Founded in 1999, Xilam is a French cartoon production company for television, cinema and new technological platforms. After having considered several regions in France, Xilam finally chose Lyon, where it will relocate part of its production by opening a new studio that should create 80 jobs in the short term and 120 within three years, depending on the speed at which its productions are relocated. Production in Lyon is slated to begin in March 2016.
Today a European leader in high-end animation, Xilam’s productions are broadcasted in 150 countries. The company has a catalog of 1,500 program episodes including Oggy and the Cockroaches, Space Goofs, The Daltons, Paprika and more. As of today, Xilam has produced 18 programs, 15 of which are still being broadcasted around the world, and the company employs 300 artists at its two studios in Paris and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Aderly assisted Xilam from the very inception of the project, playing an active role at every step, in coordination with all of the players mobilized for this emblematic setup project, namely Lyon Metropole, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, Imaginove and the Rhône-Alpes Region (FIACRE). The Agency will continue to follow up on the project until it is finalized at a Villeurbanne business park dedicated to imaging and creative industries that today brings together over 100 companies in the sector and makes the industry more competitive.
According to Marc du Pontavice, founder of Xilam, “Lyon won us over thanks to its many assets and the fact that 3 key players – the Rhône-Alpes Cinéma co-production fund, the Imaginove competitiveness cluster and the Émile Cohl art school – are in the area.” The region’s attractiveness also played a role, as the Lyon area offers a quality of life that appeals to the Parisian and foreign executives that Xilam aims to transfer and recruit for the new studio.
Xilam’s choice of Lyon testifies yet again to the city’s excellence in the imaging sector and benefits the entire local industry thanks namely to the company’s search for subcontractor animation studios and tech companies, to its R&D needs, to its partnerships with local training programs and schools, and more. This is an opportunity for Lyon to become even more attractive in this sector. Xilam’s future Lyon studio will begin by producing 2 series: Paprika, for 3 to 6 year-olds for France Télévisions and the second season of Magic, for 6 to 11 year-olds for children’s channel Gulli.
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