NEW DELHI: Trivandrum-based animation studio Toonz Animation has appointed P. Jayakumar as the chief operating officer for Indian operations. Besides this, Toonz Animation has also announced the promotion of its studio manager Tiersa Christine to head of production designation.
For its television business, Toonz has appointed Sumith Dutta as National marketing head. While Jayakumar and Christine will be based in Trivandrum, Dutta will be based in Mumbai.
Jayakumar, who joined the organisation in 1999, was previously working as director-operations with the same studio. On his new role, Jayakumar said, “My focus would be primarily on two areas – increasing business from India and development of training centres. We had recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the West Bengal government for opening an academy in Kolkata and we intend to open this by early next year.” The academy in Kolkata will offer one-year courses.
Jayakumar oversees operations in the Toonz' studios located in Trivandrum and Mumbai, apart from the Toonz Academy in Trivandrum. 
Dutta, who was previously working as head of marketing with BBC, has been in the industry for more than 12 years. He started his career with HTA before moving on to Trikaya Grey. After that he moved on to BBC.
“I would be looking after the marketing and sales of television content. We are not only targeting channels such as Cartoon Network but also regional ones like ETV and Lashkara to reach out to the length and the breadth of the country. The studio is looking at understanding television content as a brand, so that it can be positioned to prospective clients in an appropriate manner,” said Dutta.
On the opportunities for animation studio in advertising, Dutta said, “The advertising business from animation perspective is quite erratic and it mainly done on ad-hoc basis. It depends on the choice of the creative director, which of late seems to be more inclined towards usage of celebrities.” Toonz Animation has worked with brands such as Maggi, Sandoz and Hajmola in the recent past.
Christine, who has been working with Toonz for the last two years, had earlier worked with Disney-MGM studios and Turner Broadcasting for several years. She was involved as producer in The Adventures of Tenali Raman and is also the director of the studio's international animation festival, 'Week with the Masters’ to be held in November.