From PAWs To Pixels - Pierre Escande - Executive Producer for Mikros Animation

Pierre Escande held the position of Executive Producer for Mikros Animation Montreal on PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. Here is his contribution to our ‘From PAWs To Pixels’ interviews:

Tell us about your journey into Mikros Animation?

I joined Mikros almost 4 years ago – just before the pandemic decided to send everyone home! Before that I was already part of the Technicolor group as in MPC. And even further I was part of the first animated Mikros feature: Astérix – Mansions of the Gods in Paris.
That was exactly 10 years ago!

What was your role on PAW Patrol: the Mighty Movie?

I was an Executive Producer. That basically means that I was involved in any financial or production discussion regarding the project. Helping the client understand our processes, the way we fabricate the movie is always a huge part of the success. I hope I am not wrong when I say that we had a smooth, open and transparent communication with our client and that was the key to a great partnership.

*North West as “Mini” and Alan Kim as “Nano” in Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie from Spin Master Entertainment, Nickelodeon Movies, and Paramount Pictures.*

You were already present on PAW Patrol: the Movie. Can you tell us what has changed in terms of production between these two films and what were the new artistic and technical challenges?

That’s always the challenge with a sequel: people rightfully expect more. Everything must be better. We know Cal had a very ambitious script with tons of cool FX. Pups acquire superpowers and each unique character has unique abilities – even the villains. This means a lot of dev work and R&D. We ended up hiring the largest FX team ever for a project at Mikros, with dozens of artists working sometimes remotely across several countries. That was probably one of the biggest challenges on this film.

Describe the movie in 3 words

Easy: it’s Paw Patrol meets Avengers!

Callum Shoniker as “Rocky”, Christian Corrao as “Marshall”, Christian Convery as “Chase”, McKenna Grace as “Skye”, Luxton Handspiker as “Rubble”, Nylan Parthipan as “Zuma”, and Marsai Martin as “Liberty” in Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie from Spin Master Entertainment, Nickelodeon Movies, and Paramount Pictures.

What have you learned since working on PAW 2?

PAW Patrol: The Movie was delivered in the middle of the pandemic and to that regards, was very challenging. PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie on the other hand was produced in a post Covid. And surprisingly it was not easier: with more and more talents willing to work from home, and requesting more flexibility, we had to constantly adjust.
That’s the lesson learnt I guess: there will be a before and after Covid in the way we produce animation.

Tell us a production memory!

Production and Cal were kind enough to share with us some reactions of the first audience screening a couple of months prior to the final delivery. Seeing so many kids reacting to the cut, laughing, cheering and clapping was so good, exactly the boost the team needed to deliver the show!

Thanks Pierre! To discover more stories from our teams, visit this link!