Fifteen years after the founding of a company is no time to relax and rest on any laurels, declares TOPIX president and partner Chris Wallace. Not that any of the approximately 25 creatives at the Toronto-based animation/computer graphics shop would have much time for any resting on anything: TOPIX is currently in the midst of developing new projects, nurturing fresh talent, forging ahead into uncharted creative territories and expanding its client base further into the United States and Mexico.

Among its new endeavors is Mr. X, a separately run division that focuses on CG animation and effects for feature films, which launched a year and a half ago. Meanwhile, plans are in the works for TOPIX to create its own content.

‘In this business, you have to continually reinvent yourself,’ says Wallace.

‘We are changing and growing in ways that makes sense for the company and for the talent and skills that we have here.’

‘We’re not big enough to sit back and be complacent and we wouldn’t want to,’ states executive producer and partner Sylvain Taillon. ‘We are a creative boutique, and as such, we are agile, flexible, we can turn on a dime. A big part of our growth is giving the people here the place and theforum to do what they do best.’

Responding to a hole in the commercial production industry, Wallace launched the computer animation house in 1987. At the same time, he set up ImageWare

R+D, a company dedicated to new graphics software. When Microsoft Corp. bought ImageWare in 1994, Wallace began to expand TOPIX. In 1995, under the leadership of partner Sylvain Taillon (who had joined TOPIX in 1992 as a producer), TOPIX founded its high-end post-prod division, Mad Dog Digital. All aspects of the business continued to take root: Clients included blue-chip American companies like Pepsi, Budweiser, Chrysler, Playtex, Coca Cola Kraft foods and Honda. TOPIX collaborated on various high-profile music videos, and beginning in 1999, started doing special effects for such films as The Sweet Hereafter (a computer-generated image of the school bus sinking), and Thomas and the Magic Railroad, and creating opening titles for films such as Harriet the Spy, and The Wrong Guy. In January 2001, visual effects supervisor Dennis Berardi, with Wallace and Taillon, lifted the curtain on Mr. X, dedicated to feature film work.

‘We did Thomas and the Magic Railroad about two and half years ago,’ says Wallace. ‘It was a lot of work – over 100 shots – and we recognized that it was a different business than the commercial business, so we took two of our artists out of the loop and devoted them to film work for six months. At the end, we realized this was a business we were well-suited for and wanted to be involved in.’ Because of the difference in the two businesses – ‘They both use a shovel but one guy is building a road and the other is digging a garden,’ Wallace says – the feature side was separated from the commercial side. ‘The best way to do that was to team with someone who is an expert in features.’

Enter Dennis Berardi (then visual effects supervisor at Toybox), who partnered with Wallace and Taillon to head up Mr. X and lead a unique mix of artists, supervisors and technical programmers. (See sidebar ‘Mr. X’)

DOUGHBOY GETS A MAKEOVER

On the commercial side, TOPIX continues to create high-end, memorable work, with an emphasis on character animation, such as its work for the Kinder Surprise, Pillsbury Doughboy and other large U.S. icons (that must remain anonymous). In fact, more than 60% of the company’s work is out of the U.S. and it now has reps in the States and Mexico selling TOPIX. ‘For the Pillsbury Doughboy account, we started working last year with D’arcy [Masius Benton & Bowles] in New York. We’re kind of the keeper of the Doughboy image now. Some problems with the character had developed and we refined what he was. He’s a little slimmer now, and is a family helper rather than being a member of the family.’ TOPIX is doing about another dozen spots for featuring the Doughboy this year.

Although TOPIX certainly has all the technological tools in its spacious and trendy McCaul Street facility- Inferno, Flame, Flint – Wallace downplays the importance of having the latest toys.

‘Technology doesn’t move you forward, people do. You could have all the toys in the world, but you still have to have the great idea, and have that creative expertise.’

It’s the creative talent at TOPIX, and the company’s philosophy toward that talent, that makes the company unique, Taillon says.

‘We are good at identifying talent within the company and we let them be the voice for the company. It’s an organic thing. We don’t legislate creativity. We give people the freedom to be in charge of what they do. With the right people this works very well.

‘We let people run with their own ideas and the company changes to accommodate them,’ adds Taillon.

For her part, producer Cheyenne Bloomfield says the TOPIX workplace ‘has a loose family atmosphere.’

‘It’s very team-oriented,’ she says. ‘From the executive producer to the receptionist, we’re all aware of what is going on. Plus everyone works together to get the job done, while making sure the atmosphere remains positive and happy.’

Senior producer Diana D’Amelio agrees: ‘The culture here is such that everyone gets the work done, of course, but also, we’re allowed to be human, to have a life. It’s a very positive, balanced environment. Plus right now, with all the new developments here, it is an exciting time to be part of TOPIX.’

James Cooper, partner and creative director, points out that creative talent has a sense of ownership of their job and their assignments, which results in an energetic, creative atmosphere. ‘A crucial part of the TOPIX philosophy is that people are responsible for their own job – all of it. At other shops, the design and execution are separate – they have renderers, modelers, designers. At TOPIX, we have responsibility from beginning to end.’

TOPIX also tends to hire young talent – some having just finished school – and then nurture them within the company’s fold, watching for and encouraging special gifts, while helping to round out their skill set.

‘We’re much more interested in bringing the lesser skill up to the level of the best skill, than getting someone to focus only on their best skill. We help each other in areas where we are lacking,’ says Cooper. ‘That way, the overall skill set tends to get raised up. While we encourage autonomy, it’s not every woman and man for themselves – we offer a big support network.’

ANOTHER NEW ANGLE

Having set up Mr. X as a separate company with an expert at the helm, TOPIX is applying the same strategy as it moves into creating proprietary content. TOPIX is partnering with ex-Nelvana executive producer Vince Commisso, now of Nine Story, to produce animated programming. ‘We bring the technology and creativity and expertise on a show,’ says Wallace. ‘He brings a complete knowledge of that industry and the producing expertise. We are looking at long-form television, and are getting development money for one project, an animated program geared to boys 9 to 14. We’re going into series production next February. So, that will be another, separate company.’

Looking back on the last 15 years, Wallace says that in the earlier days of TOPIX, he used to wonder where the next job was coming from: ‘It was like you’re a cab driver going around the city looking for the next fare.’ But now, he says, ‘Clients are coming in and saying, ‘We’ll be working with you for the next couple of years.’ Alongside the new clients and the new businesses we are creating, we have built up a loyal clientele, people who keep coming back.’

Despite being more established today than 15 years ago, Wallace says that TOPIX still does work simply ‘for the reel.’

‘As a start-up company, you take projects all the time that aren’t much money but that you want to do for your reel. We’ll still do things for our reel and as always, we’re still looking to do unusual creative work that stands out.’