationships that have brought the shop several high-profile features, but Canuck head Alan Kennedy says maintaining a solid slate still requires keeping firmly in touch with industry contacts. Kennedy says Canada has long been a mecca for feature projects because of its high-end image and preproduction savoir faire.

Canuck recently completed a 22-minute piece for Universal’s theme park as well as work on German feature Werner and service work for Nelvana, which included all prepro for the third season of Stickin’ Around and work on Ned’s Newt.

Another major project is a concept-to-final-color animated piece for the Expo 2000 youth pavilion.

The company is also developing its own series, Thorn in Your Side and Yip Yip Yahoo. The shop will also begin work on its Christmas special A Purple Doo Christmas, for which it has a distributor on board.

*Red Rover

Toronto shop Red Rover has also established itself with major projects like Ned’s Newt, which it coproduces with Nelvana, and also concentrates on high-end commercial work to provide financing toward its proprietary efforts.

Red Rover’s Andy Knight says the shop focuses on developing its own original content rather than acquiring rights to established properties.

The company has a show in development with Nickelodeon called Stupid Cupid and is also developing an odd-couplesque series about three animals living together, for which a four-minute pilot film is being created and a coproduction partner sought.

*Studio B

Among the studios that have made the leap to the next echelon in terms of size and scope is Vancouver’s Studio b, which is approaching its 10th anniversary.

Founded in 1988 by Blair Peters and Chris Bartelman, the company recently further expanded its facilities to occupy a 10,000-square-foot space in Gastown and has forged a partnership with Eland FX Group to form a new 2D digital ink-and-paint and effects arm called Mercury Filmworks.

The new studio is adjacent to the Studio b space and is connected via T1 lines for speedy transfers with international clients and coproducers.

The shop also sports an in-house Softimage online editing suite. Peters says the setup allows for the transfer of 30 to 40 scenes a day, providing the shop with an even greater degree of creative control.

‘It’s been a great tool for us,’ says Peters. ‘For our proprietary titles we’ve been able to experiment a lot more with different styles of rendering and the like – things like being able to scan the drawings in and play around with line and shading techniques. And once we perfect it in the development stage, we can also make sure it can all work in production.’

The comprehensive facility also allows Studio b to access more domestic funding, keeping more work in Canada and supporting the local scene, says Peters. The shop now employs about 120 people with both divisions.

Studio b had established itself with early service work for DIC Entertainment’s Stunt Dawgs and Sonic the Hedgehog, then for Nelvana properties like Eek the Cat.

The shop moved into proprietary production about two and a half years ago, and Peters says a solid reputation for service work and relationships with broadcasters and developers has helped pave that path.

In addition to service work on Ned’s Newt, Disney’s Timon and Pumbaa, and titles and packaging for 65 Harvey Entertainment shots, the company currently has series Yvon of the Yukon in development with broadcaster ytv and international distributor itel.

The shop is also developing a half-hour series, D’Myna Leagues, with Vancouver broadcaster vtv and u.s. partner Aston Entertainment as well as What About Mimi, a half-hour series for which the shop is in discussions with a u.k. broadcaster toward a possible u.k./Canada coproduction.

Also percolating is Space Cadets, which was developed internally by directors Mauro Casalese and Rob Davies, who have since moved to l.a. and projects like Ren and Stimpy, Woody the Woodpecker and Pinky and the Brain.

Studio b is seeking a Web outlet for its Canvas Cat and Bongo Bat show, currently in development, and has done a first script with Telefilm Canada for feature film Galaxy Girl.

*Bardel Animation

Vancouver’s Bardel Animation has also been breaking new ground, looking toward a monster service project for a direct-to-home DreamWorks release and a possible live-action series.

The shop currently has between 50 to 70 artists working at any one time, and Bardel’s Barry Ward says he expects that number to triple in the next year.

The live-action series is based on a series of books called Girls to the Rescue, which tells modern and folk-inspired tales of girls’ empowerment. Bardel will likely coproduce the anthology series with a Vancouver live-action company and will be shopping the show at mipcom.

Meanwhile, ytv has picked up Bardel’s Pig William series for next year and the company is finalizing the remainder of the financing on that show. Ward also expects to have a broadcaster onside soon for its Thorax the Conquerer series.

The shop is working with Storyteller Productions on a half-hour tv special called Stories from the 7th Fire, based on the work of native artist Morriseau

In addition to the DreamWorks project, Bardel has been working on Nelvana’s Stickin’ Around.

While many shops emphasize prepro for tv series, the key for Bardel has been animation, says Ward. The shop has cut a path by providing animation for features and has worked on projects like DreamWorks’ Prince of Egypt, Warner’s Space Jam and Fox’s Anastasia.

‘We found a niche and it was animation,’ says Ward, ‘and we’ve focused on getting work in that area.’