First steps in the active life – the opening of the MilkyCo studio.

Barely graduated, they opted for a daring choice: to open their own animation studio. Thus Pierre-Louis Bouron, co-director of the film Bourdonnement, Mathis Zweideck, co-director of the film La Projectionniste, and Mathieu Chaillot, co-director of the film Creep it secret, joined forces to found the studio MilkyCo.

YOU GRADUATED A FEW MONTHS AGO, CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST STEPS IN THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD?

Pierre-Louis: As soon as I graduated, I started an animation studio with two classmates. The first few months were quite busy and full of surprises.

We had to learn a new trade because entrepreneurship requires skills in a multitude of fields. We were well accompanied in the creation of our studio which made life easier and allowed us to enjoy this period of construction with a certain serenity.

Mathieu : These first months in the professional world were intense because we followed right after our graduation with the creation of MilkyCo. But we had already anticipated this moment several months in advance so it was quite natural.

Mathis : Our first steps in the professional world are unusual. Divided between excitement and uncertainties, the first months had a particular taste. However, as we signed contracts, my doubts faded and gave way to unlimited motivation and determination.

HOW DID YOU EXPERIENCE THIS ENTRY INTO THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD? DID IT CORRESPOND TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS ?

Pierre-Louis: My entry into the professional world went well, although the project of creating a studio undoubtedly made it very different from those of most other graduate students. Between doubts, excitement, disillusions and successes, entrepreneurship is exciting and, from this point of view, the adventure exceeded my expectations!

Mathieu: With the creation of the studio, the entry into the professional world is undoubtedly quite different from a more classic career path. There are many ups and downs in the creation and management of a company and we are still at the beginning.

From a general point of view, it’s very stimulating: every day is different and we’ve already learned a lot, both on the artistic and technical side of CG, and on the entrepreneurial side, where we have to deal with day-to-day problems while keeping our focus on our longer-term strategy.

Mathis : I had a good experience entering the professional world. Considering our “atypical” start, I had no real expectations. With the choice of setting up our own studio, the best and the worst could happen to us. In the event, everything went very well. I love entrepreneurship more than I ever imagined! No two days are alike, we have to multi-task because there is always something to do!

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WORK ON PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS?

Pierre-Louis: It’s very gratifying, especially since these are projects that we get back through prospecting, a commercial job done upstream as soon as we have free time.

But it also represents a challenge. Depending on the projects that are entrusted to us, there are sometimes aspects of the production that require a lot of work and organization.

We often have to work fast and efficiently to meet deadlines and be profitable. In short, it’s often stressful, but for the moment we have always succeeded in meeting our customers’ requirements… it’s quite galvanizing.

Mathieu : It’s hard when you’re just out of school to realize the value of your work and your skills, so working with agencies or other studios that trust us on ambitious projects is very rewarding.

Mathis : We do work on professional projects. It’s gratifying to be able to do what we love and what we were trained for at school, but this time while being paid. It’s even more interesting because working for our own structure, our profitability depends on our efficiency! The icing on the cake is when our clients congratulate us, recommend us and bring us other clients.

YOU OPENED YOUR OWN STUDIO, MILKYCO, IN NANTES? TELL US HOW YOU GOT THE IDEA TO CREATE YOUR OWN STUDIO?

Pierre-Louis: MilkyCo. was born from the desire to work with friends, on projects in our image, in total independence. Everything starts from a story which made us laugh and that we wanted to put in image together.

During our last year at ESMA, we talked a lot about what we wanted to do next and realized that we didn’t necessarily want to be hired at well-known studios to do specific tasks. Soon we started talking about the possibility of joining forces, first to tell this story and soon this motive became a pretext to make plans to create a studio. The idea followed its path and finally came true!

Mathieu : I think the idea of creating the studio comes from writing a short film during our studies. From there, the idea of creating a studio started to germinate to be able to write our own stories, to work on personal projects that we like, to be free of our graphic choices.

The notion of independence and freedom is essential, because despite the responsibilities that go with it, we are the decision-makers of everything that concerns the studio, starting with the projects we work on.

Mathis: A little over a year before we graduated, we realized that our discussions during coffee breaks consisted of making up stories and saying “it would be so great if we made a series or a movie […]” And there came a point where we realized that all three of us wanted to direct our own creations and tell our own stories. So one day one of us said “well are we really doing this or not?” After a few discussions about the feasibility of the project we said “let’s give it a try!”

WHAT WERE THE STEPS IN CREATING THE STUDIO?

Pierre-Louis: First of all, we had many discussions to define what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go with this project. Then we had to take care of the legal part of the project, so that we could work in a structured, legal framework, in agreement with each other.

We quickly looked for a place to work, aware of the fact that we needed a common work space to be efficient. Renting an office also forced us to think about our expenses right away, which, in a way, quickly put us on the right track for the commercial aspect. The next step is being written, but we are moving forward on several steps simultaneously!

Mathieu : Just after the end of our studies, the first weeks were punctuated by a lot of discussions between us in order to build a common vision of the project. How do we see the studio in 10 years? How do we get there? What revenue should we aim for in the first year? What kind of projects do we want to produce? What stories do we want to tell? These are the types of questions we had to ask ourselves before taking the more concrete steps of creating the studio.

Then, we had to manage the administrative side of the creation of a company, find premises, move in with our machines and build a production pipeline, set up communication tools, prospect, manage social networks.

This is a lot of work, and of course CG productions take up most of our time. So our weeks are pretty busy in general.

Mathis : The first step was to go on a well-deserved vacation after the end of the graduation film! A bivouac in a canoe under a tent which gave us the opportunity to meet and have our days to talk about the project in a relaxed atmosphere in the middle of nature. Then, when we came back, we had to work more seriously on the project: the elaboration of a business plan with all that follows (market study, strategy, budget forecast, break-even point etc.). So many concepts that we had to learn on the job and that were for most of us unknown terms.

WHY DID YOU WANT TO STAY IN NANTES?

Pierre-Louis: There were several reasons why we decided to stay in Nantes. First of all, from a purely practical point of view, Nantes is less expensive than Paris, which suits us well. The first few months of creating a studio are complicated from a financial point of view. A business can take a long time to become profitable. We all have family in the region and it seemed easier to stay in Nantes. But it’s also a city where no big CG animation studio is located. Everything remains to be done here, and that’s great. It’s an attractive city, in which many animation schools are emerging. If we need to recruit, we won’t have to look far!

Obviously, we remain open to the idea of relocating the studio when we are more stable. Why not abroad?

Mathieu: From a practical point of view, it was much easier to set up in a city that we know well and that is close to our families. Setting up a studio is already a big challenge, and moving to an unknown and distant city would not have simplified our task.

Mathis : Despite all the affection I have for the city of Nantes, I must admit that it was an easy choice. The adventure in which we embarked is difficult, we did not want to add additional difficulties (distance from our relatives, additional costs etc.) But now that we are here and we intend to stay, we hope to see other studios set up. The rise of CG animation studios in certain cities, such as Montpellier for example, leads us to believe that it is possible that the city of Nantes will develop in this direction. In any case, many factors are favorable to this expansion. Moreover, the demand is high enough to consider other studios as partners and collaborators, not competitors!

WHAT ARE YOUR CURRENT PROJECTS WITH THE STUDIO?

Pierre-Louis: We are currently working on some personal projects that we hope to show soon. At the same time, we are working with professionals in the field to keep the studio alive, to continue to train and to set up our production pipeline as the projects get bigger and bigger. We are also working on developing our social networks and our community. In short, we are trying to grow our cherub to make us proud.

Mathieu : We work mostly for projects in advertising or video games. Each project is very different and so far they have all allowed us to improve our skills, our production process and our organization. The projects we are involved in are more and more important and we want to work on more and more ambitious projects. Besides that, we are working on more personal animation projects, but we can’t reveal anything for the moment.

Mathis : Of course, we can’t communicate precisely on our current professional projects. However, we often work with Parisian studios on advertising projects or video games. In parallel, we produce content for social networks in order to affirm our identity little by little while developing our notoriety. We have a lot of ideas, some of which will see the light of day in the next few weeks, others in the coming months.

AFTER THESE FEW MONTHS POST-SCHOOL, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TRAINING AT ESMA?

Pierre-Louis: The CG training at ESMA is very complete, both in the technical aspect of CG and in the artistic / production part.
After 8 months in the professional world, we had the opportunity to realize this.

Mathieu : ESMA allowed me to obtain an artistic and technical level that is more than sufficient to create an animation studio. Our generalist training allows us to be flexible and to be competent in (almost) all stages of production.

Mathis : The ESMA training provided us with a solid technical background as well as advanced generalist skills. These skills allow us today to respond to various requests while ensuring a high level of quality.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE?

Pierre-Louis: We want to continue to grow and one day be able to offer our own creations on the small or big screen.
Until then, we hope to validate our first year of creation and perpetuate the studio.

Mathieu : To continue to improve, to grow, to develop our tools and skills and maybe produce our own creations in a while.

Mathis : Our projections on the future are full of dreams and hopes! (More seriously, we are working on expanding our network, developing our identity and our credibility in order to increase the number and importance of our missions. We are very motivated for the future and hope to be able to create a studio that lives up to our expectations, while keeping our carefree and light-hearted attitude, whether in our creations or in our state of mind.

WHAT CAN WE WISH YOU?

Pierre-Louis: Success, a little luck and a lot of achievements!

Mathieu : To have fun and success in what we do.

Mathis : You can wish us greatness and glory, it starts by following us on the networks, and liking our content 😉
No seriously, you can just wish us success, nice collaborations, and nice projects.

But don’t hesitate to follow us on social networks anyway!

Every likes and followers are a great support for us and our project.

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Website: milkyco-studio.com

Instagram: milkyco.animation

Linkedin: Milkyco. Animation

Images credit: MilkyCo / works realized within the framework of their film of end of studies (La projectionniste, Creept it secret, Bourdonnement)