An opportunity to learn from industry leaders and share tales from the front line of budgeting were among the myriad draws for Noeleen Breen when signing up for a place on ScreenSkills' animation budgeting clinic. Noeleen is financial controller at Sixteen South, the award-winning 2D animation studios and production company in Belfast.
The clinic is one of several online masterclasses and workshops funded by the ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns. Thanks to the contributions from UK animation productions, ScreenSkills has been able to offer training for free to animation professionals at all levels across the UK.
"It was a great opportunity to gain exposure to industry experts who provided invaluable guidance," Noeleen says. "As an accountant working within animation, I wanted to bridge the gap between production and finance and understand the connection between scheduling and budgeting and everything in between."
Noeleen secured her place on the virtual workshop from her Sixteen South studios base in Northern Ireland. Sixteen South Studios boasts creative teams of designers, animators, directors and producers with decades of network experience. Since 2007 Sixteen South has produced 463 episodes of 11 hit kids shows with work garnering more than 50 international awards. As well as producing 2D and live action series for Sixteen South Originals, the studio also co-produces with partners including The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop, GBH, Kindle Entertainment and the BBC.
As financial controller, Noeleen works across the full service studio, which is also open for live action service work and can also bring up to 32% of the cost of production in tax credits and screen funding to projects to the table.
Participating in the ScreenSkills workshop meant Noeleen shared projects with other participants, discussing how best to address any budgeting concerns or limitations, with advice from key experts. "It was so beneficial to be paired with a mentor who was specifically selected to work with me on a one-to-one basis," Noeleen notes. "The advice and guidance was invaluable."
She was the only finance professional in the workshop. But it worked beautifully for her. "My limitations were their strengths and vice versa so it was refreshing to see a different perspective on the numbers," she says. Noeleen's mentor was Helen Brunsdon, director of the British Animation Awards and respected animation producer and industry consultant.
During the workshop, the participants worked through two projects together on a one-to-one basis, helping them to break down the information and build it back up to produce a perfect animation budget. "I feel more confident about budgeting for animation and how to support the budgeting process [after the workshop]. It has helped me understand it, given me the opportunity to see it from a different perspective other than just the numbers and, most importantly, how to build a unified relationship with the production team."
Noeleen says another big positive to come out of participating in the clinic is her great professional relationship with mentor Helen. "She is always there for any advice I may need. Her support and guidance had been extremely helpful."
The clinic, with its mix of budgeting strategy, planning, processes, tips and techniques and full and frank exchanges on project development and financing, proved to be what Noeleen expected - "not to be missed."