Volume 3 – 2020
Featured in this edition: Imagine Create Media Inc., K6 Media Group, La Pastèque Productions, Little Engine Moving Pictures, Little Scooter Media, Lopii Productions, Manito Média, marblemedia, Northwood Entertainment, and Pink Parrot Media.
Imagine Create Media Inc.
The Gumboot Kids kept Imagine Create busy in 2019, launching across Amazon Prime, Roku, Playkids and Tubi TV in the US, while a series of The Gumboot Kids’ holiday specials was created for CBC Kids. The Gumboot Kids’ live show went on a National Tour, and four books were released to support the series, as part of The Gumboot Kids’ publishing deal with Firefly Books.
As for awards, Imagine Create won the Best Web App/Series for Daisy & The Gumboot Kids at the 2019 Kidscreen Awards, alongside the Leo Award for Best Youth or Children’s Program or Series.
K6 Media Group
Last Christmas, K6 Media Group participated in the production of Spookley And The Christmas Kittens. The Disney Channel broadcast gathered 15 million viewers within 3 weeks.
Their Christmas special, Lil Santa, received full funding from the Kids Digital Series program (a partnership between Shaw Rocket Fund and the CMF). The web series and TV special will be broadcast in Canada and the UK in 2020, while the series is available for presale in all other territories.
Along with several international partners, K6 Media Group created a live TV stunt with SpongeBob SquarePants to celebrate his 20th anniversary. On the day, SpongeBob interacted with the live audience, and took phone calls from over 20,000 fans. The TV event garnered over 1.4 million viewers across the globe.
Last March saw K6 Media Group and Belvision Studios launch the mobile app Les coulisses de l’animation. The app dives into the archives of the first animated films and characters in Europe, including Tintin, Asterix, The Smurfs and Lucky Luke.
La Pastèque Productions
Over the last year, La Pastèque Productions has been working on La liste des choses qui existent. This web series will be available on NFB and Télé-Québec websites starting 28 February, with the series’ interactive quiz available on the same day via SQUAT – Télé-Québec’s youth platform. You can follow the show via La Pastèque, NFB.ca and Télé-Québec’s Instagram account!
Little Engine Moving Pictures
Cutie Pugs is going global and heading to Israel and UK small screens this year. Meanwhile, Cutie Pugs ABC is currently in production, with the series set to premiere on TVOKids in June. Last year, the paw-esome Cutie Pugs games won YMAMJ’s Best Preschool Interactive award, as well as a Silver W3 Award.
Little Engine plans to go into pre-production with Starseeker at the end of 2020. The pilot of the new live action CGI hybrid adventure series was featured in Variety and @kidstvdaily. BAFTA-winning, Emmy-nominated director Warren P. Sonoda has joined the series for 2020.
Little Scooter Media
In 2019, Little Scooter Media wrapped on Season 1 of Blynk and Aazoo, which aired on TVO and Knowledge Network. The series was sold to Hong Kong and Macau, and continues to garner lots of interest from around the world. Blynk and Aazoo has been nominated for a Kidscreen Award in the Best Mixed-Media Series category!
Lopii Productions
Last year, Lopii Productions was greenlit for their first TVOKids series, My Home, My Life!. The live action series will begin airing on TVOKids and TVOKid’s YouTube channel from 16 March. Sinking Ship Entertainment has come on board as the series’ international distributor.
Lopii Productions was selected to commission a 1-minute short film to be included in Sesame Street’s upcoming 50th season. A Very Special Fiesta will air on HBO on 2 May.
Lopii Productions has a number of exciting projects in development for 2020, including Twin World (Preschool/live action/animated), Makeover My Best Friend! (Family/live action), #PaintTheNorth (Live action/school age) and On the Road with Fay and Fluffy! (Live action/preschool).
Manito Média
Canot cocasse was renewed for a 5th season by Unis TV and ICI Radio-Canada, and is set to air in 2021.
marblemedia
Last year, marblemedia relaunched and rebranded their marbleKids YouTube channel, with Smashalot! premiering as the first series under the new banner.
Season 1 of All-Round Champion, an inspiring challenge show that features young athletes competing in each other’s sports, will premiere on 19 March in the US on BYUtv and on the 25 March in Canada on TVO. Season 2 of All-Round Champion has already been commissioned, and this time around, the focus is on winter sports!
marblemedia has acquired the rights to The Other Boy, M.G. Hennessey’s bestselling novel about a transgender boy on the cusp of puberty. The Other Boy will be developed as a light comedic drama series for family audiences.
The hilarious and fun-filled family game show Just Like Mom and Dad was nominated in the Best Children’s or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series category at the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards. On top of that, Just Like Mom and Dad, Opie’s Home, and Super Mighty Makers all received nominations in the 2019 Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Northwood Entertainment
For the second year in a row, Anne With An E won Best Drama Series at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2019. Meanwhile, the final season of the show premiered on Netflix in January of this year.
Now gearing up for its US theatrical release, The Grizzlies was the 5th highest grossing Canadian film in 2019. The film has won many awards including the Palm Springs Audience Choice Award, and the DGC Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film.
Pink Parrot Media
Thanks to financing from Shaw, Pink Parrot Media was able to develop and produce 2D tween series, #NCK. Centered around a teenage singing group, #NCK will be released on 28 February on TVA.ca’s web platform, and will air on Quebec’s Yoopa channel from 9 March. #NCK will be launched for the international market at Kidscreen 2020.
Pink Parrot Media’s feature film Racetime was sold in over 200 countries and territories during 2018/2019. Furthermore, the film was released in the United States in November 2019, and in France, Poland and former Yugoslavia at the end of January 2020 – reaching over 100M households.
In the next few weeks, Pink Parrot Media will be finishing their 2D short series Double Dribble, which will be ready for the international market in June 2020.
