The United States might have given the world The Simpsons and South Park, but now a Galway film company is part of a European consortium which is set to turn the tables and launch a major new animation series in the United States early next year.
Pigs Next Door, a joint venture between Magma European Scrip ting House and German company EMTV, has recently been bought for the US by Fox TV in a multi-million dollar deal. The series is exactly as the title describes: a family of pigs moves into an ordinary suburban neighbourhood, with lots of unexpected consequences. It is aimed at families and adults.
A host of American actors are providing the voice-overs for this animation, including John Goodman of Roseanne and Flinstones fame, and Jamie Lee Curtis, whose film career includes A Fish Called Wanda, John Ratzenber ger, better known as Cliffie, the postman in Cheers. Pigs Next Door is just one of several project on which Magma is working. Next month, the company begins filming the first of a two-part series, each 90 minutes long, for German TV. The film, Green Freedom, is being shot in and around Galway, with the main location at Castlehackett House near Tuam.
Magma was initially established in Germany and Iceland in 1982 by German journalist Ralph Christians, but he came here four years ago to shoot a drama series set in Iceland, entitled Loggerheads. He was attracted by Ireland's rugged coastline and longer daylight hours than Iceland's, combined with financial incentives introduced under the then minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Michael D. Higgins.
Although Loggerheads was eventually filmed in animated format, making geography irrelevant, Magma remained in Ireland.
Meanwhile, the cartoon, which cost £5.9 million to make, has been seen in 32 territories worldwide, including Germany, which has the biggest television audience outside the United States, says Mr Christians.
Magma has grown from a full-time staff of two in 1995 to 16 today, with additional contract workers, and has three main areas of business: animation, action drama for foreign markets, and entertainment for the Irish market. In addition to Green Freedom, future projects include a German family drama series, worth some £5 million, which will be filmed in Ireland next year for prime time German television.
The company has also signed two major animation deals with German partners, making Mag ma Ireland's biggest animation player.
The first, with Entertainment Munich (EMTV), a company which produces and distributes long-running animation series, guarantees Magma at least two new series a year, and is worth £12 million annually to the Galway company.
Meanwhile, another agreement with Europe's biggest animation studio, Trickcompany, means Magma will develop and write future animated television series for that company.
The new deal with Fox TV will see the cartoon series Pigs Next Door broadcast on prime time American television. Each cartoon series generates between £5 million and £6 million for Magma.
The creative preparation, involving character development, design and scripting, is done in Ireland, while voice recordings are done in Los Angeles. Each half-hour cartoon show requires 18,000 drawings, which are done in Shanghai. Animation is Magma's main business, while entertainment for the home market forms a small but significant part of the company's output. It produces TV3's children's series, Gimme 3, and last year produced the TnaG comedy series, Kaislean Klaus, as well as that station's first live chat show, Bernie Beo.