Prism Ent. To Bring Nickelodeon Family To Life

Nickelodeon Europe has commissioned Prism Entertainment to produce local versions of its unique NICKELODEON FAMILY animation.

Jules Borkent, senior director, programming, acquisitions & development, Nickelodeon Europe, asked Prism to produce three localized versions of the NICKELODEON FAMILY for broadcast on its channels in Spain, Benelux and Scandinavia to air at the end of the year.

Following a national competition-based search in each of the three territories, a real family will be chosen to star in their very own cartoon series. Prism will bring them to life through animation. The family will be featured in a series of comedy-driven storylines written around their particular habits and pastimes. These will then be worked into scripts and carefully crafted by Prism into high quality 2D animated cartoons.

Prism’s joint mds Myke Crosby and Amelia Johnson will exec produce the three cartoons with Nancy Gold as head animator and illustrator.

“This commission is a major coup for Prism,” said Johnson. “We have an established relationship with Nickelodeon in the U.K. through our BIN WEEVILS co-production project, but we are delighted to have won such a far-reaching commission from Nickelodeon Europe. The NICKELODEON FAMILY project has major worldwide potential and we look forward to working with Nickelodeon to bring the families to life on their other channels.”

Borkent adds, “Everyone would love to be the star of their own animation series, and now Nickelodeon is making that dream possible. It’s a really compelling concept which will appeal to viewers across the spectrum while making fascinating viewing that’s relevant to the marketplace. The format successfully translates across borders and languages, and we look forward to rolling out to other Nickelodeon channels around the world in the near future.”

Prism Ent. is a leading media entertainment and rights owning content company targeting both children’s and youth audiences. Established in 2000 by Johnson, Crosby and Rod Henwood, the company creates, produces and acquires children’s entertainment content across television, interactive and Internet. Prism has forged strong relationships with all the key terrestrial and multichannel broadcasters in the U.K. including BBC, ITV, C4, Five, Trouble, Nickelodeon and Fox Kids. Prism is now looking to expand its international presence though strategic relationships and by securing international television and licensing deals for its series and formats.

Nickelodeon is seen by more than 58 million households in Europe via terrestrial, cable, satellite and digital platforms. Nickelodeon Europe is comprised pf the following channels (NB. channel = more than 28 hours of programming per week); Nickelodeon Belgium; Nickelodeon CIS serving Russia and CIS states; Nickelodeon Cyprus (on LTV); Nickelodeon European serving Malta, Bulgaria and Serbia; Nickelodeon Holland; Nickelodeon Hungary; Nickelodeon Israel; Nickelodeon Nordic serving Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and Nickelodeon Spain. Branded program blocks also run in France (Nicktoons on Canal J), Turkey (Nickelodeon on CNBC), Greece (Nickelodeon on Polis), Russia (Nickelodeon on TNT) and Africa (Nickelodeon on KTV and K-World) in addition to international program sales to third party broadcasters. There are also five localized online services - nickelodeon.dk (Denmark), nickelodeon.nl (Holland), nickelodeon-es.com (Spain), nickelodeon.se (Sweden), nickelodeon.be (Belgium) - which reflect Nickelodeon's dynamic on-air environment with original online content customized for kids in each market.