Streaming wars an exciting time for Ottawa's animation industry

With streaming services all eagerfor showsand new soundstagesplanned forNepean,animation studios in Ottawa say they can feel the excitement of their growing industry.

Mercury Filmworks' CEO Clint Eland says streaming serviceshave been a "major game changer".

"There's an insatiable appetite for content. I think the traditional networks are trying to keep up and theircompetition against one another is what's led to the rise of production volumes worldwide," he said.

From theirofficestucked away in a south-end business park, the company'sstaff of 280 animatesThe Lion Guard and Tangled series for Disney.

Their Netflix series Hildawon an Emmy this year andotherconfidential projects are in the pipeline.

The content wars are exploding... everyone's trying to outdo each other and we're the beneficiaries of it.- Chris Wightman, Atomic Cartoons

Eland says there'san overall rise in quality, a trait he sees as his company's "calling card" and the reasonMercury Filmworks is sought after by companies like Disney.

"There is definitely something going on [in the animation industry]," he said.

"There's been something going on here for quite some time. It's just been in the background behind high tech and federal affairs."

3 decades after The Raccoons

Ottawa has a history as ahub of animationtheOttawa International Animation Festival began in1976, andlocal animators produced The Raccoons for CBCTV in the 1980s.

After The Raccoonscame a time when traditional animationmovedoverseas and animators had difficultygetting work,explained Neil Hunter, coordinator of Algonquin College's animation program.

Then computer softwarerevolutionized the craft.

"We started to see studios like Mercury and Jam Filled and PIP and everyone else start to really be able to bring work back into Canada," he said.

Eland says Ottawa animators have a special quality.

"There's almost aregional pride here. There's a pool of artists, they take it very seriously. They work hard and they're really, really good at what they do," said Eland.

Now the local scenehas stabilized and there are more jobs than people.

As for Algonquin'straining ground,its animation program is about to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary andhas a longer waiting list for September than usual.

New studio adding animators

Vancouver's Thunderbird Entertainment Group set up Atomic Cartoons in Hintonburg last November with Chris Wightman as the sole employee.

It now has 40 people, and isadding floor space to accommodate possibly another hundred in the coming year, Wightman said.

The studio is busy on a Netflix show called Last Kids on Earthabout schoolchildren fighting zombies.

"Everything has exceeded expectations in Ottawa. It's just been fantastic.The talent has been spectacular. The quality of the work from the crews here has been great," Wightmansaid.

Clients from Los Angeles will be in Hintonburg this summer to tour Atomic's studio.

"The content wars are exploding with all the streaming services coming on," saidWightman.

"Everyone's trying to outdo each other and we're the beneficiaries of it."

Film soundstagescoming

And while computer softwareand content wars mayhavelifted the entire industry, Ottawa studios are also anticipating a boost on the local creative scene.

The Ottawa Film Office says it aimsto break ground thisfall on four soundstages in the Greenbelt near West Hunt Club and Woodroffe roads.

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Mercury Filmworkseventually plans to move there and be part of the hubthat will include television dramas and other productions.