First In-Person Meeting of the Producers Workshop

First In-Person Meeting of the Producers Workshop

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Last Thursday, the in-person activities corresponding to the first module of the Advanced Specialization Workshop in Animation Production, which we have been running since the beginning of the year, took place. Slightly more than 50 workshop participants attended the activities.

Although the main event took place on Thursday, since Shortway Campus activities (open to the general public) were held the day before, some workshop participants visited Ciudad Creativa Digital and the Indie 100 cluster to attend both the open Master Classes and the Ideatoon workshop, which benefited from the participants’ questions and interests.

On Thursday, April 9, the producers workshop activities officially began with a master class on Marketing for animated projects, taught by Jesús Irigoyen, director, producer, and journalist, owner of Dessignare, a portal specialized in animation, as well as Dessignare Producciones, an animation and experiential production company. During his session, he shared several examples of how he has secured financing for his projects and, above all, how he has managed to establish a global presence through guerrilla marketing strategies — effective low-cost actions that have allowed him to promote his productions, secure distribution agreements across several countries in Europe and Latin America, build audiences, and develop merchandise that helps finance future projects.

After the class, producers in training attended the public pitch session of the Shortway finalists. The goal of the activity was for them to hear directly from directors and creators presenting the 11 author-driven short film projects and to establish professional connections. Following the pitch, the winning projects were announced in the presence of Alfredo Aceves, director of Ciudad Creativa Digital, who shared remarks on the importance of creative industries for economic development.

The in-person course activities continued with visits to two animation studios, Hobby Animation Studio and Ronin, where workshop participants were able to talk with studio owners about different topics such as pipeline workflows, clients, costs, and production processes.

After lunch, activities continued with mentoring sessions and two simultaneous workshops designed to provide practical tools for managing production: the Soft Skills for Production workshop and the Time Management in Production workshop.

Finally, the day concluded with a brief networking cocktail where all participants had the opportunity to connect and get to know each other better, since part of the philosophy of the workshop (and of Pixelatl itself) is to build collaboration networks that help energize the development of the animation industry in our country.

With this first in-person meeting, the workshop completes its first content module. An anonymous feedback form has been shared to identify areas of improvement for upcoming sessions and meetings.

The second module of the course will begin next week.

Every step we take in this initiative continues to excite and inspire us.