TEAMTO AND HOUSE OF COOL TO EXPAND ECAS FREE ANIMATION SCHOOL

French content creator TeamTO and Canada’s House of Cool will partner together to broaden the scope of ECAS, a non-profit free-of-charge animation school established by TeamTO in 2018.  After three successful years training promising French students in the field of CG animation, the companies will expand the curriculum to include a course on Storyboarding.

In 2018, TeamTO launched France’s first ever comprehensive free animation school at Cartoucherie campus in Bourg-lès-Valence, near one of TeamTO’s own studios. The project was established for students with no prior experience or qualification, who might otherwise not have access to an elite educational program. A key aim is to provide ongoing, expertly trained talent for the extremely robust French production industry, while also providing second-chance career opportunities for a diverse pool of applicants.

House of Cool and TeamTO have developed the curriculum for the ECAS storyboarding class starting this fall. The classes will be taught in-person at the Cartoucherie campus as well as by master classes taught remotely from House of Cool’s offices in Toronto, Canada.  

Since 2018, 95 students have attended the three courses, all of whom get offered a placement with TeamTO. 77 are currently working at TeamTO and a further eight are actively employed in the French and international industries.

Guillaume Hellouin, President of TeamTO, commented, “I am deeply proud that ECAS has enabled over 90 students to join the industry by revealing their outstanding potential. Not only have they found meaningful jobs in our studios, but have performed at an extremely high level, quickly joining the production teams of very sophisticated and demanding shows, like 'Mighty Mike', 'Jade Armor', and 'Presto! School of Magic'. By partnering with House of Cool on storyboarding, an area that they master, we can provide even more exciting new opportunities for the school, and the industry.”

Ricardo Curtis, President of House of Cool, “At House of Cool, we are always looking for people who have the talent and the unique voice necessary to tell stories at a very high level. ECAS has been able to identify and develop talented artists who have traditionally not had access to the animation industry. It was an obvious choice for us to bring our storyboarding expertise on projects like Trollhunters and Rio to a school run by TeamTO. We couldn’t be happier with the potential of this partnership.”

Corinne Kouper, SVP Development & Production of TeamTO and Co-Founder of ECAS, highlights the impact this program has had on individual lives, “Many of these students’ stories are very touching, some had never even moved from their hometown. Because of their social origins many of these young women and men would not have had the means to go to this kind of school, learn this skill and thrive in an exciting, creative new profession. We are very happy to have provided fresh opportunities for many deserving young people, and also to have added such talented artists to our studio, and the industry.”