The visually challenged kung fu fighter of Skunk charmed many viewers. © Cartoon Saloon.

Close behind in terms of numbers in the room — but also one of the most talked about projects of the Forum — was Skunk, from Irish animation house Cartoon Saloon. Based on a beautiful Oriental design, it tells the story of a short-sighted skunk Kung Fu fighter. Cartoon Saloon may not be that well-known yet but the project works well — and it managed to beat many of the bigger names to the draw. Aimedat kids 6-12, producer Paul Young plans a series of 26 episodes of 13-minutes.

But the most universally praised project of the entire Forum was Tiger Aspect’s Charlie and Lola, a charming 26x10 preschool series. In a crowded market, this is the one pre-school series most likely to succeed. Based on a popular series of books by Lauren Child and with Kitty Taylor slated to direct, it successfully enters the fantastic world of young children whilst also hitting all the right buttons for parents. Unusually, many of the broadcasters in the room were prepared to go public in their expressions of interest. The proposed budget is €3.3M.

The producers of Fairy Mary, a CGI project developed for preschoolers made their pitch at Cartoon Forum this year. ©2STV Ltd.

Aardman Animations was continuing in its bid for world animation domination with its first move into children’s television series since the classic Morph. The 52x13 3D computer animation Chop Socky Chooks is based on a gang of Kung Fu chickens (animators are obviously set to follow in Quentin Tarantino’s footsteps with martial arts looking like being one of the year’s big trends). Development has been undertaken in collaboration with Cartoon Network. As Aardman’s first ever CGI series, producer Miles Bullough and director Sergio Delfino explained the plan is to handle all design and pre-production work in the U.K., with volume animation being outsourced to other studios around the world. The budget is €380,000 per half hour.

London CGI house Skaramoosh was also presenting plans for a 3D series — Swashbucklers. The 26x11 series is based on a series of 18 popular comic pirate books by Marc Richards. The budget is €270,000 per half hour.

Former Cosgrove Hall vets developed the stop-frame series DreamMakers. Image and characters © Peter Dodd 2003.

Icelandic CGI company CAOZ presented plans for a half-hour special featuring an impressive array of voice talent, including Monty Python’s Terry Jones and singers Björk and Damon Albarn of Blur. Anna And The Moods is based on a story and music commissioned by the British Arts Council and featuring a collaboration between the Brodsky Quartet, Icelandic poet Sjón and composer Julin Nott (who was responsible for the music of Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit films as well as many successful movies).

Of the other CGI projects on show, the most interesting was Fairy Mary from Two Sides TV and created at London animation facility The Hive by director Nathan Laud. The pre-school format presents the world of two young fairies and a pixie, all homemade and living on a shelf in a child’s bedroom. In the style of Toy Story, they only come to life and get into scrapes once they have been left on their own. Producer Catherine Robins is looking for a budget of €2.5 million to make the 26x5 series.

A new name with a hot project was Peter Dodd of Mummysboy Productions. A veteran of the commercial sector and of series work with both Cosgrove Hall and Egmont Imagination, Dodd has developed his own stop-frame series DreamMakers. Aimed at a 6-9 audience, it’s about the antics of bedbugs, tooth fairies and jumping sheep in a tin pot studio, trying to film dreams and beam them into the heads of young children. Former Cosgrove Hall managing director Iain Pelling is on board as exec producer. The budget is €10-11,000 per minute for a 26x13 series.