Following many suitors responding to the YOUNG SKUNK presentation at Cartoon Forum 2003, Cartoon Saloon has opted to team up with Telescreen as partner to produce a 26x30 series about a kung-fu-fighting skunk trying to protect a forest and his friends in China.
We feel privileged to have been chosen as partners on the SKUNK property by Cartoon Saloon, said Telescreens cco, Tom van Waveren. They are a very talented company and have made a name for themselves in the few years since their inception. We have discovered over the past few months that we share a common vision for Skunk and a profound conviction this property has the potential to go very, very far.
The series is based upon an original idea by Aidan Harte and Hyun-Ho Khang. The forest animals seem to be fighting a losing battle against onslaught of a once great and good Dragon. Skunk is a young westerner, mistakenly delivered by the stork to China to be raised by a wise old Panda in the ways of Kung Fu and Zen. Young Skunk must learn to master the different Kung Fu animal styles and wisdom in order to defeat the Black Dragon and his army of Ninja monkeys that threaten the Chinese forest.
Aidan and I felt very lucky and appreciative to have had a number companies interested in partnering with us on SKUNK after our pitch at the Cartoon Forum, said Cartoon Saloons Paul Young. We decided that Telescreen fitted our needs best, from both a creative and business perspective, to help us produce and exploit the series. This is our first foray into television with our own show after a number of service work contracts, short film successes and TV commercials. We believe that Tom, Stephanie, Ruud and the rest of the Telescreen teams collective experience in animation will add a lot of value to the future of SKUNK They also bribed us with Stroopwafels which we have no defence against.
Cartoon Saloon will start production in summer 2004 while Telescreen will handle all rights exploitation. Plans for publishing, gaming and broad presence across multiple platforms are being developed.
As an international animation service provider and co-producer based in Kilkenny, Ireland, The Cartoon Saloon (www.cartoonsaloon.ie) has provided key design and animation for feature films and television series.
Producer, agent and distributor, Telescreen (www.telescreen.nl) is renowned for more than 20 years known for its quality productions, successful partnerships and knowledge with regards to all rights exploitation possibilities and is still expanding into new fields of media opportunities at its headquarters in Anhilversum, The Netherlands.
