Animation veteran and Asifa India President - Bill Dennis.

"I would give Indian Animation 6.5 on a scale of 10"

"Bill Dennis needs no introduction. The short article that follows is an attempt to encapsulate the veteran's career graph coupled with his comments on Indian animation."

Excerpts from a breezy Q&A with the Asifa India president...

20 years at Disney - sounds like a lifetime of animation.When and Where did you begin at Disney?
I joined Disney in 1973 where I began working in their theme parks (Orlando, Florida) as manager of human resource planning.

Following which... ?
I moved to the feature film division.
When i left Disney, I was Vice President of Feature Animation where I directed all human resources, trainingand administrative functions for the division.

Which of the Disney features have you worked on?
I was closely involved in setting up teams that worked on "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid."

What made you leave disney?
I felt the need to take up new challenges. I joined Hanna Barbera in 1995.

What role did you play at Hanna Barbera?
I was President/GM of FIL Cartoons which was Hanna Barbera's overseas production unit at Manila. The unit was not doing well. My challege was to turn it around into a profit making outfit. In 2 years it was back into the black and was eventually sold off to private investors. After which began my affair with India.

What was your first stint out here?
I was consultant with UTV when they were setting up UTV Toons. This was for a short period of 2 months.

When did Toonz Animation happen?
GA Menon and myself were good friends. We shared a common vision a common goal, Toonz Animation India was part of that vision. We set it up in 1999. An interesting episode transpired when we were setting up toonz.
Menon and myself were travelling throughout India looking for an ideal location to set up our dream studio. I did'nt fancy any of the places that Menon took me to, we were planning to leave for Singapore and the Philippines when at the insistence of Menon I agreed for a brief stopover at his native place Trivandrum.

And....?
I fell in love with Kerala, especially Trivandrum. Thats how Toonz was set up in Trivandrum. Menon and me were the Co-founders, he was Chairman while my position was co-founder, CEO, President and Executive Producer.

Bill Dennis recieves the Tech - A - Break trophy that Toonz won for being the best company of the year 2002

What was the vision that you shared with menon? Till what extent did you move towards your goals?

We both believed that India had the potential to create world class animation. We also believed that we could create original animation IP in India.

What made you move on from Toonz?
Well, Menon's sudden demise changed things at Toonz. I would'nt like to talk much about this though.

You are also president of Asifa India. What is the society about?
Asifa (Association Internationale Du film D'Animation.) is the only internationally recognized organisation for animation, I am the president of the Indian chapter.Our agenda is to encourage local talent by holding workshops and conferences etc. We also instituted the ASIFA India award for animation.

Who are the other active ASIFA members in India?
Not many, actually except for myself and Shrirang, there are no other active Asifa members.

If you had to rate Indian animation on a scale of 1 to 10 where would you place it?
6, 6.5.

What about Phillipines, China, Korea and of course the US?
Phillipines gets around the same, I would give Korea and the US 10 upon 10.

Looking towards the future, where is Bill Dennis headed?
There's a lot of talks going on. I have been approached by companies from Thailand asking me to set up a studio cum institute there. Same with Korea.
Talks are on with a very large US studio which wants to set up a studio here in Mumbai, The studio would solely cater to the production work of its parent company.Also, I may be co-producing a television series with Canadian/Aussie partners...this is a live action/animation combination and the animated work would be produced in India.