TeamTO opens office in Beijing

Paris and L.A.-based CGI studio TeamTO, one of France’s leading animation studios, is opening an office in Beijing, headed up by Shu Ye, a former sound editor and U.S. and European film distribution executive in China.TeamTO’s Beijing office will further its ambitions for China, which take a different tack to those of many U.S. and European companies. A TeamTo press statement declared: “TeamTo is implementing an atypical business model which will see it create global content in its own renowned French studios, from IP that have been successful in Asian markets.”"Many Chinese IP owners have made a lot of money domestically and are now looking to build upon their brand portfolios,” said TeamTO co-founder Guillaume Hellouin.He added: “However, they’re very aware that the cultural differences are such that they need to adapt in order to succeed outside China.” Hellouin said TeamTO is “ideally positioned to share its experience on how to extend local brands to an international market”.The expansion into China comes after TeamTO’s launch of its second French studio doubled TeamTO’s production capacity and allowed it to diversify from offering a team of animators to such production services as rendering and compositing.