London, UK -- Acamar Films has acquired the rights to award-winning author and illustrator Ted Dewan’s hugely popular pre-school book property Bing Bunny. It is creating a brand new 78 x 7’ animated series and Acamar has secured a major coup in signing its first broadcast deal with internationally renowned pre-school channel CBeebies in the UK, bringing the Bing Bunny books’ unique philosophy and story-telling to television audiences.
Acamar is also creating a significant publishing, licensing and merchandising campaign around the broadcast launch with several major partners already on board. A multi-territory representation agreement has been signed with award winning TLC (The Licensing Company) to develop a long term, high quality program with key partners around the world.
In the first of those partnerships, Acamar and TLC have secured a global deal with HarperCollins to publish classic Ted Dewan Bing Bunny stories and a major multi-format TV tie-in programme after a fiercely competitive auction ran in the children’s publishing industry. HarperCollins will be unveiling full details of its publishing plans and ground-breaking transmedia launch to the trade shortly.
Acamar’s Co-founder Mikael Shields and Phillip Bergkvist have assembled an impressive team of industry experts to work on the new animated series of Bing Bunny. Industry veteran and kids’ specialist Mikael will produce the show; Lucy Murphy, who has held key roles at King Rollo, EVA Entertainment and Novel Entertainment, is Associate Producer and former MD of Nickelodeon UK Howard Litton is an Executive Producer.
Bing Bunny celebrates the realities, learning and adventure of being a pre-school child. Life is full of everyday drama for both young children and for the grownups in their lives. Bing Bunny authentically dramatises these real-life experiences, celebrating the mishaps, mess, energy and wonder with the reassuring exclamation “It’s a Bing Thing!”. The series stars Bing Bunny and his learned, ageless carer and best friend Flop, along with a cast of friends and family.
Each 7-minute episode is a ‘micro-drama’ which explores what life is really like for pre-schoolers and the grown ups in their lives - from taking a bath to making a smoothie, the small stories, told in real time, and from Bing’s point of view, make compelling drama.
Mikael Shields says: “It’s a privilege to work on Bing Bunny - to take Ted Dewan’s incredible books and to adapt them for the small screen has become rather personal for each member of our team. We are absolutely thrilled to be working with CBeebies and, after a lengthy development, just delighted that the show is going to be made and broadcast to children worldwide. I also believe that we have secured the best possible global publishing and licensing partners in Harper Collins and TLC and really look forward working with both of those teams.”
Kay Benbow, Controller of CBeebies adds: “We can’t wait to welcome Bing Bunny to CBeebies. The stories reflect the real lives of our very youngest audience members and their parents and caregivers – it is animated reality TV for toddlers, but done with such care, authenticity, warmth and charm – it is simply captivating.”
As Bing Bunny creator Ted Dewan says: “When a pre-school kid feels like they’re seeing themselves in their own life, and a parent sees their own kid in Bing– that’s when they completely fall in love with him.”
Ann-Janine Murtagh, Publisher at HarperCollins Children's Books adds: "We have a fabulous history of building character brands here at HarperCollins, with a star studded line-up that includes Paddington, The Tiger that Came to Tea and The Cat in the Hat. We are delighted to welcome Bing Bunny to our list and add him to that stellar cast of literary stars. Our vision is to build the heritage brands of the future and this acquisition represents a benchmark moment in our strategic growth plans for our children's list. We truly believe Bing Bunny has game changing potential in the pre-school market and a unique, evergreen brand quality. Indeed, my own children grew up on Ted's award winning books and I am very much looking forward to introducing them to generations ahead."
Source: Acamar Films