Finding an Audience Without Losing Your Voice

Cartoon Springboard 2026, Madrid – Personal stories, young adult animation and the funding challenge for digital-first creators

Juha Fiilin | Director & Creative Producer, Fiilin Good Films

Cartoon Springboard might just be my favourite animation event!

Three days in Madrid, full of young talent, fresh ideas and conversations that went well beyond the pitch decks. I had the pleasure of joining two expert panels, and really enjoyed the one-to-one mentoring meetings too.

My own interests lean towards young adult and adult animation, particularly projects with a strong personal voice. This year's pitches explored identity, neurodiversity, mental health, relationships and social issues through comedy, fantasy and genre storytelling. And there were some wonderfully original projects.

Personal stories, told in wonderfully different ways

Kimchi Princess, by Lin Jo Skytte and Ulrikke Xenia Sandby, was a delight. Awkward dating, racism and fetishisation turned into surreal comedy. Cindy is hungry for men and food, and some of her disappointing dates literally turn into kitchen appliances!

It's absurd, uncomfortable and very funny. The humour works because it grows from experiences that feel real.

Climate Change, the End of the World, and Noelle, by Avril Zundel, gets its dark humour from the contrast between a very self-centred protagonist and a world loudly falling apart around her.

Noelle probably won't save humanity. She might eventually do something kind for her cat. I loved the dry humour and how little the character seems concerned about the actual apocalypse.

Avril has already developed the idea through short-form animation on Instagram, which makes the project particularly interesting from an audience development perspective.

Very Dad Trip, by Roxane Pavard, was another favourite. A father drives his grown-up daughter to a new city, awkwardly hoping to reconnect with her along the way.

Everyday situations become small, absurd comedies about family, misunderstandings and the things we struggle to say to people we love.

Two characters are plenty. Barbara Slade's advice during the panel was spot on:

"Go deep, not wider. Keep it simple."

I could easily imagine this finding an audience through short digital episodes. One of the most immediately engaging and production-ready projects I saw.

Penelope's Last Week, by Alice Jeuland and Clara Marquardt, takes a quieter approach. Penelope is 30, lives alone and has withdrawn from the world. After reading on an internet forum that she has only one week to live, she decides to finally experience the things she's been avoiding.

I loved the delicate visual style and the discussion about documentary-like voice recordings. There was also an interesting suggestion about letting sound design evolve alongside the changing colour palette as Penelope experiences more of the world.

A lovely example of how animation can express a character's inner life without needing to explain everything.

There were other intriguing projects too. A-Typical Family, by Tessa Stehouwer, explored identity and family through comedy and fantasy, while What's Wrong with Clover? brought a striking graphic style and horror-comedy to themes of violence and toxic masculinity. Quite a range of creative voices!

Two very different projects, two great discussions

I was on the expert panels for The Capitalistic Adventures of Zara & Caccola! and Saana Valasma's The Art of People Watching.

Zara & Caccola! had this wonderfully punky, sketchy visual style, full of energy and attitude. And I suspect quite a few of us can recognise something of ourselves in its hyperactive, consumerist, sugar-addicted protagonist! There is something very relatable about that constant stimulation, wanting more of everything and struggling to slow down.

The challenge is how to turn all that energy and visual craziness into a sustainable episodic series while keeping its personality intact.

The Art of People Watching was almost the opposite in tone. A slice-of-life series set around a café, where observing strangers leads to imaginary stories about their lives.

I kept coming back to one storytelling question:

What does each imagined story reveal about the person watching, as well as the person being watched?

For me, that's where the series could find something particularly interesting about its characters, their imagination and their relationship with the world. I really enjoy looking at how storytelling, character, visual design and production choices all affect each other.

Digital-first is exciting. But who pays for the first episodes?

One question kept following me around throughout Springboard.

Many of these projects could connect deeply with a particular audience, yet struggle to find a conventional television slot or fit the commissioning priorities of a streaming platform.

Some are too short, too personal, too strange, too dark or simply difficult to categorise. A broadcaster can genuinely love a project without having anywhere to put it. So where does that leave the creators?

Digital-first development offers some exciting possibilities. Creators can release short episodes, experiment with formats, build communities and learn what their audiences respond to before committing to a larger production.

Janine Weigold made a point in her excellent keynote that really resonated with me:

"Don't be something for everybody. Be everything to someone."

She also encouraged creators to get their work in front of audiences early, even when it's still rough, and learn from how people respond.

I strongly agree. But there's a problem that often gets overlooked.

Who actually finances those first digital episodes?

Even one minute of animation requires writing, design, animation, performances, sound, editing and production management. And building an audience generally requires regular releases over time.

Platform advertising revenue is unlikely to finance that initial development for most new creators.

We need more ways to support small, properly funded experiments. Perhaps three to six short episodes, a focused production pipeline and enough time to test the creative concept with real audiences.

Funding could come from a combination of audiovisual development support, cultural grants where eligible, producer investment, digital commissions, brand partnerships or crowdfunding.

But these are still fragmented opportunities. Many traditional film and television funding schemes aren't designed for creators producing original IP directly for social platforms. I think there's a real gap here.

And importantly, digital-first development needs to be treated as actual production, with realistic budgets, properly paid artists and agreements that protect the creators' IP.

Success should also mean more than collecting views. Do people finish watching? Return for another episode? Share it? Talk about the characters? Want to see more?

That kind of evidence can help develop both the creative work and a stronger financing proposition for what comes next.

Of course, digital-first isn't the right path for every project. Some ideas need a properly financed series or feature from the beginning. But it would be great to have more options between an unfunded proof of concept and a full television commission.

A great series needs boundaries

Barbara Slade offered another thought in her keynote that I particularly liked:

"In a great series, NOT anything can happen."

Her idea of a series existing inside a circle is a useful reminder. Clear rules, character relationships and a repeatable storytelling engine can generate an enormous amount of material.

How many characters do we actually need? What brings the audience back? Where does the comedy or conflict come from, episode after episode?

These questions came up repeatedly during Springboard and are very familiar from our own development work at Fiilin Good Films.

Sometimes keeping things simple is the hardest creative decision.

Why I love Springboard

What makes Cartoon Springboard special is the atmosphere.

The panels feel like genuine conversations between creators and experts. There's room to ask questions, challenge ideas and discuss the actual storytelling rather than just the business of pitching.

The one-to-one mentoring meetings are equally valuable. You can get into the details of writing, visual development, animation pipelines, budgets, audiences and production strategies.

And because the projects are still relatively early in development, there is space to explore different possibilities. There are some wonderful voices coming through. Now we need to keep finding ways to help their projects reach the right audiences, get financed and preserve what makes them special.

A big thank you to all the creators, fellow experts and the whole CARTOON team. Special thanks to Laura Jarka and Agnès Bizzaro for the care and energy they put into making Springboard happen.

Already looking forward to next year!

Juha Fiilin is a director, creative producer and founder of Fiilin Good Films, an independent studio developing original animated films, series and transmedia IP for young adult and adult audiences.