There are some events that you attend as a professional, and there are others that make you
reassess the direction in which your industry is moving. Cartoon Forum in Toulouse is certainly
the latter.

For Animation Today, our objective has always been to look beyond the immediate headlines and
understand where the global animation, gaming, VFX, comics and creative industries are heading.
My visit to Cartoon Forum 2023 in Toulouse, France, offered precisely that opportunity.

Held from 18 to 21 September 2023, the 34th edition of Cartoon Forum once again transformed
Toulouse into an international meeting point for animation producers, broadcasters, distributors,
investors, streamers and creative talent. The scale was impressive — 76 animated series projects
from 16 European countries were pitched, representing approximately 473 hours of new content
and a combined production budget of €393.5 million. The event attracted 1,051 participants
representing 505 companies and 37 countries, including around 270 buyers, as per the data shared
by online information portal Cineuropa.

But statistics alone do not explain what makes Cartoon Forum special. The real story is in the
corridors, the pitching rooms, the meetings and, above all, the business conversations taking
place around every project.

More Than a Pitching Forum

At first glance, Cartoon Forum appears to be a pitching event. Producers take the stage, present
their projects and hope to attract broadcasters, distributors, investors or co-production partners.

In reality, it is much more sophisticated.

The forum is essentially a marketplace for ideas where creative concepts are presented alongside
business plans, financing structures, target audiences, production models and distribution
possibilities. A good idea is only the beginning. The ability to demonstrate how that idea can
travel across borders, platforms and markets is equally important.

This is perhaps the most important lesson for the Indian animation industry.

For many years, animation discussions in India have focused predominantly on production capability,
manpower and technical skills. At Toulouse, the conversation is equally about IP ownership,
financing, co-production, distribution, licensing, merchandising, publishing, gaming and
long-term exploitation of intellectual property.

That difference is significant.

“European animation is a wide patchwork with a great variety of patterns, textures and colors.”
— Annick Maes, General Director of Cartoon, ahead of the 2023 edition

The Energy Inside the Pitching Rooms

The atmosphere inside the pitching rooms was electric.

Every presentation had a limited window in which the creative team had to communicate its story,
characters, visual language, target audience and commercial potential. There was little room for
unnecessary explanation.

The projects ranged from preschool and children’s entertainment to family and adult animation.
The diversity of storytelling was particularly striking.

One of the projects that caught attention was Starpets, a space comedy featuring the flamboyant
intergalactic emperor John LeDouche. The presentation was a reminder that European animation is
not confined to conventional children’s storytelling; there is an increasingly confident appetite
for unconventional concepts and adult-oriented animation.

Another interesting development was the increasing presence of transmedia thinking. According to
the event’s industry highlights, 17 projects — around 23% of the selection — demonstrated a
crossover approach involving other media or platforms. Some projects were being developed
simultaneously for television, books, mobile formats or games.

For someone coming from India’s animation and digital-content ecosystem, this was particularly
encouraging.

The future is clearly not about creating a television series in isolation. It is about building an IP ecosystem.

The Return of the United Kingdom

One of the significant highlights of Cartoon Forum 2023 was “Animated UK Meets Europe”, an
initiative designed to reconnect British animation producers with European partners following
the UK’s departure from the European Union.

Five British projects were presented during a dedicated pitching session, supported by broadcasters
including BBC, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Sky. The projects covered a broad range of
audiences and formats — from preschool and children’s animation to adult-oriented 3D content.

What was particularly interesting was what happened beyond the stage.

The initiative facilitated one-to-one meetings between British producers and potential European
partners. According to the event’s highlights, 41 production companies from 12 countries
participated in these meetings.

That is the real power of a market like Cartoon Forum.

The pitch creates visibility.

The meeting creates business.

France: A Strong Animation Ecosystem

Toulouse itself provides an important backdrop to understanding the strength of the French
animation industry.

France continues to be one of Europe’s most important animation production centres, supported by
public institutions, broadcasters, regional production incentives, specialised studios, animation
schools and a mature co-production culture.

The presence of local producers at Cartoon Forum reinforced this ecosystem. Projects from the
Occitanie region included The Adventures of Pil, from Toulouse-based TAT Productions,
demonstrating how successful feature-film properties can be developed further as television series.

This is another area where India has enormous potential.

India has hundreds of successful characters, stories, comic properties, folklore traditions and
film properties that could potentially be developed into animation series, games, books and
immersive experiences.

The question is not whether India has stories.

The question is whether we are building the IP business around those stories.

Animation Is Becoming Platform-Agnostic

One of my strongest takeaways from Toulouse was that the boundaries between television, streaming,
mobile, publishing and gaming are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

The industry is moving towards platform-agnostic IP development.

A successful animated property can begin as a book, become a television series, move into gaming,
generate merchandise, publishing and eventually develop into films or immersive experiences.

The Cartoon Forum selection reflected this change. Several projects were consciously conceived
with multiple layers of exploitation rather than relying exclusively on television commissioning.

For India, this should be a wake-up call.

We have a tremendous advantage in terms of mythology, folklore, literature, comics, children’s
characters and popular culture. What we need is a stronger ecosystem connecting creators,
producers, publishers, broadcasters, OTT platforms, game developers, investors and licensors.

Adult Animation Is No Longer an Afterthought

Another trend that deserves attention is the growing confidence around adult and young-adult animation.

At Cartoon Forum 2023, approximately 14% of the selected projects targeted young adults or adults,
up from 10% in 2022.

This indicates that animation is increasingly being treated as a storytelling medium rather than
merely a children’s entertainment format.

India too is beginning to recognise this opportunity. With the growth of OTT platforms and digital
audiences, there is considerable potential for sophisticated animated storytelling for teenagers
and adults.

The opportunity exists in genres ranging from mythology and historical fiction to satire, comedy,
science fiction and socially relevant storytelling.

The Business of Co-Production

Perhaps the most important lesson I took away from Toulouse is the maturity of the European
co-production model.

A producer does not necessarily have to finance an entire project alone.

Instead, a project can bring together producers from different countries, broadcasters,
distributors, regional funds and other partners. Each participant contributes creatively and
financially while opening access to new territories.

This approach reduces risk and increases the potential market for the final property.

For Indian producers, international co-production should therefore not be viewed merely as an
opportunity to outsource production.

It should be viewed as a mechanism to create globally marketable IP with Indian creative ownership
at its core.

“Cartoon Forum will always remain the leading forum for co-production — a window to the future.”
— Annick Maes, General Director of Cartoon, on the Forum’s role for European producers

What Can India Learn?

Sitting through the pitches and interacting with professionals from different countries, I could
not help but think about India’s enormous creative potential.

We have the talent.

We have the technical capability.

We have a huge domestic market.

We have stories that are thousands of years old and contemporary stories that are equally compelling.

What we need is greater integration between creative development and business development.

Indian studios have demonstrated that they can deliver animation, VFX and CGI for international
clients. The next stage must be to develop and own more original intellectual property.

And this is where gaming becomes particularly important.

A character developed for animation can potentially become a game. A game can create a community.
That community can support merchandise, publishing, animation and immersive experiences.

The opportunity is no longer simply to produce content.

The opportunity is to build worlds.

Beyond Technology

As someone who has spent many years working across film restoration, colourisation, animation,
CGI and emerging technologies, I found the experience particularly relevant.

Technology is changing the production pipeline rapidly. AI, real-time rendering, virtual
production and new distribution platforms are transforming the economics of content creation.

But Cartoon Forum reinforced a simple truth: technology may make content faster and more efficient
to produce, but it is still the idea, character, story and IP that create long-term value.

That is a lesson worth remembering as India enters its next phase of growth in animation, gaming
and immersive media.

Toulouse: A Meeting Place for the Future

Cartoon Forum 2023 was ultimately not about 76 projects.

It was about the future business of animation.

It was about creators looking for partners, broadcasters looking for the next big property,
distributors searching for new territories, investors evaluating opportunities and producers
trying to turn ideas into sustainable businesses.

And perhaps that is why the atmosphere in Toulouse felt so different.

People were not simply talking about animation.

They were talking about what animation can become.

For Animation Today, which has always attempted to connect India’s creative community with
international developments, Cartoon Forum offered an invaluable window into that future.

“Every difficult challenge to come won’t be solved without everyone involved.”
— Annick Maes, General Director of Cartoon, on the Forum’s collective mission

My strongest takeaway from Toulouse is simple: India should not aspire merely to become the
world’s production destination for animation. We should aspire to become a creator and owner
of globally successful intellectual properties.

The next Indian animation success story may not necessarily begin with a studio looking for a
production contract.

It may begin with a character, a story, a game or an idea — and a producer brave enough to take
it to the world.