Animation Project - Help needed

Hi everyone,

I was just hoping that some of you here could help me. Im the Creative Director / Development Director at a small agency based in the UK called Acolyte IMG. We have just been presented with a great project oppurtunity by a large company with a series of succesful game licences who are looking to have an animated series created based upon one of thier licences.

Essentially we're at the stage where they are asking for a 'proof of concept' before we can move to discussing financing and producing the project. We have access to post-production facilities and project management resources, however we have little funding to pour into the project.

What am I looking for? well most of our projects run using a core in-house team supporting a team of freelancers based off site anywhere in the globe really. What I need to find is a number of 3DS Max animators willing to work on a 3-5 minute animation based upon the license, talent is the key really, they can be students or seasoned pros. So any advice or help you can provide in identifying the best place to find such people is much appreciated. HOWEVER.... I want to be completely up front and give the low-down on how the project will evolve before any replies...

Esssentially the 3-5 minute animation will be produced using a team of animators who will be working unpaid, although I appreciate thats not ideal, this is a genuine oppurtunity. More importantly if the 'proof of concept' is succesful we would retain those who had helped us produce the animation to help us create the full series (which will initially be 6 episodes although the final figure is to be establlished during negotiations), that work would be paid work.....

If any ones interested just reply here, if anyone can point me to other websites where I can find animators, that would also be great..

Thanks for sparing a few moments to read my rather lengthy post!