No matter how old we become, the “kid” in us stays alive, thanks to the shows that not only enthralled us during our childhood but also shaped our minds, beliefs and intellect through fun-filled, quirky and adorable characters !
Rajarshi Chakraborty, our next pathbreaker, Senior Producer (Kid’s Cluster) at Warner Bros. Discovery, creates animated shows for kids as part of a diverse team.
Rajarshi talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about his responsibilities overseeing both the creative and production sides of the show’s development, with the objective of solving creative problems with technology, and technical problems with creativity.
For students, in creative fields, skill is more valuable than certificates, and skills can be acquired either formally (education) or through experience !
Rajarshi, can you share your background with our young readers?
My name is Rajarshi Chakraborty, I grew up in a middle-class joint family near Kolkata. My father served in healthcare for the state government while my mother had a small business of her own.
While growing up in the 90s, I was enrolled in a vernacular medium school, as was the trend then. I was more attracted to storybooks, music, and cinema than studying books or playing out. Hence, scoring good marks in my school tests or board exams was never a reality.
I was very active in debates and drama in school and organizing students for different activities like flood relief, or other social causes. Back then it was not the most coveted skill parents or teachers would want to see in their wards.
What did you do for graduation/post-graduation?
I got admitted to Law school briefly before dropping out in 2005. I realized that traditional academic courses are not my priority. I finally finished my graduation (BA) via distance education in 2013.
Can you share with us some of the key influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional, and unique career in Entertainment & Media?
After quitting college, I moved to Mumbai with my cousins, who were staying there and were struggling to make inroads in the media and entertainment industry.
While working for an LIC agent in Mumbai, I enrolled in a video editing course to learn a technical skill to help me find a job. Here, I first realized my interest in visual storytelling; the grammar and theories of filmmaking started making sense to me unlike everything else I grew up trying to learn.
Before this course, I had never worked on a computer before, and having studied in Bangla my entire life, I had trouble understanding the English and Hindi lectures. Despite these issues, I started standing out in my class for the 1st time ever. I was selected to become the course instructor there.
In hindsight today, I realize joining this course was the turning point of my life which gave me confidence and made me understand what I’ll have to do for the rest of my life, which is to make stories visible to others.
How did you get your first break?
Well, as I’ve mentioned before, I was never good at scoring marks in my academic life, so learning a skill was the only logical path for me. I chose video editing as the skill to learn as I was always fascinated with cinema. So when I found a skill that could teach me the tricks of filmmaking, there was not a lot left to ponder upon.
As soon as I learned the basics of video editing, it was evident to me that without practicing my skill with real work, I’d never be able to make a mark. Apart from knowing how to use the tools and software, skilled editors should also focus on understanding the client’s needs, effective communication, accuracy, style, and personal touch.
In 2007, I began my first internship at a video editing studio in Andheri, Mumbai, without pay. I stayed there for six months, even though the working atmosphere at these studios, both then and now, is very stressful. Editors and other technicians often work long hours, sometimes without much pay. Like me, everyone was focused on proving themselves. While my editing course taught me the artistic side of editing and visual communication, this internship taught me the practical aspects of the trade. During those six months, I worked on various projects including music videos, corporate films, regional movies, commercials, documentaries, religious news, and tutorial videos. I didn’t take breaks and always asked for more work
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Tell us about your career path
My approach to working here was simple, since I was not getting paid, I wanted to take up every challenge that was offered so I could enhance my knowledge and skills.
After 6 months, I found a better opportunity with a decent salary. It was in a studio, AutoEdit Productions. I’d work there for the next 5 years. In this period, we mostly worked with ad agencies, I developed a client base, who wanted to to work exclusively with me. In the fascinating world of ad films, I was exposed to different types of visual communication, print, digital, television, etc. I was learning new things and had a decent salary for someone without a formal education. However, a sense of dissatisfaction was growing inside me as I was not creating anything, my contribution at best was to help shaping someone else’s ideas. So I was looking for a change.
My next stint started with Viacom 18, through Nickelodeon, the kids’ channel I joined after working in AutoEdit for 5 years.
After reaching out to multiple contacts, I finally got a breakthrough in a Kids’ television channel in the creative and content department, but with a major pay cut.
I had to ensure that our international shows were translated and dubbed properly to fit the taste of the Indian kids. Although the volume of work was overwhelming as we were launching a new TV channel for kids, I kept asking for more tasks that let me be creative. After a year, I got the big chance to work in the production of an original show we were making. Since then, I’ve made over 500 hours of cartoons for kids in India and other countries. You can watch my shows on TV channels like Nickelodeon and Pogo among others, and also on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The shows I have worked on are TV shows generally 11-22 minutes long, and TV movies which are 45 to 110 minutes long.
The first show I started working on was “The Adventures of Motu Patlu”. Here, my role was to assist in the script and concept development and supervise the visual translation from the script to the storyboard and later from the storyboard to the final animation and background music. In short, I had to ensure the proper execution of the idea conceived in the writer’s room into the broadcasting screen, for the larger audience to enjoy.
As a creative producer, my responsibility is to oversee both the creative and production sides of the show’s development. Our focus is to solve a creative problem with technology, and a technical problem with creativity.
For the benefit of students, can you explain the creative processes involved in creation of a show?
Let me expand a little more on this, so it is clear for the student’s comprehension, of how we create a show.
We evaluate the shows available on all the platforms and try to find a need-gap. Possibly, there are some concepts which have not been explored yet, something new that might interest our audience.
After identifying the need gap, the next stage, is to brainstorm and come up with a concept that fits the bill keeping in mind the audience demographics, budget, as well as the tools and timelines available. It is a rigorous process, it might sound intimidating but we address it as a team, to create a great show.
After finalizing the medium as either 2D or 3D animation, with the writer and director who are best fit for the above parameters, we start developing the concept in detail and the characters for the show. My role here is to ensure the novelty of the need-gap we have identified is maintained, so is the freshness of the character’s traits, and the story arcs are interesting and enthralling.
Once the character and narrative of the show are fixed, we start developing the episodic story and screenplay. My role here is to supervise the development of the story, by identifying the episodic concept, and bridging the gaps in the plot to maintain the overall quality.
After creating the script, it moves to the animation studio for further development. From this point on, my focus is to direct the studio to adhere to the set timelines. And more importantly, to guide and approve the creative development like how the characters would look, how they would talk or act etc. Approving the storyboard, and the final animation song along with the dialogs and music that is developed from the script is also my responsibility.
When the final episode is ready, I brief the promo and marketing team about the show, so it is promoted adequately in different mediums like TV, online, and offline.
As a creative producer, I’m engaged with the content I’m producing from scratch to the screen.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
I started my journey in Mumbai, from zero. It was a completely new city. Since I didn’t know the local language at all or Hindi, everyday and everything was a challenge. But on the other hand, since I was facing these challenges with every other challenge , none of it appeared very difficult. I didn’t have any options other than overcoming them, it sort of became a practice.
For every challenge I faced, I just kept working on it till it was a challenge no more.
Where do you work now? What problems do you solve?
I work for a Media company called WarnerBrothers Discovery right now, as a senior producer for Kids cluster.
I make shows for Kids, in animation mostly.
What skills are needed for your role? How did you acquire the skills?
Developing a strong grasp of storytelling and visual communication is crucial to becoming a creative producer. Additionally, proficiency in animation, editing, cinematography, or scriptwriting can greatly enhance one’s capabilities in this role. But mostly we try to look at the content from the viewer’s perspective, and this is something that grows with time. Other than this, strong analytical and communication skills are very important.
I am a professionally trained editor, other than that I didn’t take any other training in animation or screenplay writing, these are the skills I have developed on the job.
In our industry, the skill is always valued more than the certificate. Learning the crafts from film schools is always very interesting, it has its charm but a student doesn’t essentially need to learn the ABCs through a professional course. Watching Youtube videos, or reading available books and practicing animation, editing, screenwriting, or cinematography is more than enough for anyone to master the skills and become successful.
My main job is to create compelling stories with the help of the writers, so we always are actively looking for new scripts and stories.
What’s a typical day like?
On a typical day, we get together with other creative counterparts of the team, to discuss the script we’re working on. We discuss different ideas and decide how to incorporate them in the visuals to make a thrilling and engaging visual story for the kids.
We evaluate different stages of the animation, like the background music, animatics or sometimes design a character for our show.
I love the entire process of making a show, how one tiny idea in someone’s mind takes shape over some time and through different creative stages becomes visible for everyone to see and relate to.
How does your work benefit society?
We make shows for kids. As a parent, my first reaction to the job I do is I am spoiling the kids. The better I’m at my job, the more time my viewers are in front of a digital screen, who are mostly between 7-11 years old.
But jokes apart, I think our job is very important for shaping the minds of kids that we are trying to entertain while training them to face different people, situations and challenges.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
Among the shows I have had a chance to work on, “The adventures of Motu Patlu”, “Shiva”, “Rudra Boom Chik Chik Boom”, “Ekans: Snakes Awake” and “Little Singham” will always be special.
Your advice to students based on your experience?
Life is not always balanced, and a lot of time we are faced with challenges we have not prepared for. But, if we keep working on them without losing focus, the challenges will go away and only will make us stronger.
Skill and knowledge are inseparable. One cannot exist without the other.
Future Plans?
I want to take our Indian mythology and folktales to an international audience with the help of Indian animation.