Cuppa Coffee Celebrates Nerds At MIPCOM

Do you know how many sun swords a wizard with only seven charisma points needs to slay a wandering armored Tharg troll? Likely, you don't have a clue, but this is common knowledge in NERDLAND, a new stop-motion animated pilot debuting at MIPCOM in October from Cuppa Coffee Studios and set to air this fall on TELETOON.

NERDLAND focuses on the twisted misadventures of a group of pop-culture obsessed nerds as they try to survive in a decidedly nerd-unfriendly society. It's a teen stop-motion comedy that draws upon elements of fantasy and satire to poke fun at the inner nerd lurking in the cluttered basements of our minds.

The episode is being unveiled this October in Cannes as, according to Cuppa Coffee President Adam Shaheen, the time is right for broadcasters looking to acquire cool, smart teen comedies. "Five years ago, the expression 'Nerd' was more a negative," he explains. "But it's been transformed into something positive, and it's in that spirit that the show was created. Let's face it -- there's a little bit of nerd in all of us."

Although focused on a group of nerds, this really is a show for everyone, insists Shaheen. "While we didn't want to make a show that would only appeal to a small demographic of self-professed nerds, neither did we want to just make fun," he explains, adding, "It would be too easy to laugh at -- We prefer to laugh with." The result is a hilarious half-hour littered with pop culture references, fantasy sequences and appealing characters that anyone can relate too.

Cuppa Coffee intends to close out the financing of the show at MIPCOM to begin production early 2009.