The award-winning team of writer Neil Gaiman and artist Dave McKean are in development with TV-Loonland subsidiary Sunbow Entertainment to create a series based on their children's book THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH. This week at MIPCOM, Sunbow is presenting the 13 x 22-minute animated series, targeted at 6 -11 year-olds. Gaiman is best known for his critically acclaimed and widely successful graphic novels SANDMAN‚ and the 3-part series DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING which he is currently adapting to a feature film for Warner Bros.

This week at MIPCOM, LEGO Media and Miramax Films unveiled the first production and marketing materials available for its direct-to-home video movie, BIONICLE: MASK OF LIGHT, based on the successful LEGO Company toy line. The 70-minute, CGI-animated feature is currently in production at Los Angeles-based Creative Capers, with a debut date scheduled for fall 2003. The trailer, which can be viewed at www.maskoflight.com, will be featured on Miramax Film’s upcoming home video release of SPY KIDS II, scheduled to hit shelves in January 2003.

This week at MIPCOM, Los Angeles-based Mike Young Productions (MYP) introduced the company’s international roster of partners for its new extraterrestrial property, PET ALIEN from John Doze Studios. The partners are: France’s Antefilms Production, based in Paris; jadooWorks PVT. LTD. of Bangalore, India; and Abú Media in Galway, Ireland. The partners are joining forces to create the CGI-animated project, a series of 52 x 11-minute episodes aimed at 4 to 11 year-olds.

Studio B will be attending MIPCOM with their latest series in development including TINSELLANIA, a Canada/France co-production with Saban International Paris. The series features the inhabitants of a fairy-tale kingdom that collide with the modern world. Studio B just confirmed a development deal for 26 x 22-minute episodes of TINSELLANIA with Family Channel Canada. Studio B is also highlighting INTO THE SHADOWS and BEING IAN at MIPCOM. Based on a series of popular books published by Smart Kids, Family Channel Canada has already ordered 52 x 11-minute episodes of INTO THE SHADOWS.

Curious Pictures is currently in production on HEY JOEL, a 13 x 22-minute adult-themed sitcom that focuses on the behind the scenes action at a music talk show. The series is being developed in conjunction with VH1 and is scheduled to air on VH1 in the U.S. and Chum in Canada. Jon Cryer (PRETTY IN PINK) voices Joel Stein, the obnoxious host of a 3-minute rock-star interview show on VH1. Artist Robert Risko designed the characters, who include Joel's producer Michele; loyal P.A. Kevin; VH1 star (and Joel's nemesis) Leif; and Z, the no-nonsense head of programming.

Atomic Cartoons will roll into Cannes with its latest cartoon, CONEY ISLAND CARNEYS, created by animation artists Garnet Syberg-Olsen and Jared Deal. The series centers on the lives of eccentric carnival characters.

Tremendous! Entertainment has secured the international television rights to the animated television series GARFIELD & FRIENDS, and plans on reintroducing the lasagna-loving feline to broadcasters at this year’s MIPCOM. To promote the series, Tremendous! Entertainment will produce and distribute a Garfield 25th anniversary television special, slated to begin production in January 2003 for broadcast in June 2003. The company also plans to release special home video and DVD Collector Editions in fall 2003.

Mike Young Productions (MYP) announced that renowned filmmaker-writer-actor Mel Brooks (THE PRODUCERS, HIGH ANXIETY, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, SPACEBALLS) will voice the role of Wiley the Sheep in the new half-hour CGI series, JAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS, based on original stories by Irish writer Denise Fitzpatrick. The series, a co-production from MYP, Entara Limited and PBS affiliate WLIW, features 26 episodes aimed at children aged 4-8.

Banjax, a new digital animation company based in Belfast and London, will be at MIPCOM Jr. and MIPCOM with four new animated projects: GENE-FUSION, SICK AND FAMOUS, GNARPH and THINGIES. GENE FUSION (26 x 22 minutes) is set in an authoritarian future society where mutant creatures, called Fusimals, battle a spectacular gladiatorial road show owned and run by the World Fusing Federation. The series is based on a comic book created by U.S. Publisher/IP House Beckett Entertainment. SICK AND FAMOUS (26 x 22 minutes) is a comedy about a series broadcast from an exclusive rehab clinic.

Germany's EM.TV continues to move into the tween age group with its animation slate. At MIPCOM the media group will be presenting TIMM THALER, a story about a young orphan boy named Timm who uses mysticism and magic to battle the evil Baron Lived. EM.TV holds TV and video rights for all territories except for Germany, Austria, Alto Adige, Switzerland, Luxemburg and Liechtenstein.