Seeing The Big Picture
Digest of my chat with film producer Andrew Baker
Digest: Andrew Baker on Producing Feature Animation
This is a text digest of a recording of a chat I had with film producer, Andrew Baker for the Animated Conversations Podcast.
Who is Andrew Baker?
Andrew Baker is a UK-based film producer focused on feature animation. His most recent project is The Amazing Maurice, a Terry Pratchett adaptation produced with Sky as the UK broadcaster and Ulysses Films in Hamburg as the German co-producer.
His route into features was not deliberate. He came through television animation, moved into documentary features, and from there began asking whether the same model could work for animated features. The short answer was yes — but with more moving parts.
Key Takeaways
1. Feature animation is an indie film business, not a TV business
The financing logic for animated features is the same as for any independent film: a mosaic of broadcasters, distributors, tax credits, and co-production deals that must all fit together. Budgets are higher than typical indie live-action features, but the structure is identical. Anyone thinking of it as “TV animation but longer” is starting from the wrong place.
2. The UK is underrepresented — and that is an opportunity
There are only a handful of people in the UK actively producing animated features at the independent end of the market. The lack of volume creates a lack of experience, which perpetuates the lack of volume. Baker argues there is a gap in the market, particularly because European co-productions increasingly need UK partners to reach international audiences. The institutional support is not there yet, but the appetite is.
3. Co-production is not optional — but it requires the right partners
At the independent end, co-production is the only viable route. Baker’s model for The Amazing Maurice brought in over 50% of the finance by combining Sky’s commission, UK tax credits, and other international money — none of which would have been accessible without co-production. The trade-off is compromise, but Baker’s view is that compromise does not necessarily mean dilution. It can mean a better film.
The condition is choosing studios and partners who are genuinely willing to work as a single unit. Any studio that treats its pipeline or assets as proprietary and will not share them is not actually set up to co-produce.
4. The “bingo card” model of financing
Distributors and territory buyers make decisions based on how many confidence-markers a project can show: recognisable IP, named writer, named cast, track record of director, budget level, studio credentials, composer. Every buyer has a different threshold, and different markers matter in different markets. (Terry Pratchett was a strong hook in some territories; in others, the screenwriter — Terry Rossio, who wrote Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean — was the card that got meetings.)
The practical implication: an indie producer needs to think about which marks they can tick before going to market, and sequence the process to maximise the number of ticks available at each stage.
5. Cast differently in animation than in live action
For live action, cast must be attached before financing closes — the name on the poster is part of the product. For animation, Baker’s approach with The Amazing Maurice was to finance first, then cast. This removed the scheduling risk, allowed genuine flexibility, and meant cast could be approached with a guaranteed booking and a finished package to review. The result was a cast that included Hugh Laurie and Emilia Clarke, partly because the ask was simple: a morning or two in a London recording studio, no costume or makeup, at a point when they had a gap.
6. IP is a tool, not a guarantee
Having a recognised IP opens conversations and provides built-in audience testing. A bestselling book has already proved that people like the characters and the world. An original idea requires the producer to prove both things from scratch.
But IP comes with obligations. Fans of the source material will form views — often on social media, before the film is released — based on whether the adaptation feels faithful. Baker’s view: if you are going to take an IP and change it beyond recognition, you should ask yourself why you optioned it in the first place. The correct reason is that you love the material and want to bring it to life. If the reason is that the name is financeable, the result is usually a film that satisfies no one.
Changes are necessary — a six-hour book cannot become a 90-minute film verbatim — but they should be made in consultation with the IP owner and with a clear understanding of what makes the property distinctive.
7. Feature animation targets one audience: families
There is no viable market for single-demographic animated features unless the IP is already an established brand (Paw Patrol, Mario). The economics are straightforward: a family ticket (two adults, two children) is four times the revenue of a child-only ticket. The marketing costs are the same either way. Preschool or teen-only animated features simply do not generate enough return to justify the investment unless the brand already commands that audience at scale.
This shapes everything from story structure to casting to tone. The film has to work for a six-year-old, a twelve-year-old, and a parent simultaneously. Baker’s point is that this is not a constraint — it is what makes family animation the one format where the producers themselves are also in the audience.
8. Features versus series: different businesses, different pressures
Series animation is easier in some respects — the broadcaster commission is the main event and everything follows from it — but it is increasingly a buyer’s market. Broadcasters can acquire Paw Patrol at a fraction of what it costs to commission something original. This crowds out independent voices.
Feature animation is harder to finance, but the buyer pool is not a single broadcaster slot. A film can be sold to dozens of territories. No one tells you they already have one. And a 90-minute film can be repeated, re-released, and licenced repeatedly without the capacity constraints that a series creates.
Career Advice (Baker’s Own)
When leaving a staff job at ITV to go freelance, a colleague advised him: be open to things you would not expect to do.Baker followed that into documentary, which led him to features, which led him to animation features, which is now leading him into live-action features. He could not have planned the route. He could not have got there had he turned down the unexpected steps. His version of the same advice: do not narrow your focus to the point where you turn things down because they do not fit the plan. The plan is probably wrong anyway.