PorchLight Ent. Starts Up Home Ent. Division
PorchLight Ent. is forming a domestic home entertainment division launching under the label of "PorchLight Home Entertainment," with Gary Jones, svp of PorchLight Home Ent. overseeing acquisitions and sales. The new division will distribute kids and family programming acquired from leading producers worldwide in addition to releasing the company's new productions, as well as programs from its substantial library.
"When the PorchLight doors opened over a decade ago, it was with the expressed commitment to deliver the best of family entertainment to audiences everywhere," said Bruce Johnson, PorchLight's president/ceo. "Whether produced by PorchLight or acquired from independent producers, PorchLight Home Ent. will extend the reach and values of PorchLight's name by providing superb programming directly to kids and their parents."
Jones is an industry vet with exec stints at New Concorde, Trimark and Republic Pictures.
William Baumann, PorchLight's coo added, "Our expansion into the home entertainment business will continue the substantial growth that PorchLight has enjoyed during the past year. With his extensive experience, Gary Jones is the ideal executive to lead our home entertainment division."
PorchLight Home Ent.'s initial release slate is as follows:
November 2007:The keystone to PorchLight Home Ent.'s launch is the LeapFrog 30-minute animated DVD special, A TAD OF CHRISTMAS CHEER, a new holiday offering for preschoolers and their families with a brand new spin on the classic It's A Wonderful Life, but this tale is told on a smaller scale featuring four-year-old Tad Frog, his family, friends and his very own fairy god-bug, Edison.
Jones said, "LeapFrog is one of the leading educational electronic companies in the world and we are confident that this new release will follow in the path of prior LeapFrog DVD releases that have sold millions of units to date."
From the classic PBS series ADVENTURES FROM THE BOOK OF VIRTUES comes A CHRISTMAS CAROL FOR ANNIE, a 60-minute animated offering of a clever adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale of the spirit of Christmas told with a more modern teenage twist.
December 2007:Premiering on the Lifetime Channel in November prior to its DVD release, THE FAMILY HOLIDAY stars funny man Dave Coulier (FULL HOUSE) and is a hilarious 90-minute, live-action comedy that takes a dog, two kids, a nanny and a loveable con man to unwrap the true meaning of Christmas.
A 90-minute live-action adventure, TREASURE ISLAND KIDS: THE PIRATES OF TREASURE ISLAND has wacky inventor Conrad Dawson, the man who has spent his life trying to find the treasure on Treasure Island, broke and desperate to keep the island he launches Camp Treasure Island for kids from all over the world to enjoy. Nasty villain (Randy Quaid) believes he is a descendant from the infamous pirate Captain Flint and arrives to take over the island. When Conrad and his wife taken captive it's up to the kids to save the island and the summer camp.
Los Angeles-based PorchLight Ent. (www.porchlight.com) is a multi-faceted company focused on the production and distribution of family entertainment and licensing and merchandising representation for children's and family brands and trademarks. Since its formation in 1995 by veteran entertainment execs Bruce Johnson and Baumann, PorchLight has produced more than 30 live-action and animated movies and major animated series, including the Emmy Award-winning animated series, TUTENSTEIN, for Discovery Kids and Jetix Europe; JAY JAY THE JET PLANE for PBS; FOUR EYES for France 3, Nickelodeon Asia and Nickelodeon Australia; and ADVENTURES FROM THE BOOK OF VIRTUES for PBS, plus a series of direct-to-videos for Leapfrog, the leading electronic toy company. It is currently co-producing ANIMALIA for the BBC, PBS, Nickelodeon and Network Ten in Australia and CBC in Canada, SECRET SATURDAYS for Cartoon Network, A TAD OF CHRISTMAS CHEER for Leapfrog, and a lineup of live-action and animated movies for the international television and DVD market.