Inspidea Scores Astro Ceria Commission (TV Kids)

Malaysia's Astro Ceria has commissioned local outfit Inspidea to co-produce an animated series featuring Mat Kacau, a character made popular in the kids' channel's game show Gerak Geri Gasing.

Astro Ceria is operated by Astro Entertainment, a division of Astro All Asia Networks that creates, develops and packages local content and channels for Malay audiences. The kids' channel, which targets the 4- to 14 set, has commissioned the Mat Kacau animation series for broadcast later in the year. The 2-minute 2-D shorts will revolve around Mat Kacau and his pranks.

“The co-production deal with Inspidea marks a strong message that Malaysian creative multimedia content companies are capable of creating content for the world and Malaysia is poised to offer an enabling environment for companies to harness their full potential," said Zainir Aminullah, the executive director of Astro Entertainment. “We are especially proud of our Mat Kacau animation as it is 100 percent locally produced and we look forward to its debut at MIP Junior."

Andrew Ooi, the managing director of Inspidea, added: "We are pleased that Astro Ceria have recognized the creativity and high energy we bring to all of our projects. We have that level of inspiration and excitement because we let our inner kid out, and that is where our great stuff comes from. There is no doubt that Mat Kacau will be a hilarious hit show for the entire family."

Geared for Mayhem (The Star Malaysia)

The hilariously irritating Mat Kacau from game show Gerak Geri Gasing will soon be appearing on TV as a cartoon character.

WHEN Astro Ceria’s game show Gerak Geri Gasing added the attention grabbing character Mat Kacau, its producers did not imagine that he’d be so popular with children. In fact, most of them tune in to the show to watch his antics.

For those of you who are not familiar with Mat Kacau, he is the annoying, clumsy man (whom children love to hate) on the interactive game show.

Now, the masked man, who wears a prison garb with green breeches, is going to become a cartoon character.

Inspidea, the company that is co-producing the two-minute segment titled Mat Kacau, is no
stranger to animation. It developed Mustang Mama Football Fever, which had a good following on Astro Ceria during the 2006 World Cup.

The company’s managing director Andrew Ooi said: “Mustang Mama was inspired by marketing material we did for our website. After it debuted, we started getting inquiries about it. So we developed the character further and we released Mustang Mama Football Fever, in conjunction with the World Cup 2006. This was followed by Mustang Mama Diehard Sports Fan and X-3.

“We showed Astro what we could do with two minutes of air time and we are confident that we can do the same for Mat Kacau”, said Ooi.

So how is Mat Kacau different from Mustang Mama?

“The show will be funnier with Mat Kacau’s hilarious pranks. We only have two minutes to make people laugh and that’s a big challenge.” Interestingly, Mat Kacau, he said, is inspired by classic cartoon characters.

“We took the elements from cartoons that attracted us most and figured out how it could work in our series,” he said.

According to him, the animated Mat Kacau character is different from the live-action character in Gerak Geri Gasing. The animated one will be more dynamic, doing more stunts. Joining him
are also eight other inspiring characters: Van, Amber, Miss Agnes, Dinah, Judy, Boboy, Auntie Lim and Omar.

Ooi enthused that there will be lots of creativity and excitement for the upcoming Mat Kacau although it has no dialogue.

“Mat Kacau gets more screen time compared to the one on the show, and of course he doesn’t speak. The only thing that stays the same is the clothes he wears,” said Ooi.

On Gerak Geri Gasing, Mat Kacau goes around disturbing the young participants who are trying to accomplish their tasks.

“He is really annoying but the kids love him. We try to capture the same element in the animated series. He is somebody that the audience would love to see losing in the end,” said Ooi.

The biggest challenge he said is giving Mat Kacau a “good guy” image. “Mat Kacau is not a villain. That’s the instruction from Astro. We cannot make him go around doing bad things. So, we are careful to make him a guy who is always being misunderstood by the others,” explained Ooi.

When he sees kids having fun at a party, for instance, he gatecrashes.

So, what is the message to the young viewers? “There isn’t any moral specifically. The whole idea is to entertain children and adults alike. We do have strong child characters that kids can
emulate though,” said Ooi.

He added that his team will be working on 26 episodes which are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Mat Kacau is for children aged between four and 14 and will be shown on Astro Ceria (channel 611) later this year.

Happy together producing cartoons (The Star, Malaysia)

Friends find an avenue to live 0ut their passion


THEY are paid to watch cartoons all day at work! It may sound too good to be true but for C.J. See and Andrew Ooi, who founded Inspidea Sdn Bhd, an animation production
company, the seemingly childish indulgence is actually important.

Beyond just fun, enjoying cartoons was an avenue for them to live out their passion, See said.
“It is something we have in common and are passionate about. It brought us together and eventually led to us setting up this business. We still watch cartoons now,” he told StarBiz in an interview.

“Watching cartoons can keep you in touch with your inner child,” he said with a laugh. Ooi and See, both 38, are managing director and sales and marketing director respectively.

Friends for over 10 years, they decided to jointly start an information technology company in 1999. Their first venture is still very much in business although Inspidea is now much bigger.

“We started Inspidea in 2002 and back then some people wondered if we could really make a living out of creating cartoons and animation, ” Ooi said.

He said even their parents found it hard to accept their choice of career at first because they felt it was a waste of time and money.

“No doubt any parent would have been concerned as there was basically no knowledge about this industry when we started.

“However, in recent years, cartoons and animation are gaining popularity and even colleges are offering such courses,” Ooi said, adding that even the Oscars had in recent years included a category for animated feature film.

He explained that the company’s name, Inspidea, was derived from the words inspiration and idea. “What comes before an idea is the inspiration, so we decided to coin a name that’s not in the dictionary,” Ooi said.

See said Inspidea’s first two years were very challenging and difficult. Securing funding was also difficult as the business was considered a “super risky venture”.

“We started dipping into our own pockets. Banks didn’t dare give us loans because there were no sales,” See said.

With limited knowledge about the industry, the young entrepreneurs set off for France to “get to know the industry better”.

“We took a big risk doing this. Not knowing anyone there, we ‘blindly’ went to try selling our production. We did one episode of our first cartoon, Johan the Young Scientist, and tried to sell it overseas,” See said.

In 2004, just about when they felt like giving up, they managed to secure one sale from the Middle East. Following its first cartoon series, Inspidea created Mustang Mama, its most popular cartoon series. It has created three seasons of Mustang Mama and is currently in the midst of launching Happy Together.

See said Happy Together was a hilarious show with 52 one minute episodes that will be launched this year. To a question, Ooi said their cartoon series acted as a “filler” in between shows, thus the short duration. He said the shorter cartoons could also be downloaded in multi platforms such as mobile phones and personal computers.

Among its clients are Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, AXN, Animax, TV1, TV2, NTV7 and Yahoo.

Inspidea has also been commissioned by KidsCo, an international children’s entertainment brand, to produce cartoon series about Mother Nature, conservation, recycling and other topics.
“The series, Boo & Me, which will be launched at the year end, will have a strong Malaysian identity. We chose this name as its sounded like Bumi in Bahasa Malaysia,” See said.

Inspidea made close to RM5mil in revenue last year. “Doubling our revenue will be quite a challenge this year but we hope to achieve a 30% growth,” See said.

“We started as a very small outfit but over the years we’ve grown exponentially in terms of headcount and cartoon properties. “We’re quite busy right now!” he added.

He said the company had recently embarked on an advertising and promotional campaign worldwide and was spending “hundreds of thousand ringgit” on it.

“There were a lot of nightmares in the first few years. Developing the business requires a lot of patience, perseverance and passion,” See said.

Ooi agreed. He said it had been a long and challenging process, but the business was also one that he enjoyed a lot. “It is like watching grass grow but once you see the final result of your work, you get a great sense of satisfaction,” he said.

By his own admission, See has never worked. “When you get to do something you enjoy, you will never have to work a day in your life. Normally, you develop a passion for something you like doing, similar to a hobby. In this case, your work becomes your hobby,” he said.

See said his father even once questioned if he was normal because he could sit in front of the television all day just watching cartoons.

On Inspidea’s future, Ooi said: “You can still reach the destination taking one step at a time but not one step forward and two steps back.” “We hope we can one day be as big as Pixar or Dreamworks,” See said.

Kidding Around For Global Success (Malaysia SME)

An award-winning digital animation company believes that by “letting the kid out” of its creative team members, it can change the world for the better.

The names Johan and Mustang Mama may not ring too loud of a bell with most Malaysians, yet both these characters are already internationally recognised with television audiences worldwide.

Unless you are a eight year-old or 38 year-old ‘child at heart’ cartoon connoisseur, you will likely not have come across these animation titles or be aware that both were created by Malaysians.

Since its establishment in 2002, Inspidea Sdn Bhd, which creates, produces and distributes original digital animation for the television and mobile industry, have seen their shows out in Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, AXN, Animax, and many other terrestrial TV stations.

Its creations have reached out to more than 30 countries, with most of the customers coming from Europe. While its team of 110 employees can bask in the success of the youthful
MSC-status organisation, the founders reflect upon the bumpy ride in reaching their current position.

“To a certain extent, I was rather forced onto this business, as I had lost my job due to the economic downturn in 1999. “Yet, thinking back, that was perhaps the best thing to have happened to me, else I may never had ventured into setting up Inspidea with my business
partner,” says Inspidea sales and marketing director C.J. See.

The pair makes highly unlikely business partners of an animation studio as See comes from the finance and accounting background, while founding partner Andrew Ooi was working as a town planner.

The first two years, the pair went through what they termed as the research and development stage of the business. See reveals: “Truth is that, we were not doing well in terms of sales, and we also realised that the Malaysia market may not be ready for what we have to offer.”

In 2004, the pair took their first visit to Cannes, France to explore the world’s audio and visual market. It was then that they realised, as See puts it “the world is much bigger then what we
thought”. The visit, although did not bring upon immediate sales, at the very least validated their belief that there is a lucrative market out there for creative animation products and services.

Since securing their first production from Dubai three months after their visit to Cannes, Inspidea’s programmes are today distributed globally. The company’s first born was Johan The Young Scientist which took slightly over a year to produce. The series was soon distributed to Indonesia, Korea, Dubai, Singapore, India, Portugal, Malaysia, and in the United States.

Its second effort, Mustang Mama Football Fever which was completed in 2006 became an instant hit worldwide, including receiving an award in 2006 for Best of Media and Entertainment from APICTA (Asia-Pacific ICT Award).

Its follow-up Mustang Mama Diehard Sports Fan was launched in 2007 in collaboration with Yahoo! In conjunction with the Beijing Olympics.

Inspidea’s following creations include Disney’s A Kind Of Magic, SIP Animation’s Ko-Bushi and Combo Niños, Scrawl Studios’ Milly Molly, and its latest ‘environment-conscious’ animation
series Boo and Me in partnership with KidsCo, the international children’s channel owned by leading media company NBC Universal.

With 95 per cent of its sales revenue coming from the overseas market, it is rather ironic that the creative team has found success across the globe but remains relatively unknown back home. See points out that this is because the Malaysian market although visibly growing, is not big enough for animators to fully depend on to sustain them.

“The level of appreciation amongst the general public for animation work is also not as high as say in Korea, Japan or Europe. ‘Then there is also the difficulty in attaining sufficient financial
support and project backing from local programme channels.

“Unlike outside where projects are evaluated based on its own merits of potential, here it’s more difficult is you are not from a big production house or with a long track record,” remarks See, who travels frequently around the world in search of new markets.

Judging from their 300 per cent average sales revenue growth over the last couple of years, having a track record will no longer be an issue. The founders swiftly credit their pool of creative talents for their successes to date.

“Our philosophy ‘Let The Kid Out’ has been with us since the very beginning. The concept behind this is to make the team feel and think like children do,” says See.

But it is not all kids play for the digital animation company as they see the increasing demand for animation productions catered for teenagers and adults. Developing content for the mobile media is also a fast-growing market.

Not just limited to entertaining children, Inspidea also does its part to help them out through their Community Renewal Program. This includes the Johan Helping Hand, a project that raised money for the Kiwanis Foundation which cared for Down Syndrome children and their families by providing help, counselling and support.

While we may still be some distance from taking away an Oscar from Pixar Studios or Disney, if Inspidea continues to let more kids out of our Malaysian talents, it would surely not be too long
of a wait.

Another Win For Creative Content (The Edge, Malaysia)

The government has rightly highlighted digital and creative content as a sector with much potential in Malaysia and is supporting its development with funding and supportive policies. Already, Malaysian studios are beginning to make an impact in the global market. The latest one to score a win and reinforce the perception that Malaysia is an emerging content creator
is Inspidea Sdn Bhd.

The digital animation company signed a co-production deal with KidsCo, a global children’s television network co-owned by NBC Universal, Corus Entertainment Inc and Cookie Jar Group. Slated to be a pay-TV service, exclusive to the KidsCo channel worldwide, it will be aired in 52 countries in 14 languages throughout Europe, Russia, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The series, called Boo and Me, has an environmental theme and is slated to be launched this September. As more people are starting to understand the importance of environmental consciousness, there has been a boost in the number of Earth-friendly programmes, especially those targeted at children. With The Wild Thornberries taking the lead, content producers are seizing the opportunity by creating cartoons that both educate and entertain at the same time.

Offering more than what Sesame Street has done for children across the globe, the environmentally themed children programmes aim to create the awareness process during their formative years. This is the main idea behind Boo and Me. Targeted at children aged 6 to 10, Boo the Orangutan stars in this two-minute per episode, 13-part animation series. With the
help of two children, Aiman and Yasmin, Boo comes to understand how important it is to love and protect nature, and how the little things or seemingly small actions can result in big impacts.

“The main idea for Boo and Me is to educate young children to care about Earth. If you take the ‘and’ out of the title, you will come up with ‘bumi’, our word for ‘Earth’,” says C J See, sales and marketing director of Inspidea.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with one of Malaysia’s leading animation companies on Boo and Me. This exciting new series bolsters our home-grown library of original programming and is also a perfect fit for our stable of educational entertainment, which is loved by children and their families around the world. As KidsCo grows across Asia, we are committed to investing in Asian programming to further improve our quality programme line-up,” says Paul Robinson,
managing director of KidsCo and joint executive producer of Boo and Me.

“This is a major project for us because we were selected by KidsCo, which is a pretty well-established company with its own TV network. Also, this production is in line with its strategy to start investing in Asian content. We initiated talks on this project
last September when we heard that KidsCo was looking to invest in production but had not decided on which one to get into. This deal was firmed up during MIPTV (the world’s largest audiovisual entertainment trade show in Cannes) last month,” See smiles.

Aside from sending a green message to children worldwide, the entire production process of Boo and Me will also be environmentally friendly and paperless. In terms of funding for Boo and Me, See declines to reveal the total investment, but he says Inspidea had chosen not to secure any grants or funds from the government because of the lead time required to secure the money.

“We haven’t received any major grants from the government save for RM50,000 from winning the Multimedia Development Corp’s MSC IP Creators Challenge in 2006, because we haven’t applied for any. The dynamics of this project moves really fast, so it is not really suitable for us to apply for a grant. Besides, KidsCo will be investing a significant amount in this project, so we have decided to come up with the rest internally. We are comfortable with the risk that we are taking on our end. It is just easier, faster and more efficient this way,” explains See.

While it is clear that the investment from KidsCo reflects its confidence and commitment to the project, the deal is sweetenedby the fact that Inspidea retains all intellectual property (IP) rights to the title. Even though KidsCo retains broadcast exclusivity, Inspidea still has the option of utilising Boo and Me for merchandising or online content.

“This is the second time we are co-producing with a major network. While it is great that we retain 100% of the IP for the project, the biggest gain that we reap working with KidsCo is the knowledge that it willingly shares with us. We will be developing Boo and Me’s storyline together and the network definitely brings a lot of talent, experience and credentials to the table,” says See.

This transfer of experience and talent will definitely help Inspidea grow and become a more competitive company in its space, too.

Fishing For a Tasty Hit (Animation Magazine)

Inspidea and SIP show appetite for sushi with Kobushi.

So you think you've heard and seen it all when it comes to concepts for animated shows for kids this fall? How about a 3 minute format about a shogun, two samurai, three ninjas and a dog made out of tofu, who are trying to outsmart each other to become the mascot of a sushi bar? That's right - bet you don't hear that very often.

The series is called Ko-bushi, a co-production between Malaysian animation studio Inspidea and French toon house SIP. As it turns out, the origins of the idea go back to 2005, when Inspidea entered it in the Singapore Super Pitch event. "The concept and the name of the project were quite different - it was more Zen, mystical and - pardon the pun - raw," says Inspidea's managing director Andrew Ooi. "After Combo Ninos, we thought it might be a good idea to work together with SIP Animation again. So we went looking for a project that is suitable for collaboration."

The team at SIP Animation, under the direction of Stephanie Kirchmeyer, liked the original concept for the show and decided to work together with Inspidea. "The project really felt right to both sides, so we went ahead and divided our duties," says Ooi. "SIP Animation refined the concept and the storytelling while we tweaked the design of the characters and the show. The end result is something we can proudly say was co-created."

Ooi points out that the design of the show is "drenched in a heavy dose of kawaii." He says everything has that special Japanese "cute flavor", which is universally admired. Another selling point is the fact that it doesn't have any spoken words, so it appeals to viewers all around the world. The 3 minute length of the show also makes it suitable for various formats - from standard broadcast to specialty channels to mobile media downloads. The producers are hoping to warp the financing in the near future and begin production by early next year and have the show debut in 2010.

Inspidea's managing director confirms that the animation scene in Malaysia is going through a renaissance of late. "There are more companies that are getting their feet wet than before," he says. "This is good because we are getting some competition, we think. The government is supportive of local entertainment industry, with friendly policies coupled with several incentives packages and tax breaks."

The team at Inspidea is also working on X3, a new spinoff of their popular series Mustang Mama. The 26 x 2 minute package follows the extreme sports themed adventures of the spirited grandma, her tough grandson Toby and Sally, her naughty pet cow!

"The challenge for Inspidea is outperforming ourselves," observes ooi. "We want to come out with new shows that are better than what we already have in terms of concept, design and storytelling. We also want to improve our animation skills so that the bar is set higher with each new show...Malaysia is exposed to both Eastern and Westren style animation. We have been this way for years! Hopefully the future kids will be influenced by Malaysian animation."

MIPCOM 2008 Showcase (Animation Magazine)

"Doing funny shows is hard but that's what we seem to gravitate towards," said Andrew Ooi, Managing Director of Inspidea. The company is a perfect example of doing animation for the love of it. "We had no experience in producing TV shows let alone animation but we jump in head first into the deep end of the pool six years ago. It was a scary but fun move. It's no longer that scary now but it still is fun."

Over the years, the fully digital animation studio has produced Johan The Young Scientist (26 eps x 12min), Mustang Mama Football Fever (26 eps x 2 min) and Mustang Mama Diehard Sports Fan (26 eps x 2 min). The experience of doing these shows has shown them the truth about themselves: letting the kid out is fun and highly rewarding. "We couldn't have done these shows if we kept a stiff upper lip the whole time," said Andrew. "We needed to be the big kids doing silly and crazy things to make the shows fun. It takes guts to do that. But once you've gone that way, there's no going back."

This philosophy of nurturing the inner child also explains why Inspidea is the distributor for Tao Shu: The Warrior Boy (52 eps x 11 min). "It's an entertaining show which happens to have good moral values."

At this year's MIPCOM, Inspidea will be introducing several new shows. The first is X3 (26 eps x 2 min), short for Xtreme Xtion Xtraordinaire. It is the further adventures of Mustang Mama, her grandson and her pet cow as they go enjoy their lives with the help of extreme sports. "Mama has always been a go-getter or as her grandson might put it, a go-get-her," Andrew joked.

Adding to their lineup of new shows is a pilot called Happy Together (26 eps x 1 min), an edgy, offbeat comedy about an unlikely couple - a happy mudskipper and a gloomy catfish – in the mangrove. "We're not afraid to get our hands dirty on that one," Andrew quips

Inspidea will also be announcing their first co-production with SIP Animation of France on a bite-size comedy called Ko-Bushi (78 eps x 3 min). It is about a group of little warriors in a sushi-restaurant who are preoccupied with maintaining or subverting the status quo of being the restaurant's mascot. "We are excited about the show and the co-production," Andrew said. "Ko-Bushi has so much potential going for it."

Andrew wants the industry to stop seeing itself as an industry and instead as a playground. "In that sense, MIPCOM will be a really big playground for us. We hope to see a lot of big kids there who'd want to share a spot with us in the sandlot."

Executives attending MIPCOM will be Andrew Ooi (Managing Director) and CJ See (Sales & Marketing Director). Our MIPCOM Booth No is 05.08