Another European Company in L.A. Animation

A trade journal informs us:

With a view to ramping up its animation activities, French major Gaumont is expanding the division into the U.S.

The company has made key hires of Nicolas Atlan as President of Animation and Terry Kalagian as Vice President, Creative for Animation. Both will be based in LA, although Atlan will his divide time in Paris. ...

Atlan was previously co-CEO of Splash Entertainment where he produced Kulipari: An Army Of Frogs, which Netflix recently acquired, and the animated feature film Norm Of The North which Lionsgate released. ...

Pierre Belaisch, based in Paris, will continue to serve as Gaumont’s President of Animation with a focus on European TV series and will now report directly to Atlan. ...

There's a trend here. More and more foreign companies with animation divisions are setting up studio outposts in Los Angeles. This isn't because the state is giving away Free Money like Canada, Georgia, Britain, and Canada (it isn't), but because Disney and to a lesser extent DreamWorks and Paramount, are turning out high-grossing animated features and overseas corporations want to tap into the talent pool.

We continue to see high rates of employment for development artists in Los Angeles.