Key executive to lead independent motion picture and television production company’s expansion into the children's television space following the launch of animated series ‘Ready Jet Go!’ on PBS Kids.
HOLLYWOOD -- Wind Dancer Films, the company behind Roseanne, Home Improvement, and What Women Want, has set its sights on the children’s television space. Leading the charge, the company has named Dete Meserve, Principal. Meserve has been a member of Wind Dancer’s executive team for the last 15 years.
An accomplished creator and producer of independent movies and award-winning television shows, Meserve will lead Wind Dancer's expansion into the children's television space, which began in earnest with the launch of the company’s first kids’ series, Ready Jet Go!. The new animated series airs on PBS KIDS in the U.S. and is being sold to broadcasters worldwide.
“As part of our growth strategy, Wind Dancer is always looking to expand into other areas of the entertainment arena and push the envelope for the type of content we can deliver to our audiences,” commented Meserve. “Our move into animated kids’ TV is a natural outgrowth of the hundreds of hours of family TV and sitcoms we have produced for primetime. As a full-service studio, we are able to create and control the children’s properties that we develop and the sky’s the limit for what we can accomplish in this genre. With children’s TV content being viewed and streamed by millions of kids around the world each day, we are in a unique position to reach them where they are and make a positive, lasting impact with our first kids’ series and the others to come.”
A one-stop shop, Wind Dancer develops, finances, and produces animated content for kids. The company works closely with partners, including London-based Cake, one of the world's leading kids' and family entertainment distributors, and Licensing Street, the New York City-based licensing and retail development firm on international sales as well as licensing and merchandising of current and future animated properties. For Ready Jet Go!, Wind Dancer has also recently established a studio in Glendale, CA to further facilitate its work on projects from start to finish.
Joining Meserve in launching the children's television division will be Rusty Tracy, who she has tapped as VP of Animation. Tracy has served as a creative director on an array of popular animated kids TV series, including Wallykazam, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and The Penguins of Madagascar, and more.
Showing a keen understanding of the kids’ entertainment space with her first project, Meserve is an executive producer and works with creator Craig Bartlett (Hey Arnold!, Dinosaur Train) on Ready Jet Go!. The new program takes young viewers on enlightening, far-flung adventures in outer space, building on their natural curiosity about science, technology and astronomy, with a big dose of entertainment value and physical and character-based humor all along the way. Meserve is also heading up another project, Not A Box, an animated TV series now in development based on the award-winning book by Antoinette Portis. The company is also currently circling a number of projects that are expected to be put into development in the coming months.
In her illustrious career, Meserve has produced numerous films and television series and has been responsible for securing over $65 million in financing for film and TV properties. She has worked on award-winning series such as Home Improvement and Saint George with George Lopez (Executive Producer) as well as hit movies, including What Women Want, Bernie (Producer), The Keeping Room (Producer), Wildest Africa (Executive Producer), and As Cool As I Am (Producer).
Prior to joining Wind Dancer Films, Meserve was Vice President of USC Radio, the University of Southern California’s radio network. She began her career as Station Manager of the National Public Radio affiliate in Evansville, Indiana and Assistant General Manager of the PBS affiliate. Meserve is also the author of the best-selling and multi-award-winning novel Good Sam, which she will produce as a film for The Hallmark Channel.
Source: Wind Dancer Films
