MAKATI CITY, Philippines -- The local animation industry is in dire need of production-ready graduates, an executive of a local school and the president of an industry organization said.

Reuel Virtucio, chief operations officer of iAcademy, said in an interview that the school is now working closely with the industry to ensure they produce animators ready to take on production jobs.

iAcademy, which started offering a bachelor course in animation, is one of many schools in the country offering animation courses developed with industry experts.

Virtucio said iAcademy has worked closely with Holy Cow, Cutting Edge and Top Draw in the development of its Bachelor of Science in Animation, which is also accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched).

iAcademy has close to 50 students enrolled till the end of 2008. These students have worked in various projects, including Dayo, a Filipino production of a full-feature animated film that is done entirely using digital technology.

In a separate interview, Grace Dimaranan, president of the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI), said the local animation industry needs to hire 25,000 graduates by 2010.

"We still need more," said Dimaranan, as she stressed that graduates of animation or digital arts courses are becoming more specialized due to the rising demand from non-traditional industries outside of animation.

This year, ACPI is focusing on recruiting graduates from provinces and cities outside of Metro Manila.

Dimaranan said there are currently about 8,000 artists working in the local animation industry, a far cry from the 25,000 artists the industry needs two years from now.

Virtucio, for his part, said the interest in animation has been growing because of demands coming from advertising, education and the gaming sectors.

"Schools should be part of the supply chain [of the local animation industry]," Virtucio said, as he pointed out that iAcademy is forging more partnerships with the industry to help produce graduates that are ready to work for them on day one.

He said that iAcademy will ink a deal with Anino Entertainment in June for a game development subject that will be offered to iAcademy students.