Let's check in with a few of the participants from this past year's Cartoon Forum and see where Gotland's leads have taken them. Participants include: Honeycomb Animation, Artoon S.A., Fictitious Egg and Sav! The World Productions.
Let's check in with a few of the participants from this past year's Cartoon Forum and see where Gotland's leads have taken them. Participants include: Honeycomb Animation, Artoon S.A., Fictitious Egg and Sav! The World Productions.
All in all it seems that indeed Cartoon Forum is an event that leads to real results.
Binka
A pre-school series of 26 x 5 minutes, produced by Honeycomb Animation
Binka was presented to just under 100 TV buyers, distributors, producers and other animation professionals at this year's Cartoon Forum in Gotland. The project had the advantage of already having a sale to the BBC for UK terrestrial rights. It was received extremely well and had very complimentary things said about it, such as Binka being one of the few projects in the Forum that was successfully aimed at its target audience. As a direct result of the Forum, ZDF confirmed that they would pre-buy the series for Germany. BBC TV havenow taken out an additional license for digital rights and BBC Worldwide have put up an advance for worldwide distribution. The series is now in production and the first 13 will air in April 2001 followed by the second 13 next autumn. BBC Worldwide will launch the series atthe BBC Showcase in February 2001.
Sara & Simon Bor Designers, Developers & Directors of Binka
Bahar
A series of 13 x 13 minute episodes, produced by Artoon, S.A.
The Cartoon Forum in Visby was a great opportunity for us to "test the waters." Bahar is a project addressed toward young adults,thus a project much more challenging than others, and difficult to fund as well! People liked the design very much and found the story quite intriguing. As soon as we finish development and send the complete dossier to all those who expressed an interest, we will know whether or not we will go ahead. (Even though we didn't have a huge crowd, there were people from Ellipse Animation, MTV Germany, EM TV Merchandising, among others, in attendance of our pitch.)
It was very interesting to find out that more "sophisticated" projects seem to find their own way now in the market. But time will tell!
Tina PappasHead of Public Relations and Communication, Artoon, S.A.
Johnny Casanova - The Unstoppable Sex Machine
A series of 26 x 24 minute episodes, produced by Elephant Productionsand Fictitious Egg
Johnny Casanova - The Unstoppable Sex Machine is a series for television and the Internet with Webisodes being produced as part of the package, aimed at a teen/adult audience. After a very successful presentation at Cartoon Forum in Gotland, Sweden, co-producers Elephant Productions and Fictitious Egg, generated a great deal of interestfrom a number of potential investors, and as a direct result of the Forum are now about to clinch a deal with a major distributor. Theseries follows the adolescent adventures of 14-year-old Johnny Worms, who has changed his name to Casanova in an attempt to attract girls.
Also at the Forum, Elephant Productions presented the adult series Genius, based on the drawings of eccentric British cartoonist John Glashan, adapted by Martin Village and Roger Planer, with animation directed by Graham Ralph.
Thomas & Co.
A series of 26 x 13 minute episodes, produced by Sav! The World Productions
Thomas & Co., one of the most attended presentations at this year's Cartoon Forum, has attracted considerable attention since its debut in Gotland.
Centered around the lives of five 11-year-old suburban kids Thomas,Chloe, Ian, Zac and Latifa -- the series is a chronicle of everyday life, and a break from the typical action-adventure cartoon. Thomas & Co. addresses all the issues young viewers might find themselves confronted with in real life. More complex subject matters, like the divorce of parents, will alternate with lighter ones, like a first love, or simply, how to tell your mom you want to quit those dreaded piano lessons. In all cases, the stories will be treated with a lot of humor, and a good dose of emotion.
In advanced negotiations with two major European broadcasters anda European cable distributor, Thomas & Co. is currentlyin pre-production and set for release in summer 2002. I am hoping to pre-sale the series to the American market at the upcoming NATPE.
Savin Yeatman-Eiffel
C.E.O. Sav! The World Productions and creator of Thomas & Co.
Heather Kenyon is editor-in-chief of Animation World Network. After receiving her B.F.A. with honors in Filmic Writing from USC's School of Cinema-Television, she went to work for Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. Currently, she is an International Board Member of Women In Animation and on the Board of Trustees of Trees for Life.
