By SHELDON KIRSHNER
Staff Reporter
A drab building bordering on the ugly, it sits squarely in a depressed, semi-industrial area of western Toronto, about a kilometre from Lake Ontario. Appearances, though, can be deceiving. Inside its dimly-lit bowels creative juices flow uninhibitedly and imaginations run free.
This is the unlikely headquarters of Nelvana, the world's leading independent animation production company.
And if you're not familiar with its slew of television shows and its cast of cartoon characters, just ask your children. They will almost certainly know.
From popular programs like the The Care Bears and The Adventures of Tintin to endearing characters such as Rupert, Franklin, Little Bear and Babar, Nelvana is a corporate force to be reckoned with in the booming business of children's entertainment.
Nearly 30 years old, Nelvana is run by Michael Hirsh and two partners, Patrick Loubert and Clive Smith, who have been with him since the outset.
Hirsh, the son of Holocaust survivors from Poland and Belgium, oversees Nelvana's distribution and licencing divisions.
As the person responsible for bringing Nelvana to the forefront of the international television market, he has been remarkably successful, especially of late.
Last August, around the time he acquired the North American TV distribution and merchandising licencing rights to a Japanese animation series titled Cardcaptor, Hirsh signed a $40 million contract with the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in the United States to produce six series for its fall 2000 season.
"Without question, it is the single largest deal we've done," said Hirsh, pointing out that it marks PBS' entry into Saturday morning cartoon programming. The PBS shows will be based on works such as Maurice Sendak's Seven Little Monsters and Rosemary Wells' Timothy Goes To School.
And in the waning days of 1999, Hirsh signed a contract with RTV Family Entertainment in Germany valued at approximately $32 million. It was the biggest agreement Nelvana had ever negotiated outside North America. "This is terrific for us," said Hirsh, who was nurtured on a diet of Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and Superman cartoons in movie theatres.
For Hirsh, 1998 was similarly a good year.
Nelvana won the right to produce the entire Saturday morning cartoon lineup for the CBS network, a coup by any yardstick.
As well, Nelvana bought Kids Can Press Ltd. Children's publishing is a lucrative business, worth over $1.4 billion in Canada and the United States. "This acquisition," explained Hirsh, "provided a solid base for future growth in this sector, and was an important step for us in building a more integrated family entertainment company."
Hirsh, whose duties take him all around the globe, was born in Brussels in 1948. His father, Jack, was a prisoner in Auschwitz and at other concentration camps. After the war, he was a manufacturer of bags, then slippers. Hirsh's mother, Tauba, was hidden in a Catholic nursery during the war,
"My parents knew each other before the war, and were married in 1947. We immigrated to Canada in 1951, following my father's sister and only surviving close family member, Gertie. We moved to New York City in 1960, but I returned to Canada in 1966." His parents and two sisters, Lily and Susan, still live in the United States
At York University, Hirsh majored in philosophy and turned out underground student movies. He and Loubert started a small production company, Laff Arts, with the
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intention of building a studio. "It didn't happen at Laff Arts, but eventually came to fruition at Nelvana."
Their big break came when they stumbled upon a cache of World War II-vintage Canadian comic books featuring characters like Johnny Canuck and Nelvana of the Northern Lights.
After purchasing the rights, they made a children's documentary for CBC TV. The film, in turn, spawned a coffee-table book on Canadian comics and a National Gallery of Canada travelling tour of comic book art.
For the next few years, Nelvana churned out a mix of documentaries and dramatic live-action films, including Christmas Two Step and The Cosmic Christmas, Nelvana's breakthrough project.
It brought the Toronto-based firm, with offices in London, Paris and Los Angeles, to the attention of Hollywood director George Lucas, who commissioned Nelvana to create an animated piece for his 1978 Star Wars TV special.
In 1983, Nelvana released Rock & Roll, a fully animated feature for the young adult market. Though a critical success, it was a financial failure. "We found ourselves in a difficult period as a result of going over-budget on it," noted Hirsh.
Bankruptcy apparently never threatened Nelvana, notwithstanding the fact that 1983 was its blackest year. To keep its head above the water, Nelvana accepted service jobs. "We earned our way out of debt through productions like Inspector Gadget, our first animated series."
While working off its debt, Nelvana made The Care Bears, its first really big hit. Until Steven Spielberg's An American Tail, The Care Bears was the highest grossing non-Disney animated feature in history.
In 1994, Nelvana went public, a milestone which "facilitated significant growth," said Hirsh, whose wife, Elaine Waisglass, is an independent filmmaker and artist. (She is an executive producer of Little Miracles on the Life channel).
Hirsh, the father of two boys, is clearly pleased with Nelvana's achievements so far.
"We were the first company in Canada to enjoy commercial success with animation. We were the first Canadian company in our field to sell a series directly to an American network. We are the first to deliver an entire slate of programming to a network for all its genre productions."
Nelvana, with 500 employees today, has licenced its shows to more than 180 countries, including Israel and Arab states.
"Our cartoons are popular throughout the Middle East," said Hirsh.
And, he hastened to add, Nelvana characters are now represented in all major product categories: home videos, toys, games, apparel, stationary and publishing.
Looking ahead, Hirsh said that Nelvana is focused on growth. "Franklin and Little Bear are taking off as merchandisable characters. They are enjoying considerable retail success. We are concentrating on acquisitions to significantly increase our non-production and distribution business."
Meanwhile, business has never been better.
Nelvana achieved record results in 1998. Net earnings shot up by 75 percent to $8.6 million from $4.9 million the year before. Revenue increased 34 percent to $75 million from $56 million. (Figures for 1999 will be published in March.)
Hirsh and his partners have certainly found the formula for success.
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