Job Academy

Concept art for the series.

***Job Academy*** was a planned 2D animated television series under the ZAG Toon brand. It was going to be a co-production between Zagtoon, 2 Minutes, and Europa-Glénat, based on the graphic novel of the same name that was published by Glénat Editions.

A 3-minute pilot was created and was shown at MIPCOM 2010. However, the project ended up getting cancelled due to Glénat regaining the full rights to *Job Academy* after Europa-Glénat became defunct.

## Synopsis

### MIPCOM 2009 synopsis

*"Open 24/7 Kevin, Polo, and the other job testers of the Academy have fun and make light work of finding the jobs of your dreams; postman, hairdresser, guide, ski instructor, designer, beautician, physiotherapist, marriage guidance counselor, gardener in short jobs that are glamorous and not so glamorous."*

### 2013 ZAG website synopsis

*"Not everyone dreams of becoming a star. At the age of eight, it is extremely difficult to imagine a future occupation. Join Theo and Lucille Compass as they explore the jobs of the future with the quirky Dr. Corentin Compass and his job simulator skills."*

## Production

*Job Academy* is a French graphic novel that was published on April 9, 2007, by Glénat. It was written by two authors under the pseudonyms MagicFred and MiniKim. Only one issue was published under the title "Parce qu'il y a d'autres métiers que star" (roughly translated to "Because there are other professions than stars" in English).

On October 23, 2008, it was announced that Luc Besson and his production company EuropaCorp had partnered with Glénat to launch Europa-Glénat, a production company that would produce animated adaptations of Glénat's titles. Europa-Glénat is said to be sharing TV and film adaptation rights to Glénat's property "at a 50/50 split".

In September 2009, it was announced during MIPCOM that an animated adaptation of both *Job Academy* and *Basile and Melba* are being developed internally as a co-production between Zagtoon and Europa-Glénat. *Job Academy* is also planned to have 78 episodes and be 3-minute long.

In 2010, the ZAG website was updated to include *Job Academy* in a list of licenses ZAG owned the television adaptation rights for. Production of a 3-minute pilot for the TV series adaptation of *Job Academy* lasted from around April 2010 to November 2010. As of 2023, the only crew members who were confirmed to work on the pilot included production consultant Ruben Berissi and background designer Renaud Bouet.

After the pilot was completed, it was shown at MIPCOM 2010 in October. However, there doesn't seem to be any interest from French TV channels to purchase *Job Academy* for broadcast. As a result, the project isn't able to be developed into a full-fledged series.

The ZAG website in 2012 featured *Job Academy* as part of its many projects being developed, indicating that ZAG and Europa-Glénat were still considering developing the TV adaptation of *Job Academy*. The website also mentioned that the episode length has changed to 13-minute long and there'll be 52 episodes instead of 78. However, after 2013, *Job Academy* was removed from the site.

Eventually, ZAG lost the licensing rights for *Job Academy*. Europa-Glénat later became defunct, causing Glénat to regain the full rights to the intellectual property and the TV series to be scrapped altogether.

## Trivia

* Despite Zagtoon's involvement with co-producing the pilot, ZAG doesn't own the full rights to *Job Academy* due to it being Glénat's intellectual property. Instead, it used to have the licensing rights so it could produce the series.
* *Job Academy* and *Basile and Melba* were parts of Europa-Glénat's plan to develop animated adaptations of Glénat's comic book properties.
* Ruben Berissi not only worked as a production consultant for the *Job Academy* pilot, but he also oversaw the development of *Arthur and the Book of Life* and the *Touftouf & Kenotte* pilot at around 2010.
* It's unknown if the *Job Academy* pilot would ever be resurfaced to the public.
* A concept art featuring two singers (presumably Theo and Lucille Compass) was shown on the 2012 version of the ZAG website.
* The backgrounds for the pilot were designed by Renaud Bouet. They were uploaded on Dropr at an unknown date. However, as of 2020, Dropr is defuncted which caused the concept arts to be no longer available on the platform.

## References

1. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20101120200159/http://cartoon-media.be/FORUM/img/selected2010/JobAcademy--new1.jpg
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://web.archive.org/web/20130222021233/http://www.zagtoon.com/?p=shows&s=jobacademy
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://kidscreen.com/2009/05/15/univergroup-20090515/
4. ↑ https://www.catsuka.com/news/2010-01-08/pilote-du-p-tit-cosmonaute-et-autres-adaptations-de-bd-le-petit-spirou-samson-et-neon-job-academy-basile-et-melba
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://fr.linkedin.com/in/ruben-berissi-09452427
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20140301173129/http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/publicsiteContentFileAccess?fileContentId=174355&fromOtherPageToDisableHistory=T&menuName=Events&companyId=3123
7. ↑ https://variety.com/2009/scene/markets-festivals/french-films-turn-to-comic-books-1117998281/
8. ↑ https://www.mtv.com/news/x3w9cc/transporter-producer-luc-besson-partners-with-french-comic-publisher
9. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20101016164926/http://www.univergroup.com/series.html
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://dropr.com/renaudb/67533/job\_academy/+?p=846682
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 http://web.archive.org/web/20120404191404/http://www.univergroup.com/

**Possibly cancelled/Status unknown:** **Arthur and the Book of Life** • **Balloons** • **Basile and Melba** • ****Job Academy**** • **Kosmic Dancer** • **Legendary Books** • **Powearth** • **Sweet Power** • **Touftouf & Kenotte** • **Transylmaniac**