WGBH Boston and Canada's Studio B Prods. Inc. have teamed up to develop and co-produce a new animated series based on the award-winning MARTHA SPEAKS children's book series by Susan Meddaugh, for public television in fall 2008.
The property will be developed into 40 half-hour episodes, designed to enrich children's vocabulary within the context of compelling stories. Studio B has international distribution rights for the property.
The series centers on Martha, a loveable dog with an appetite for alphabet soup gives her the gift of human speech. Using her speaking abilities, Martha gets jobs, foils bad guys, wins contests and orders lots of steaks. Martha Speaks will build upon Martha's infectious love of words -- as well as the latest research on literacy, vocabulary acquisition, and child development -- as it harnesses the power of television, the Web and a grassroots outreach campaign to help bolster young children's vocabulary development.
Exec producer Carol Greenwald said, "A talking dog is exactly what's needed to reach preschoolers and help to increase their vocabulary. Children identify with and respond to animated characters --and we're excited to be partnering with the talented staff at Studio B, who really understand how to bring Martha to life in a way that stays true to Susan Meddaugh's original vision." Greenwald is a veteran of educational programming and is executive producer of CURIOUS GEORGE and POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER, the spin-off from the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series, ARTHUR, which she exec produced for eight years.
"MARTHA SPEAKS is a charming series of books, engaging kids and parents with humor, imagination and fun!" added Chris Bartleman, partner, Studio B Prods. "With a combination of delightful characters, hilarious entanglements and comic storytelling, we are confident that MARTHA SPEAKS will be a wonderful animated series for audiences. We are thrilled to be partnering with WGBH to bring such a unique property to public television".
The MARTHA SPEAKS book series was first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1992 and has more than one million copies in print. The series has garnered numerous awards, including New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, IRA-CBC Children's Choice, Parent's Choice Award and was selected as best book of the year by the American Library Assoc.'s Booklist, PARENT'S MAGAZINE, THE HORN BOOK MAGAZINE and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.
Author Meddaugh asked Martha if she had anything to add about her new venture. Martha replied, "If you've ever known a dog, had a dog, or been a dog, then you must appreciate the frustration of not being able to communicate your thoughts to people. But now, I can let the world know what I think, need, and feel. Having words can make your life more enjoyable too, even if you're not a dog. So try my new series. Words, glorious words, will be yours for the eating, I mean taking!"
WGBH Boston (www. wgbh.org) is the producer of award-winning PBS children's series ARTHUR, BETWEEN THE LIONS, POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER and ZOOM, as well as the critically acclaimed new favorites, CURIOUS GEORGE and FETCH! WITH RUFF RUFFMAN. WGBH also produces the award-winning PEEP AND THE BIG WIDE WORLD (seen on TLC's Ready Set Learn!, Discovery Kids and public television), and TIME WARP TRIO (seen on the Discovery Kids Channel).
Headquartered in Vancouver, Studio B Prods. (www.studiobproductions.com) produces award-winning series, such as BEING IAN, CLASS OF THE TITANS and YVON OF THE YUKON. Studio B is in production on GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE and RICKY SPROCKET - SHOWBIZ BOY, set to launch in 2007 on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon Networks, respectively, as well as the award-winning THE AMAZING ADRENALINI BROTHERS!
