The Animator Who Built a Studio in a Manila Apartment
Carlo Mendoza started his animation studio in a 28-square-metre apartment in Tondo with one laptop and a secondhand drawing tablet. Three years later, his team of nine has produced work for clients on four continents.
The apartment is still there. Carlo has not moved out — he has just rearranged it so efficiently that what was once a living room is now a colour-grading suite, a recording booth (the closet), and a server rack wedged between the kitchen and the bathroom door.
"People think a studio needs a building," he says, adjusting the monitor arm that juts over what used to be a dining table. "A studio is just people who believe in the same thing, working. The building is the last thing you need."
Carlo started animating at 14, teaching himself on pirated software downloaded from forums that no longer exist. By 22, he was freelancing for overseas clients — mostly explainer video companies in the US and UK who wanted cheap, competent motion graphics.
Building something original
The shift came when he decided to stop making other people's content and start making his own. He pitched a short animated series set in Tondo — gritty, specific, deeply Filipino — to every platform that would listen. Netflix passed. YouTube Originals passed. He released it himself, on YouTube, with no marketing budget.
The series has 4.2 million views. It led to a licensing deal with a Southeast Asian streaming platform, a commission from a European animation festival, and a roster of clients who specifically want work with that sensibility. "I stopped trying to make what I thought they wanted," he says. "The moment I made what was true to me, they came."