[Part 1] From Anime Freelancing to Running An Indie Animation Studio: An Interview With Buta Productions’ FAR 

For several years, Federico Antonio Russo, or FAR, has translated anime production materials for foreign freelance animators who needed the assistance. Even before animation producer Shota Umehara gave them their first credit with 2021’s Wonder Egg Priority, FAR had already become involved with the industry by doing technical translations for shows like Astra: Lost in Space and Azur Lane. Fast forward to today, you can find FAR in the credits of Girls’ Frontline’s opening, episodes from anime like Spy x Family and Bocchi the Rock!, Amane Kanata’s “Betsu Sekai” music video, and more.

Those years of freelancing, which also saw FAR stepping into producer-related roles, influenced the creation of Buta Productions, or ButaPro. (In this context, the Japanese word “buta” refers to “animation fan” and not the usual meaning of “pig.”) Co-founded by FAR and their partner-in-crime Blou, a fellow sakuga fan and a producer at the amateur animation circle Studio Tonton, ButaPro is one of several animation studios that are international but utilise the anime production pipeline. Its establishment was inspired by the low rates of the anime industry and the desire to “create a production pipeline that was actually sustainable.”

Anime Trending had the opportunity to speak with FAR about the new studio via video call. During the interview, the ButaPro president spoke about unit pricing in the anime industry, ButaPro’s original projects, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity, and split into two parts due to length. Part 2 will be published at a later date.

So first, can you tell me how ButaPro came to be?

FAR: So, originally, we were working as freelancers. Me and Blou, mostly. We were working on various productions such as Wonder Egg [Priority], A Couple of Cuckoos, and then the Girls’ Frontline opening. But we also, in certain instances, had issues. Not necessarily every time, but it was relatively common to have issues with [the] production. People in Japan, oftentimes they were trying to belittle us, and oftentimes they were trying to find ways to pay us less, or to simply be in a position of power. 

We kind of needed, at some point, to switch from a freelance-based model and go towards a studio-based model. Otherwise, it would’ve been very difficult to negotiate higher rates. It would’ve been difficult to get into a position where we could actually acclimate to this as a job. That’s pretty much how we came to be, really. We wanted to be in a position where not only were we able to pay our animators enough, like high enough unit prices to sustain their own livelihood, but also, we needed to do that ourselves in order to create a production pipeline that was actually sustainable. 

So basically, it’s easier to negotiate as a studio than as a scattered group of freelancers.

FAR: Yeah. I think that, despite the fact that we also have more experiences at times, when it came to doing this kind of job as freelancers, oftentimes we weren’t seen particularly seriously due to this fact. Also, because we were probably a little younger than [we are] now, and [so] we didn’t really have enough work or industry experience. Probably, they were proceeding with a little more caution, and [there’s] the fact that we were like, “Oh, we’re not really a studio, we’re just a community of people.” We didn’t even have a name, or something like that. It was something that definitely influenced the final rates in general, [and] the kind of work that we were allowed to do.

Is there much of an overlap between ButaPro and Studio Tonton?

FAR: There is a lot of overlap in terms of the people who work on the projects, but there is no overlap from a legal perspective. Buta Productions is a proper company. We pay taxes on the orders that we get, and we have financial statements, and everything. But, Studio Tonton is not like that — Studio Tonton is just to make fun animation in the animators’ free time.

Are there a lot of Tonton members who joined ButaPro?

FAR: Yeah, absolutely. [If you’re asking,] “Are there people who are, in terms of skill level, good enough to actually work in a professional environment?” Then, yes, they [do exist and] get asked to work also on ButaPro productions. 

So, from what I understand, ButaPro is focused on creating originals, while things like motouke (prime contractor) and shitauke (subcontractor) commissions are more of a side thing. 

FAR: Our final objective is to be able to do mostly originals, but we are nowhere near that level at this point. At this point, we definitely need to get a lot of commissions, and we definitely need to get a lot of outsourcing work. Of course, compared to other studios, like Tonari [Animation] or Koeda Animation, they can only accept the base unit price [for] outsourcing. We’re in a bit of a different realm, a bit of a different zone. As like, we mostly work on higher unit price commissions and outsourcing. But ultimately, we cannot really escape that reality of consigning to work on someone else’s project. That said, even at this point in time, we are developing original IPs as well.

How did you settle on the base [unit] price of 10,000 yen (~US$66) [for layouts and key animation]?

FAR: I think it’s because it’s easy for the Japanese people to understand that particular unit price. To be fair, I’d say that, especially considering the inflation these days, a more proper unit price would be around 12,000 yen (~US$79). But, unfortunately, sometimes it’s necessary to go a little bit lower, in order to make sure that certain interesting things that go on in TV anime can be received [by us] as possible jobs. Albeit, to be fair, most of the jobs that we’re getting these days are like 15,000 [yen], 18,000 yen [yen], something like that. 

So, we’re not particularly following the script per say, but at the same time, it’s kind of a symbolic unit. In the past, people would pay around 10,000/10,000 [yen]. 10,000/10,000 [yen] was, I’d say, three or four years ago. It was kind of the base unit price for movies, and that’s also one of the reasons why we decided to go in that direction. The idea is that if you give us [the] base unit price for movies, we might be able to accept. If you give us the base unit price for TV anime, we’re not really interested.

How does 10,000 yen compare to the usual base price for [anime] music videos?

FAR: I’d say it’s a little lower, but it’s kind of there. It’s around 12,000 yen to 15,000 yen, something like that. It really depends on the production company and the particular project. For example, I remember working on a hololive [Amane] Kanata music video that was released years ago-.

Ah, “Betsu Sekai!” 

FAR: Yeah. And that one was 15,000 [yen], [for] the base price. Then, it got increased to 20,000 [yen], but I think it’s mostly because hololive is a very successful company that can get us very high rates. At some point, I got an offer for a Yoasobi music video, and that one was 10,000/10,000 [yen], so it wasn’t overly high.

For your originals, what are you guys working on right now?

FAR: We’re working on two proposals. The first one is for something with shorter times, [something] that’s going to be like comedy, that’s [also] serious, that somehow resembles the aesthetic that FLCL had. But, it consists of a sharper direction when it comes to the shape design, and it has a lot to do with, trying to describe life in a Japanese province that’s not particularly uneventful, but at the same time, is not sugar-coated and idealised like it would be in most anime. It tries to do that in a fun way rather than in a depressing way, I’d say, and there are some sci-fi elements, and there is some action, but ultimately, it’s a comedy. And, we wanted to have a lot of people from the Newgrounds community on it, especially on the scripts and especially on the humour aspect of it, rather than going towards the kind of direction that anime usually does when it comes to comedy. So, [we’re doing this] not only to have a more international experience, but just to experiment with what can be done in the anime pipeline, with that kind of humour and that kind of script writing style. 

The second one is a bit more long-term, and it’s going to be like a nichijou-kei anime about the life of nurses in Japan, with this focus on their daily difficulties, but also the things that make their job worthwhile. Another couple of things that we’re trying to do are more like the original projects of very famous creators that we cannot really name right now. They are very, very popular people in the anime industry but they really struggled to find a place to do their own original stuff. And that’s kinda like what we’re focusing on specifically. 

When it comes to our originals, it’s not to be said that every one of them is necessarily going to be released. But these are the ones that are in the pitch phase already, so designs are getting created, or the series composition is getting created, and so on. 

So these original ideas, are they coming from you and Blou?

FAR: They’re coming from the creators, mostly. I am the producer that kinda needs to make sure those ideas are not too wacky, are actually doable, and see what can be done while the right people do it. I am not particularly interested in pitching my own ideas. I am more interested in what the creators have to say first. 

Of course, you have to guide them, and you cannot completely leave them on their own, because if you do that, you’re gonna be in a terrible spot. But if you’re in a position where you can communicate with them, and make sure they understand what the risks are, understand what kind of issues their ideas have, and make sure that they are able to do their best in a particular area — rather than in areas that they’re not particularly knowledgeable about — then, I think that it’s fine to simply let the creators go on their own way and pitch their ideas to me. 

Ultimately, there is a fundamental difference between the pitches that creators make and the pitches that creators and producers together can make. I feel like creators somehow struggle with being realistic with the amount of money that they need [among other things.]  It’s something that often happens with animators. They’re not particularly good at writing, so they need help from proper screenwriters in order to make their idea come to life. If they are not too stubborn and they’re able to understand that, usually it’s not that big of a problem. But, it’s really necessary to have a producer figure that types everything and makes sure to ask the right questions when it comes to potential issues that occur during production.   

So, these originals, how long are they? Like how many episodes, and how long is an episode. 

FAR: So, when it comes to the comedy series that I cannot name right now, the idea is to have maybe 8-12 episodes. It’ll be a short series, maybe five minutes per episode, in a similar vein to what Ota-chan does in terms of timing. 

When it comes to the other series, we want to go for something a little bit more complicated, maybe something like a proper one cour anime. But before going there, we should make a pilot first, like an OVA, and see if it’s successful, see if we can actually make some money out of it and get enough interest from investors. Ultimately, if the idea is to make something shorter and the total runtime is similar to [the runtime of] two episodes of a TV anime, it’s very easy to find the money for it and it won’t be particularly complicated. But when it gets to almost four hours [worth] of content, you almost need millions to make it. So, we want to go step-by-step when it comes to that.

When it comes to the projects from the famous creators, I’d say for now, [the current goal,] it’s to make a single pilot for every one of them, and maybe try to get bigger in the future, albeit it really depends on the type of pitch. There are things that can easily work as a 30-minute thing, and then the creator can expand or not expand, and that’s fine, narratively speaking. Ultimately, we still want to go for a pilot first, and then go for something big.

These famous creators, I assume that they’re people that you’ve met during your five years in the industry, and now you’re inviting them to…

FAR: Yeah. Albeit, maybe some people are not yet, like their relationship between me and them is not yet well-known, so it might be difficult to guess who they are. But there are others who are people I’m already working with.

How do you plan to distribute them, once the originals are made?

FAR: In the sense of the amount of months, the timing?

That, and also, like what platforms are you targeting specifically. 

FAR: Oh! Okay. The platform is not something that we really care that much about, because how it works in this sort of situation is that you pitch something to, like, a streamer, a video producer, or a planning company. And then you tell them, “You know, this would be very cool if it was on TV,” “This would be cool if it was on the internet,” or “This would go on streaming services, but has also a short-form version on TikTok.” Then it’s up to them to decide what is better. How the pitch-making process goes is that you basically sell some of the IP rights to these individuals, in exchange for them giving you the money to actually produce the project. So ultimately, when we sell the distribution rights, we don’t really know how it’s gonna go and how it’s gonna get created. 

On a broader level, there are even pitches where you sell the idea, and then you don’t even make the project yourself. For example, there was this person who was supposed to make an original anime for Studio Colorido, and then Colorido got bought by a television company. Since the television company got not only the broadcasting rights, but also the rights to properly make the show, they ended up deciding to make the show not with a Japanese company, but with an Argentinian animation studio. So, it’s not even anime any more, it’s like an international project. And that person got quite pissed because of that.

That’s something that can happen a lot. We are in a position where we’re actually able to make the thing ourselves in the way that we want to do [it]. But in other positions, in other situations, there are a lot of times where you don’t even get to make your own show — you just sell the IP and get some money out of it. That’s something we would like to avoid, and that’s also why we are not particularly concerned about the distribution aspect. 

True, in every pitch, there is a part where you say, “Okay, this is how I will do it. This is how much money I would spend. This is where I will distribute the series, and this is the target audience.” But ultimately, it’s not our job to do that, and we are perfectly aware of the fact that we’re going to end up in a situation where we don’t decide this kind of stuff. 

Stay tuned for Part 2.