Arctic Friends - Animated Series
The Who:
After completing the animated feature film Arctic Dogs, the studio had a rich library of characters, locations, and objects from that world—but only one story had been told with them. Around the same time, our company transitioned from private to publicly traded, ushering in a new business model: the development and production of animated short content. The first initiative under this plan was Arctic Friends, a workplace comedy focusing on three of the film's main characters. Having successfully run the VFX department for four years, I was appointed Showrunner for the series.
While pre-production for the film was handled entirely in Canada, the series took a different approach. Scripts, pre-production, and post-production were managed in Italy, while animation production was overseen by our overseas partners who had also worked on the feature film.
I spent significant time in Rome collaborating with the series director to assemble a team of writers and establish a fresh narrative style and format for the show. Simultaneously, I worked closely with the overseas team to optimize existing assets (or create new ones) to meet the unique demands of a series versus a feature film. Once the core team in Italy was in motion, I traveled to Mumbai to design and implement a new production pipeline capable of delivering an ambitious schedule while maintaining quality.
Each season of Arctic Friends consisted of 20 five-minute, dialogue-free episodes. These episodes were also packaged into collections for distribution platforms, requiring a delicate balance: every episode needed to work independently while contributing to an overarching narrative for the collections. The creative team handled this challenge masterfully, laying the groundwork for the same approach in subsequent Arctic Dogs properties.
After a few weeks in Mumbai, I returned confident we had established a robust pipeline and creative approach to deliver 190 episodes over three years. Upon returning, I was immediately told I needed to head to Antigua to meet the Prime Minister about a new creative venture—but that’s a story for another column.
The What:
The Series continues with the exciting adventures of Swifty, the Arctic fox who has finally achieved his dream job; becoming the best delivery fox of the "Arctic Blast Delivery Service". With the help of his best friend, PB the polar bear, Jade the resourceful red fox, and the rest of the ABDS team, they are ready and determined to finish their deliveries. Constantly blocked by the nasty porpoise mastermind, Dr. Otto Van Walrus, and his tricky puffins, Swifty must outrun and outsmart these villains to make sure no parcel gets left behind!
Swifty is the undisputed star of Arctic Friends. He is very ambitious and wishes to become the ABDS’ star emplyee.
His eagerness to do and learn stuff makes him easily bored, which, as well as the need to show off and prove his worth, often leads to trouble.
Jade is a beautiful fox and Taigasville’s only mechanic/engineer. Jade is creative, intelligent and always wants to test herself with new inventions or by fixing things. Sometimes this puts herself and others in danger, but her talent always allows her to find a solution.
PB is a giant polar bear and Swifty’s best friend. He also works at the Arctic Blast Delivery Service, sorting out packages.
PB is the exact opposite of Swifty: he is extremely slow, methodical, precise and punctual, but also distracted. The differences between the two often cause conflict, both on and off the job.
Otto Von Walrus is a megalomaniac walrus who lives with his Puffins in a mobile fortress among the ice of the tundra.
He is a brilliant inventor and engineer, but he always puts his wits at the service of less noble and selfish purposes
Some highlights of the animation work done at our Rome studios
The animation production crew in Mumbai
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