Global search initiative seeks original, comedy-driven content, with an eye towards eventual series development; inaugural program’s first show greenlit from a short, ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ debuts at Annecy 2022, on Thursday, June 16.
Nickelodeon has issued an open call for its Intergalactic Shorts Program 2.0. The initiative looks to identify new creative voices and nurture their visions for original comedy-driven content with an eye toward representation. Rock, Paper, Scissors is the first of the program first set of shorts to be greenlit for a series. An additional six projects from 2019 are currently in production at Nickelodeon. The announcement was made by Ramsey Naito, president, Nickelodeon Animation and Paramount Animation.
Nickelodeon will debut Rock, Paper, Scissors during a special Nickelodeon Animation presentation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Thursday, June 16.
“We knew we were onto something special with creators Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman and their hilarious characters in Rock, Paper, Scissors, which we are so proud to bring to series,” said Naito. “Finding and growing talent through the process of pitch to hit is what powers our Intergalactic Shorts Program, and we can’t wait to get started finding the next great creator in animation through our program’s just-launched second phase.”
The Rock, Paper, Scissors short and series are created, written, and executive produced by Kyle Stegina (Robot Chicken) and Josh Lehrman (Robot Chicken), with Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Bob Boyle (The Fairly OddParents) serving as executive producers on the series.
The 2022 program’s shorts and long-form animated series will run on Nickelodeon’s platforms.
Shorts should feature one-of-a-kind, character-driven comedy, and storytelling, combining humor with action-adventure, mystery, and sci-fi. Nickelodeon’s mission is to make the best, original humor-driven content for kids with content that is appealing to all family members, featuring a co-viewing lens of preschool (K 2-5) and big kids (K 6-11).
Kari Kim, vice president, Animation Development, Nickelodeon Animation, launched and oversaw the inaugural Intergalactic Shorts Program with Conrad Vernon and Paul Watling (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as co-executive producers. Daniel Wineman, vice president, Animation Development, Nickelodeon Animation and Chris Rose, vice president, Production & Development, Kids & Family, Global will oversee the 2022 Intergalactic Shorts Program 2.0.
Source: Nickelodeon
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
