‘Piggy Builders’ Director & Xilam CCO Share the Inspirations for the Preschool Pig Tales

Since launching across commissioning broadcasters BBC CBeebies (U.K.), France Télévisions (France) and ZDF (Germany), Piggy Builders has been working on the construction of its preschool animation empire. Created by French hitmakers Xilam Animation, in partnership with Cube Creative Productions and Horta Productions, the 52 x 11′ problem-solving comedy is created by Marie Manand, Julien Hazebroucq and Emmanuelle Leleu, and centers on an adorable trio of pig siblings who pursue their passion for building, problem solving and helping their community each and every day.

Fresh of the property’s debut at Brand Licensing Europe and another raft of sales announcements with deals across Europe, we caught up with Xilam’s Chief Content Officer Caterina Gonnelli-Linden and Piggy Builders director Romain Villemaine (Ricky Zoom, Gazoon) about the blueprint for their popular new show.

Animation Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about the origins of Piggy Builders?

Caterina Gonnelli-Linden: At Xilam, we regularly put out calls for tender to the employees, artists and screenwriters who are actively part of our fantastic creative community. Screenwriter Marie Manand responded to one of these calls and came up with a brilliant idea, one that immediately made sense: what would be the dream job for the Three Little Pigs from the beloved fable? To become professionals in DIY and construction, of course! Naturally, we were immediately drawn to the project — it had the strength of an established IP (who doesn’t know the Three Little Pigs?) and, at the same time, felt incredibly fresh and original.

What was the inspiration and when did you start working on it?

Caterina: At the beginning of the process, we had many discussions around our concept and which direction to take the series in. Marie’s concept was initially centered in the world of decoration and DIY, but our subject wasn’t architecture, nor was it about edutainment concepts around building, so we quickly ruled out the idea of borrowing from popular audiovisual formats such as “tutorials.”

The heart of our project lies in the charm of the three Piggies themselves and their determination to help their friends, no matter what. The editorial input from partner channels, along with Catherine Williams’ contribution to the story bible, allowed us to refine and focus on the most essential ingredients of the concept.

Romain Villemaine: Following these initial discussions, we shifted from portraying the Piggies as architects or builders to depicting them more as inventors and creators. The Piggies always have an answer to any problem, and for them, the solution always comes through tinkering and conjuring up playful and whimsical creations.

At the beginning, there was no wolf from the original fable in our project, but we realized that while the story did need an antagonist, it was important the wolf was included in the community of characters. Through — and thanks to — the generosity of the three Piggies, bonds are formed amongst all the little animals living in Fine Forest.

What was the biggest challenge in launching the show?

Caterina: The nature of our concept itself carries major production challenge: in every episode, the three Piggies build a brand-new playful, whimsical and imaginative invention to meet the ever-changing needs of their friends and neighbors living in Fine Forest. Yet most series, especially in 3D, rely heavily on reusing the same sets and production assets — so setting out to produce a large number of non-economical assets was certainly a challenge!

Romain: Coordination between the writing, art direction, staging and production teams was essential, because in each episode the writers had to come up with a new invention from the Piggies — one that not only echoed the characters’ emotional journeys, but also featured a mechanism and a look that would appeal to the audience.

Additionally, the Fine Forest community is made up of a very large ensemble of characters. Take Reg the rabbit, for example: he is father to seven little bunnies, and each of them have their own distinct personality! All of the characters had to be brought to life and infused with individuality, both in the stories and on screen. That scale of work was a significant creative challenge.

Where was the animation produced and which animation tools were used?

Caterina: The series was conceived and largely produced here in our Paris studio. We have efficiently used tools such as Storyboard Pro and Blender — the latter was used throughout the entire 3D production pipeline, from modelling to compositing. This was made possible thanks to our dedicated team who are specialists in Blender.

Who are some of your big animation idols?

Romain: It has to be Nick Park and Peter Lord at Aardman! (Specifically, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists and Wallace & Gromit.) Their quintessentially British animated comedies achieve something quite unique: You laugh, but you don’t laugh at the characters, you laugh with them and feel empathy for them. There’s something charming and a true warmth there.

For the CG animation style in Piggy Builders, we took inspiration from stop-motion animation and gave our characters the “sturdy” and “hearty” build of those often seen in stop-motion content.

Wilf, the wolf, also has common traits with the character of Moriarty in Miyazaki’s animated series Sherlock Hound. He’s not a truly “bad guy” — he’s funny, clumsy and he ends up being endearing.

What do you hope audiences around the world will take away from your show?

Caterina: Firstly, we hope they’ll want to spend time with the three Piggy Builders as if they were their own friends. Secondly, we hope our viewers will embrace the spirit of understanding, collaboration and mutual assistance that is predominant in Fine Forest.

Romain: We also hope that our audience will see creativity as something truly uplifting and inspiring: an invitation to play.

What is your take on the state of the animation business in France and around the world?

Caterina: The European (including British) TV channels are solid, and they’re currently fostering ambitious and varied projects and partnerships. We’re confident in the economic model of continuing to rely on our trusted global partners — such as the BBC, France Télévisions and ZDF, who co-commissioned Piggy Builders — and continue working together to create programming with broad international appeal.

Piggy Builders premieres on BBC’s Cbeebies and iPlayer in July. The series has been picked up by numerous European broadcasters, including commissioning partners ZDF and France Télévisions. Learn more at xilam.com.