French animation outfit Blue Spirit (the studio behind Netflix sensation “Blue Eye Samurai”) will introduced an in-house digital creation and development label under the moniker Blue Spirit Creative. Offering full-service creative and graphic development for features, series, ads and games, the creative label will be run by the Paris-based team behind Digital Banana, which Blue Spirit acquired last year.
“We can now offer a one-stop-shop,” says Blue Spirit CEO Olivier Lelardoux. “Whether in 2D, 3D, real-time engines or across hybrid models, we can guarantee it all through Blue Spirit Creative.”
The new label will launch with four development projects already in the pipeline – including two American brands – but for the most part will specialize in pan-European content. Across the pond, Blue Spirit will team with Ottawa-based studio Mercury Filmworks (“The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse”) to launch Seraphim, targeting the US market with premium and adult skewing content.
Based in Paris, with additional studios in Angouleme and Montreal, Blue Spirit is now bulking up its Canadian outpost ahead of production of the next season of “Blue Eye Samurai,” onboarding English-speaking CG supervisors and line-producers as way to be more agile and responsive to U.S. clients.
“We’re really betting on the Canadian studio,” says Lelardoux. “We want to be more international by way of management, transparency, and communication, all while keeping our French style and creativity. We don’t want to be worldwide. We want to be a French studio with international reach and proficiency.”
Launched last year and nearly just as quickly renewed for a second season, the Netflix series “Blue Eye Samurai” has won audience and industry acclaim, sweeping the Annie Awards with six nominations and as many wins. And if Blue Spirit can boast award-winning films like “My Life as Zucchini” and popular series like “Alice & Lewis” among its roster, the CEO has no problem letting his company’s latest hit take the spotlight.
“At the end of the day, the content is always king,” says Lelardoux. “That’s the power of animation: Our characters and brands will always be bigger than the company itself – and I love that. I want kids around the world to know about ‘Blue Eye’ not Blue Spirit!”
