“With or without us, the train is moving. So it's better to get on board and stay relevant.”
Friday, February 28, 2025
“Did you think it was your destiny to manage a studio at some point?”
We discussed this and we both said no. Absolutely not. We do not want to a studio at all.”
“It's a rough time for the industry and people are getting let go and there's and some companies are folding, right?”
“And this was something that we saw as an opportunity to really instill confidence within the industry where we don't want to let independent animation die.”
“Collaboration is huge. So with this new studio plan, we're trying to make sure that there's a lot of collaborative communal areas to make sure that the team is able to interact and share ideas.”
“So instead, how do we create a ecosystem that empowers people to use it in a very healthy, productive, and proactive way?”
“Then we have animation, which is basically the service work, the projects, the ongoing productions we have. And then technology, because we have a lot of proprietary software we developed.”
Sabry Otmani: Hello guys and welcome to The Animashow ! My guests today are both entrepreneurs and they have a lovely story to tell us about the buyout of the French animation studio TeamTO. Please meet Tara Sibel-Demren and Marco Basalmo, both founders of RIVA Studio. In this conversation, they told us about the future of TeamTO in terms of content, technology and organization. Both of them have a lot to tell about their backstory and what they expect from the future of animation. They are passionate, they are young and they have this international point of view on the market. I thought it was lovely conversation and I hope you like it too. So please subscribe to the channel, hit the like button and activate the bell. Thank you very much. I wish you a good listening.
Tara, Marco, welcome to the Animashow !
Tara Sibel Demren and Marco Balsamo: Thank you.
Sabry: Why did you acquire TeamTO Studio?
Marco: That’s loaded question. It's kind of one of the craziest stories to be honest. Yeah, it was kind of insane and we had no intention of acquiring the studio. There was no plans in the cards and we recently discovered the issues that were going on with the studio. And at the time Tara, myself and Jay Oliva have a project together, an adult animated psychological thriller called JJ. And it was in development with TeamTO for almost two years. And we discovered that, you know, what was going on with the studio and we found out late August, in October 15th, we were at New York Comic Con and Jay was there promoting Infinity, which is with TeamTO. And we were having lunch with him and we were like, hey, TeamTO's going under. Jay looked at us, was like, what? And he was like, you kidding me? He's like, no. So we had a conversation and this was Wednesday, Wednesday evening, we just had dinner together and we were like, why don't we try to acquire the studio? But the deadline to acquire the studio was Monday. Yeah, the following Monday.
Tara: to submit an offer.
Sabry: That was a very, very short window. But you managed to come up with an idea and the structuration of financing, et cetera.
Marco: Yeah, the first step was finding a French lawyer and for sure and shout out to Rudy our incredible French lawyer and we hired him I believe Friday night.
Tara: Friday evening, French time, he started working. We kept him up every day over the weekend until four or five in the morning. This guy is incredible.
Marco: He’s absolutely incredible. So we worked over the weekend. We are up at Jay's hotel. Then he came over to my home and Monday morning, 24 minutes before the deadline, we just submitted our bid.
Sabry: Wow, that is so exciting. I didn't know there was this short of time. Okay, that's very, very good backstory. But the context was like, TeamTO Studio was like several other studios actually under pressure, financially. We experienced like drop, massive drop in animation commissions from the streamers, et cetera. so they had like challenges and that was actually yes on December 6, 2024 that the court of commerce in France decided to give you the shots. So congratulations.
Tara and Marco: Thank you.
Sabry: I think you are now managing one of the best studios, you know, they're known for their quality in 3D and you guys have, I guess, other vision for the future. Can you tell us more about what you expect from this new venture in your life?
Tara: Definitely. So one of the cool things about TeamTO was when we opened up the treasure chest, we found that there's a lot of different sectors within the company. So with the restructuration process, we basically split it up into three companies. So it's TeamTO Films, TeamTO Animation, and TeamTO Technology. Films is our original productions and from RIVA Studios side, have several of our own original productions that we're bringing in. And so it's a very cool opportunity to develop a lot of the items we had on the back burner for some time. Then we have animation, which is basically the service work, the projects, the ongoing productions we have. And then technology, because we have a lot of proprietary software we developed. And it's really, really cool. I'm not going to reveal too much because we're going to do a grand reveal at Annecy. But we have three specific technologies that were developed in-house over 10 years. And our plans are to bring it to the rest of the animation world. By the end of this year. So we'll do a demo, we'll do a big reveal at Annecy. And then we definitely have plans to incorporate other pipelines. Right now it's primarily 3D, mainly children's animation. So JJ, as Marco mentioned, it's a psychological adult thriller. And so it's going to be really cool to push our team to try this different style that's more adult. So we want to definitely expand the, I guess, the viewer audience, the range. And then separately, and this is maybe a future plan, we plan to get into 2D as well. Because 2D, think, is actually where our passion started, both of our animation passion. It started with a lot of, you know, 2D. Yeah.
Sabry: Yeah, I love 2D animation and I think it's one of the oldest but also one of the most relevant type of animation so I totally understand it. Yeah.
Tara: So if you want to talk a little bit about the 2D.
Marco: I started in 2d animation. I know, even before, Film Launchpad, that was a company that Tara and I co-founded together. No, I started an animation when I was 19 because of Cannes film festival I just basically there was an animated feature film script that I wrote. I was 19 years old. I didn't have enough money to get an accreditation accreditation for Cannes, so it was the last day of the market at Mifa and a friend of mine who was a producer at the time, he wasn't gonna go. So I just took his accreditation. Please don't ban me at Cannes. But it was funny because he's like two meters tall, bald, and very big, and I'm very short, and not bald at all. And I went and I was pitching this show and I'm 19 years old. I'm a kid and I produced this script to an Indonesian producer. And then from there, three months later, I got a phone call, they flew me out, and I was the chief creative officer of this company with over 400 animators in Jakarta in Indonesia. It was all 2D animation.
Sabry: This is where you met Jay Oliva.
Marco: No, no, we met Jay in Los Angeles. We met Jay in Los Angeles, I think four or five years ago.
Sabry: So he’s like the third partner in the venture or creative partner?
Marco: Yeah, exactly. Because Jay also, we love working with Jay. We've been wanting to work with Jay for a very long time.
Tara: Yeah, it’s been our intention for several years to figure out a way to work with him and we first brought him on to JJ as a co-show runner. So that was the idea because he has worked in adult animation for a really long time and he's a legend. So it was a really cool thing with JJ, working with JJ.
Sabry: JJ is Junichiro Jackson? But I'm very curious about this project. What is it about? Is it a story for, is it a drama, is it a series, is it adult animation?
Marco: It’s definitely adult animation. I would say it's a love letter to hip hop mixed with the, basically the concept, it's a psychological thriller about a private detective named Junichiro Jackson or JJ for short, who he takes on missing person cases, but he has an affliction where he sees demons. So he'll see Oni or demons inspired by Japanese mythology. And we have an incredible team of people who are already attached to the project musically. Shout out to Coast Contra. But Coast Contra, they're one of our favorite hip hop groups and they're doing music for the show.
Sabry: It’s mainly hip hop?
Marco: Hip hop and jazz. And that was the first project we pitched to TeamTO when we just started Riva Studios and we also pitched to Jay. Everyone loved it and they came on board and it was our first official project that was in development and we're hoping to get it greenlit within the next several months and we're hoping that JJ will be the first adult animated series that we produce at TeamTO.
Sabry: Cool. And you guys have a link with the US, I guess, because you told me that you were born and raised in the US. How do you see the future of Team TO? They already have business in the US. Are you going to accelerate this or are you going to focus more on Europe and Indonesia? What is your play here?
Tara: I feel that our plan with TeamTO for the long run is definitely to help create French animation that internationalizes. We definitely want to bring it more to other markets. There's a very beautiful French animation style that's very unique. And I think that from a cultural viewpoint, it could be very interesting for the US to develop their animation taste a little bit. we are doing ongoing projects and productions with the US, we do plan to do a little bit more business development. Jay being based in LA is very helpful. So we have some big partners there that we're working with and they're awesome. But we, I don't know, I mean, it's French and the world, right?
Marco: Yeah, one of the things that again you you said it best in the it's a rough time for the industry and people are getting let go and there's and some companies are folding right? Yeah, and this was something that we saw as an opportunity to really instill confidence within the industry where we don't want to let independent animation die. We are independent film people first and foremost and we've you know our first live actions an independent film that was raised and it's just working with like-minded people. So for example Angelo Rules, which is a teamTO staple that should be known in the United States. It's a super popular show It shouldn't just be known in Germany or and in France. It should be worldwide.
Sabry: So they have several seasons already?
Marco: I think we're in season seven now.
Tara: We’re developing, we're in the middle of production of season six. Exactly.
Sabry: And you have also Jade Armour, which is another IP within the studio. TeamTO has been producing for other companies such as companies that develop PJ Masks and other
Tara: Creature cases.
Sabry: My kid is watching it on Netflix. Yeah.
Tara: It’s number one in Netflix in so many countries.
Sabry: Yeah, it's a big hit. Are you going for season three or?
Marco: We will see across okay, maybe every Jade Armour, we're hoping all the current projects Jade Armour, Creature Cases and Angelo Rules to continue and be renewed.
Tara: Yeah, part of this acquisition process was making sure that all of the ongoing productions were a seamless transition. We want to definitely maintain the schedule, the timeline, the production quality. So the handoff has been actually very smooth and we're on schedule and the partners are happy with us. So yeah, our intention is definitely to continue.
Sabry: Cool. I want to shout out to Guillaume Hllouin and Corinne Cooper. They created this amazing studio like 20 years ago.
Tara: This is the 20th anniversary of TeamTo.
Sabry: and I've had the chance to have them as guests on the animation show. You're going to have a new place in Paris, a new studio. You told me around the Republic, this is exciting time. Do you have something that you want to inject from your DNA into the studio that really is important for you? Like, I don't know, could be values or a new slate. Like you told us, like you're going to expand to adult animation, et cetera. Is there any other points that you want to talk about today?
Tara: We just got the keys today for a new studio. So that's exciting. Our plan with the new studio with this revival of this company is to definitely make sure that we are still staying on an innovative, know, innovative edge. We definitely want to keep that pioneering mentality. Collaboration is huge, so with this new studio plan, We're trying to make sure that there's a lot of collaborative communal areas to make sure that the team is able to interact and share ideas. so besides innovation and collaboration, for me, I feel that ambition, I guess that goes hand in hand with innovation, but ambition to have freedom to create really cool things and not be cookie cutter. So we definitely want to experiment. It's a big adventure, this whole thing. Our team is extremely talented and gifted, and we definitely want to give the space to recognize and elevate those who want to be a little more ambitious.
Sabry: Cool. I have the feeling that you both are kind of artists as well. You told me, Marco, you are a show runner or a director for a live action movie that is coming to be on screen this year.
Marco: August
Sabry: It’s called Forza. It's about the soccer environment, but in Indonesia, correct? Can you tell me more about how you came up directing a movie? What is the backstory of this movie?
Marco: So there's two things I love in, well, three things. Soccer. Football, yeah, soccer for sure. Tara for sure. I just have to that. Exactly. So, Tara, football, soccer, and animation. Indonesia was a huge opportunity for me, a huge experience because I started my career in Indonesia at an incredibly young age. And... When you go to Indonesia and you see the power of sport, when I was there, there's Indonesian kids whose first names are named after soccer players.
Sabry: Really? Like Ronaldo?
Marco: So Zidane was one of the kids that was an actor that we were going to. there's, also met and some Indonesian kids have incredibly obscure Indonesian names like Januka Payuka and then Figo. and when you go to Indonesia and you watch some soccer games they chant in Italian so like there's a club called slam on anyone when you watch a game you'll hear the the crow sing for the “Forza Sleman, vinci per noi".
Sabry: You were struck by this.
Marco: yeah Back then, yeah, was in Indonesia, and Indonesia has 260 million people in the, so we said, wow, they love soccer and let's make a soccer movie. So the story in a nutshell, Forza is about an 11 year old Indonesian boy who lives in poverty and his name is Bima. And he wants to play professional soccer in order to help get his family out of poverty. And by happenstance, by destiny, he meets a former AC Milan soccer player. And they bond and he gets an opportunity to play in Europe and the film is also in collaboration with AC Milan so we have the European Italian connection
Sabry: That's nice! Is the trailer out?
Marco: not yet night and it will be coming out soon cool and shout out to AC Milan and Lamberto Siega at AC Milan they they've been incredible and we're excited and we're hoping to also have the film release theatrically in France there's a bit a little bit of interest so we'll see
Sabry: And you've learned directing a movie by yourself or have you been trained anywhere?
Marco: I went to a soccer school, it's a university that's very well known for their soccer program, but they're not well known for their film program. So I would say I was kind of self-taught because I really didn't have, I didn't really have like an upbringing of, you know, like the NYU kids or the Columbia University kids as well. And I just loved watching films and I kind of just went along with it. So yeah, I wouldn't say I'm pretty self-taught to be honest.
Sabry: Cool. And you also have like artistic part in your life, like you paint.
Tara: Yeah, I paint, I've published a couple of books, poetry books, and I grew up in a very cinephile family. I love animation, I love video games, and I never thought I would get into this as a career. It just was so serendipitous, the whole thing, because my background is actually in technology, and it's with startups and entrepreneurship. And so I founded several tech companies, and then when I met Marco, it just felt so natural, a combination of both my entrepreneur side and my artistic side, being able to have fun every day and make up stuff. It's great. It was a great serendipitous happening.
Sabry: But I think animation is really in the cross of technology and artistic. I've always been amazed by this industry because of this. Today, we are experiencing a lot of new things, especially AI. Are you going to incorporate AI at some point into your processes or maybe in the suites of software you're going to launch? If you can tell.
Marco: No, we can we can because because we work with our CTO JB John Baptiste Spieser. He's Incredible. We speak about it often and we speak about internally we it won't be replacing jobs it we think it will only be a supplemental tool to make work a lot more efficient yeah, and we already in within the pipeline that we have we already incorporate AI and when it's revealed publicly it's an it's our software is made for animators. Okay, and JB says it best and shout out to JB An animator say like our software is like dancing with the characters and there are already AI implementations that make everything a lot more efficient but as a tool not as a replacement.
Sabry: Okay, and This is like your point of view like you're not going to replace artists by AI
Marco: No, it's a team effort. We can't do it without the people. And you need to have that feeling and that soul behind everything.
Tara: Yeah, it empowers really. It's either going to take over or, you know, there's no, like, we could just put our heads in the sand and not do anything. So instead, how do we create an ecosystem that empowers people to use it in a very healthy, productive and proactive way? Because it's going to go with or without us. The train is moving. So it's better to get on board and stay relevant than become irrelevant in a few years and then the company shuts down.
Sabry: It’s a power that you have to own us at some point and make sure that all the company is getting it.
Marco: And we were able to retain almost 90 % of the current workforce at TeamTO.
Sabry: Congratulations on this because I guess it's not easy, but that's good for the workers and for the people that work there. you have an international spread and mentality. How are you going to organize your work and your managing style from now with France, probably America and Indonesia? How do you manage this?
Marco: So the company's, the Riva Studios productions is Italian based in Rome. the film that we did, all our post-production was in Rome. And what we're looking to do is kind of build a bridge between both Italy and France, because there's a co-production treaties as well. On the American side of things, it's more with the relationships with the streamers, the relationships with the Disney's of the world or the DreamWorks of the world and so on and so forth. And kind of solidifying ourselves saying, hey, TeamTO is in this direction and we want to continue having those strong relationships and that's where Jay comes in as well. In terms of not just Indonesia but worldwide, we want to retain our French identity and more importantly our European identity because there's so much that revolves around pride in French animation that we don't want to lose that essence. So we want to go global but for the sake of not losing our identity where we become too big too quick. And the best way we want to put it is we want TeamTO to become the A24 of animation. But keep everything quality, no restrictions in terms of what we can bring to the table. We want to give opportunities to all the people within the studio.
Sabry: artistically something very connected to the Zeitgeist.
Marco: exactly exactly the service projects are great but our goal is to be have a combination of service projects but also original ip that were bringing to the table that's where us and from RIVA side come into it as well
Sabry: What are your inspirations in terms of original IP? Are there some shows around that you can mention? Not specifically about your new IP but I don't know. Is Arcane something that you watched?
Marco: She’s watched it way too many times.
Tara: It’s a study, it's a psychological study for me. Yeah, I got a PhD from just watching all the YouTube videos on Arcane. I just watched some of them. Arcane for me was, it really paved the path of excellence and what could be reached if people put their hearts and, you souls into it. I understand that it was really... huge budget that isn't quite realistic for most shows. But I do think that it itself could push us to want to do better. I love the character development specifically, character development and the just the very nuanced psychological points. For me, that was so beautiful because you don't need 250 million budget, you know, to achieve that. That just requires a lot of attention to detail, a lot of heart and a lot of dedication. And it's a dedication to reach a certain level. And since this level was achieved with arcane, it's kind of like the five-minute mile where the first person who got the five-minute mile before nobody achieved it. And after that same year somebody achieved the five-minute mile, like 20 people achieved it that same year. So it's kind of a more of a mental thing that it helped pave the path, really.
Sabry: And you mentioned Infinity as a new IP coming up. What is the story of Infinity? Because I understand that there is already a fan base of the project or the universe. What is this?
Marco: Infinity is based on a tabletop game. Corvus Belli. So it has a little bit of a Middle Eastern flair to it. It's a sci-fi mixed with action for mature audiences for sure. But it has Jay Oliva’s trademark on, he's directing as well. And we are planning to show, I don't know if it's gonna be a trailer or something, but we're gonna be showing something at Comic-Con in July, I think around there. But in the summer, we'll have some more information about that.
Sabry: So you're going to be like on very different events like Comic Con, Annecy, I guess, for sure. Are you going to rebrand a little bit Teamto or is it going to be the same branding, et cetera? Just like by curiosity.
Marco: We’re going to keep TeamTO's brand. Okay. We are because also it's a brand that's 20 years strong and it's a French brand and we don't want to come in and respected and everything. So TeamTO as a brand will stay. But like Tara mentioned earlier, there will be three companies within TeamTO, TeamTO Films, TeamTO Animation and TeamTO Technology. And each of these companies will have their own identity, slight variations of what we know and love about TeamTO. So they will stand on their own but within the ecosystem with the Riva studios being kind of the parent company above
Sabry: Did you think it was your destiny to manage a studio at some point?
Marco and Tara: Yeah.
Sabry: that’s good.
Tara: Yes and no is the answer. It's so funny, Marco and I, maybe three months prior to this whole situation, I had a conversation with him. Do you ever want to own a studio?
Marco: Literally, she asked.
Tara: I asked him. Boom. You know, I manifested. But I asked him this in a very serious manner because a studio is a lot of responsibility. You have a lot of people depending on you. You need a lot of workflow. You lose a little bit of your freedom and flexibility because a studio, it's big. It requires a lot of people, a lot of moving parts. It's not like a tech startup where you'll just have four employees in a garage, you know? Yeah. So, we discussed this and we both said no. We do not want to a studio at all. But the reasoning was because of everything I just mentioned, it's a lot that you need to build from scratch. However, when the situation with TeamTO happened and we thought it would be such a shame if TeamTO got bankrupt and then everything just... disappeared all that 20 years of work, technology, development, arts, people losing jobs
Marco: and people got married because of TeamTO.
Tara: Yeah, so we reconsidered because it was basically turnkey and the entire team is incredible and we knew the quality and the production just that they had. So we reconsidered that our no turned into a yes, that fateful day in New York Comic Con.
Sabry: is now a reality.
Marco: And we weren't supposed to be in New York. We extended our trip by two days.
Tara: And why were we in New York?
Marco: We were in New York because Tara wanted to go see "Attack on Titan" on Broadway. That was the only reason why we wanted to go see "Attack on Titan".
Tara: Yeah, "Attack on Titan" came to New York for two days, a musical. Totally sold out. I got us tickets. We planned a trip to New York just for this reason. Coincidentally, Jay was there for Comic Con. We didn't know it was Comic Con. So then we got together for lunch and that fateful lunch ended up opening up this Pandora's box.
Sabry: Life is amazing. It always amazed me.
Maroc: Yeah, we can a documentary about it.
Tara: That’s a great question if it was fate, it was fate.
Sabry: Okay, okay. I have my answer. You guys are in couple in life and you managing a company together. How do you manage the relationship? That's also like a kind of a curious.
Marco: It’s so much fun for me. talk about it. It's like I've always wanted to work with my partner. So for me, it's like working with my best friend. I know it's opposite, but it's like we're in the minority here, but it's a blast. I wouldn't be able to do it without her. I wouldn't. Yeah, Jay gets jealous about us a little bit. So I have to give Jay a little bit of love too once in a while. it's, no, it's, us, it's the, we are the perfect team for each other.
Sabry: Cool. We've talked about infinity. Is there any other IP that you want to talk about today?
Marco: She’s directing an animated film that's part of TeamTO’s pipeline and we thought that would be interesting because it's the first musical that we're going to be...
Sabry: Wow! a musical. Wow, so the musical from the New York weekend was awesome.
Marco: It won't be as violent as "Attack on Titan".
Tara: No, but it's a beautiful story. It's very poetic. It's a musical, but based in like a classical musical. And it's called The Yellow Cello and the Sea of Memories. It's a fantasy. It's adventure. It's so beautiful. It's gonna be an animated movie. I'm gonna move. Yes, and we've already composed the main theme, the song, so it's this gorgeous musical, it's poetic, it's very just symbolic and beautiful.
Sabry: Cool.
Marco: Yeah, and we're going to be announcing our slate of IPs at Annecy. So they'll be a, they will show the animation world what we're producing on TeamTO and when we hope for them to be out. But there's a good number.
Tara: I would also highlight Akira's flying wheelchair being the first 2D feature that we're working on.
Marco: Yeah, so Akira's Flying Wheelchair. That's the script I wrote when I went to Indonesia when I was 19. It was the one that always got away and we kind of want to do it. But what I can say about that, like Taro said, it's the first 2D animated feature film that TeamTo will be producing. And the main character is a boy who is in a wheelchair. And it's inspired by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films, but in a nutshell...
Sabry: in anime style?
Marco: We're working with Olivier, our creative director, in terms of what the style going to be. It's definitely inspired by Japanese anime, but we want to kind of have our team-to-feel to it, so we want to it look a little bit different. But it will be 2D. And it's about this boy who loses the will to live due to an unfortunate accident. He was a former athlete. He becomes paralyzed, and he meets this brilliant inventor, this young girl, who they create a flying wheelchair. and they go on an adventure. It's Spirited Away-esque. And so we're excited about that. And we actually have a proof of concept trailer. We're gonna be working on that. We'll probably reveal that also at Annecy.
Tara: I’d also add to that that most of our original IPs, champion the human spirit. So it's very inspirational, very heartfelt, and it's for a global audience each project.
Sabry: I have to tell, I'm so happy to meet you guys because you are warm people. You are super generous in ideas and you know how to manage companies. So I'm super excited for the future of TeamTO and it's a blessing.
Marco: Thank you, so are we and we're thrilled to be here and you're our official first public appearance. Bye.
Sabry: You’re more than welcome for other discussion and thank you for being on the animation Thank you.
Tara and Marco: Thank you so much.