Continuing the national and international momentum for the new children's series, ANIMALIA, PorchLight Ent. has closed a deal with WETA, Washington, D.C. PBS station, which will present the series to the PBS stations nationwide.
WETA will bring the high-end CG animated series (40x26) to PBS stations for broadcast in the beginning in January 2008. The series brings Graeme Base's international best-selling picture book, ANIMALIA, to life and is produced by Burberry/Lux Monkey/DoubleBase Prods. in association with PorchLight Ent.
"ANIMALIA is an extraordinary television series and we could not be more thrilled to be introducing this series to PBS stations throughout the country," said Dalton Delan, EVP of WETA. "The series is targeted for children six to ten, but will be enjoyed by younger children and adults as well. We believe it will find a home on every PBS station."
ANIMALIA will be one of the first children's series to launch virtually simultaneously in all four of the major English speaking countries of the world. In addition to PBS, ANIMALIA will be broadcast on BBC in the U.K., CBC in Canada; and Network Ten and Nickelodeon in Australia. The series is being distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide and in North America by PorchLight Ent. Worldwide licensing and merchandising are being handled by PorchLight, excluding Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. being handled by BBC Worldwide.
The series features two contemporary kids, Zoe and Alex, who visit the extraordinary land of Animalia, a place inhabited by talking animals. Mysterious events have undermined the very fabric of Animalia's civilization and Zoe and Alex and their new best friends, G'Bubu and Iggy (a huge green gorilla and a small but heroic iguana) will do everything they can to restore peace and order. The series will also offer an interactive website to accompany the show.
ANIMALIA is being produced by Animalia Prods., which is a joint venture between BAFTA-Award winning Burberry Prods., Graeme Base and Co-Producer Murray Pope, in association with Emmy Award winning PorchLight Ent. Executive Producers for the program are Ewan Burnett, Graeme Base, Bruce Johnson, Tom Ruegger and Murray Pope.
WETA Washington D.C. is one of the three largest producing stations in the public television system and the flagship public broadcaster in the nation's capital. For more information on WETA, visit weta.org.
PorchLight Ent. is a multi-faceted company focused on the production and distribution of high-quality family entertainment and licensing and merchandising representation for children's and family brands and trademarks. For more information, visit www.porchlight.com .
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
