One of several recent initiatives to help develop the African animation industry, the program is open to African citizens; shortlisted applicants will have three months of paid skills development – submission deadline is July 23.
Triggerfish has announced the launch of a Pan-African Story Artist Lab, sponsored by Netflix, now accepting entries. Only African citizens are eligible and the deadline to submit is July 23, 2021.
Shortlisted applicants will have three months of paid skills development with international industry experts. Nathan Stanton, a story artist on Oscar-winning features including Brave, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc, will lead the training program.
The Story Artist Lab builds on the success of Mama K’s Team 4 all-female writers lab, which saw nine African women 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,” noted Triggerfish’s Zimbabwean-born development executive Tendayi Nyeke. “So having skilled story artists from the continent in control of how their stories are told is a gamechanger, 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.”
Triggerfish was honored at Annecy International Animation Film Festival last week, winning the 2021 Mifa Animation Industry Award 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.
African citizens with concept art and/or storyboarding portfolios can apply here until Friday, July 23, 2021. Applicants must be available full-time for three months from August 2021; remote working is encouraged.
Source: Triggerfish
