Marion Claret, director of the Ooolala studio

Graduating from the Licence Gestion de la Production Audiovisuelle in 2016, Marion Claret began her career as a production assistant at Dandelooo. Now director of the Ooolala studio and president of the La Cartouch'Verte association, she talks to us about her career and the importance of measuring the ecological impact of productions in the animation industry.

I did my work-study in a production company for live-action short and feature films. There were only two of us, so I worked directly with the producer. She offered me a part-time job at the end of my contract, while I waited for her return from maternity leave.

I looked for another part-time job to fill the gap, and was hired by Dandelooo, an animated film production and distribution company. I was friends with Luna Sirvin, the daughter of Dandelooo producerEmmanuèle Petry-Sirvin, who was in the same class as me.

Dandelooo was finalizing the first season of "The Treehouse Stories", a series that mixes live action and animation. Each episode corresponds to a children's album. Having always had a passion for children's literature, this project really appealed to me.

Emmanuèle Petry-Sirvin and Jean-Baptiste Wery, the two associate producers of Dandelooo, agreed to hire me for 6 months at mid-time, on condition that I stayed on afterwards. I chose Dandelooo and I don't regret it!

I started as aproduction assistant, working alone with Jean-Baptiste and Emmanuèle. As the team grew, I became production manager and then production director. I'm also a partner.

5 years ago, Dandelooo decided to open the Ooolala studio at La Cartoucherie in Valence. My personal life took a turn towards the Drôme, and Jean-Baptiste and Emmanuèle offered me the studio management position. I moved there permanently 3 years ago.

"The Treehouse Stories" - Dandelooo  

I supervise all studio activities. I supervise productions and take charge of production management on projects that don't have a dedicated director.

I'm also responsible for the studio's technical infrastructure, including management of the production pipeline and all IT systems, which form the backbone of the studio.

Finally, I'm responsible for the life of the studio, including CSR. We try to develop actions and tools to design our productions in a more ecological way, which is an important aspect of the Ooolala studio.

I'm also president of the Cartouch'Verte association, which promotes eco-friendly practices in animation. We have co-published a guide to eco-friendly animation with the Ecoprod association.

The CNC will soon require productions to submit carbon footprints for each project. In my opinion, this issue is still under-addressed in the animation sector.

"Stinky dog" - Dandelooo

In France, 2D animation productions are already somewhat eco-friendly. We have this culture of creating only those elements that will actually be used in the image.

We've created a tool called ECOOO (in reference to the 3 O's in Ooolala) to monitor the carbon emissions of our productions in real time. We mainly consume electricity, but we convert kilowatt-hours into carbon emissions, as this is the unit of measurement commonly used to assess the ecological footprint.

This tool enables us to measure the carbon emissions of a production by episode, stage or department. If we find that a process is blowing up, we'll try to understand why and improve the situation for the next production run.

"Billy the cowboy hamster " - Ooolala

I love the responsibilities involved in this job. My leitmotiv on a daily basis is to guarantee the best possible workspace for the teams, ensuring that they evolve in a caring and efficient environment, with the right tools.

We've just finished "The Upside Down River" by Paul Leluc, who is also a GOBELINS alumnus (Animation Designer, class of 2002).

It's the first series I've supervised from start to finish. I arrived at the studio in the middle of production of the first season of "Billy the cowboy hamster", so I hadn't followed the beginning of production. With "The Upside Down River", it's the first time I've had to deal with my own mistakes!

"The Upside Down River" - Ooolala

The studio is based in Valence, so I work a little less with old hands than I did when I was in Paris.

GOBELINS infuses a large part of 2D animation in France and internationally, which naturally leads me to collaborate with people who have graduated from the school, and in particular with graduates of the LGPA, as the license is the only one to train in animation production.

There are several LGPA alumni in Valence, and we communicate quite often with each other. I've kept up professional links with a lot of alumni from my year.

Jean-Baptiste Wery, CEO of Ooolala and Dandelooo, is an LGPA alumnus (class of 2002)!

"The Upside Down River" - Ooolala

I applied twice to GOBELINS. I was first on the waiting list on my second attempt. I waited all summer but no one backed out. I started looking for a job in September and the course coordinator called me in October to tell me I had one week to find a work-study placement and join the course!

When I joined the class, everyone already knew each other, but I was welcomed with open arms. It was a great class, and we bonded very quickly. That's really what I remember, we're still a group of GOBELINS buddies and that's great!

Tobe curious! It may sound silly because everyone says it, but for me, to do a good job in production, you have to be interested in the artists' working methods, the pipelines, the director's artistic vision...

It's the symbiosis of all these elements that will make you a good production manager.