Brown Blog Films

On Monday 18th it was announced that I was nominated for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the International Category. This was truly brilliant news and I feel honoured to be among such a group of great business people. While my name went forward on the ticket, the nomination is shared with co-founder Darragh O Connell. And Brown Bag would not even be considered for the nomination were it not for the superb managers and talented staff doing working here.

Denis O'Brien, Julie Sinnamon, Liam Shanahan & Enda Kelly of Ernst & Young

The awards ceremony is not until October, and there are a number of functions and events before then. This includes a one week trip to San Palo in Brazil for a “CEO Retreat” which I’m looking forward to. They say “find a job you like and you’ll never work a day in your life again” and I’m sure I will be pondering that statement from sunny Brazil!

I think this nomination is great news for the Irish animation sector, who are the largest employer in the independent Film and TV sector in Ireland, and it goes to show that if you work hard anyone can become a fifteen year overnight success. Here is a list of the other nominees. Read on for some questions and answers I had to complete for the Ernst & Young website.

ERNST & YOUNG QUESTIONAIRE

1. What vision prompted you to start-up in business?
I had just left animation college with Darragh O’Connell and set out to collaborate on a project together. We soon had an idea for a tv series that would lampoon Peig Sayers and we approached RTE with the idea. They parted with the budget to allow us make the series which went on air in 1994. It was only after we finished working on Peig that we realised we wanted to continue making animation and decided to run it like a proper business.

2. Describe your progression from start-up to current status?
The company has grown steadily over the 15 years from just the two founding directors to employing over 50 full time staff with an office in Dublin and Toronto.
It is still the same two director/shareholders so we have the freedom to make decisions that suit us. After every 3 year period from start up we have evolved, almost beyond recognition from the previous period and I anticipate that we will continue to change and grow the company over the next 3 years.

3. Is there any interesting or unusual circumstances surrounding the inception of the company or its evolution?
Back in 1994, Darragh and myself had to get our parents down to Bank of Ireland, college Green, to act as a grantor on a £2,000 bank loan.

We have seen the transition from analogue to digital production. Our first job was hand painted onto acetate, shot on 35mm film and transferred to tape for broadcast. We invested in a photocopier before we had a computer and our first invoice was sent on an electric typewriter. I have absolutely no nostalgia for the way things were back then and I can’t wait for new technology to get faster and simpler.

4. What are the biggest challenges you faced starting up and how did you overcome them?
We had no business or financial background when starting off and trying to balance the left and right parts of the brain was always going to be difficult when our passion was animation. It wasn’t until we hired our first accounts person that it freed up the directors time to focus on our core strengths. Thankfully, we now have an accounts team of 3 people with very strong financial management and procedures in place.

5. What role does Corporate Social Responsibility play in your business strategy?
As part of our guiding principles, Brown Bag Films donates a percentage of profits to a children’s charity every year. In our last financial year, we purchased a mobile X-Ray machine for Temple Street Children’s Hospital.

We are also in year 2 of a 3 year carbon neutral plan and we have adapted a number of internal environmental initiatives.

6. What motivates you to succeed?
To produce the best children’s programmes on television and knowing that children look forward to watching something that I helped to create.

7. What is your biggest business achievement?
In 2002 Darragh and myself were nominated for an Oscar which is something I am very proud of. On its own, it didn’t change our business the way many people assume it might have, but it did help make things easier by getting that first meeting with key clients.

Mostly I am proud of the work we have produced that has sold internationally and is viewed everyday by millions of children worldwide. The animation studio that we have established and the enormously creative team that surrounds me is something that I am very proud of also.

8. What is the best business advice you ever received?
I used to have a quotation about ‘Persistence’ by former US president Calvin Coolidge on the wall above my desk for years and after 15 years, it is still my motto today.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

9. What advice would you give an entrepreneurs starting out today?
Keep your fixed costs as low as possible and try and remain as agile as possible. The market is changing fast and be prepared to change your business plan as required. And importantly, try and surround yourself with brilliant people who are better than you are!

10. Has anyone acted as a mentor to you?
Over the years we have availed of a couple of mentors. In recent times, Tony Cotrell has been a great sounding board for us and helped steer us through both choppy waters and complex growth issues. Most businesses have the same problems as one another regardless of the industry and its important to be able to bounce ideas off someone who has seen it all before.

11. Has your irish-ness contributed to your success?
We have always seen ourselves as an animation company located in Ireland rather than an Irish animation company. While we are best known in Ireland for ‘Give Up Yer Aul Sins’, most of our work is not seen on Irish television.

12. How do you recharge your batteries?
I enjoy Cycling into work every day regardless of the weather and most weekends I go on a 50km spin.

Family time is important, I have a 1 year old daughter and 4 year old son although I’m not sure if they recharge my batteries or drain them!