Drawn in Blood

They're used to working behind the scenes, producing cartoons for the small screen, but workers at FatKat Animation Studios may soon find themselves in front of the camera, stars themselves of a reality show.
Two moviemakers from a Saint John film company were in Miramichi Friday armed with cameras and a plan to film a show that focuses on the animators plying their trade at the studio.
"Everyone loves cartoons, so why not a show about making cartoons?" said producer Stephen Foster of Hemmings House Pictures. "I bet 95 per cent of people have no idea what goes into making cartoons."
Foster cited the popularity of such programs as motorcycle show Orange County Choppers, as well as other shows featuring tattoo artists at work, cooks, or people buying and selling houses, as examples of the potential of reality-based shows.
"There's blood sweat and tears that goes into any kind of art ... whether it's animation, or houses or cuisine," director Andrew MacCormack added.
News of FatKat's success had long since reached the filmmakers, they said, and they did not consider any other Maritime studios for the show.
MacCormack said he wasn't sure how much of the show would feature the city itself, noting it was difficult to predict how a reality TV episode would unfold while being shot.
"You can kind of write out a script and a treatment for what you think is going to happen. Then, once you start shooting, the unexpected happens all the time," he said. "So ... if we have to follow someone in town to do something that's part of the storyline, we'll do it."
Through the course of the day, the team tailed studio president Gene Fowler as he went about his business, including conducting a tour of the studio by a visiting Teletoon executive.
They also took the time to prowl the building, shooting footage of animators and other studio employees working at different stages of production.
One interviewee, senior producer Robbie Anderson, said he was more than happy to talk about the more grueling side of animation.
"We only see the end product, and the glamorous side of things, and the success stories," he said.
"But to get there ... any production that involves creating a story, there's a very drawn-out, painful, arduous process to figure out what is funny, what is sad, what is scary."
Anderson added it seemed to him a reality show would do a better job of depicting that process than a behind-the-scenes "extra features" segment on a DVD.
"[In a predigested segment] they're not really showing you everything that goes on; they're only showing you what they want to show you," he said. "And I think with a show like this, it might be kind of fun to show what really happens, the good and the bad."
The filmmakers cautioned that just because they're shooting the footage, there's no guarantee at this stage of a show, explaining they were in town only for the day to gather sufficient footage for a 60-second pitch pilot. If their marketing efforts are successful, they will then return to the city to shoot a pilot episode and, potentially, a full show.
The final format of the show would depend on where it would air. While the filmmakers mentioned YTV and Teletoon as potential stations, they also said they might also consider Internet-based webisodes if they come to the conclusion they can reach a wider audience that way.
"I know a lot of people that don't own TVs anymore," MacCormack said. "People watch stuff on the web."
He added the studio's employees from abroad could draw an audience outside Canada as well.
"If you have people from Japan and Iran and the United States, England — they have people from all over working here — it's got that worldwide appeal already, just because people will be able to relate."

Written by Daniel Martins of the Miramichi Leader