Zodiak Kids’ UK production company, The Foundation announced it has started animation on its brand new mixed-media pre-school show, Floogals. The 52 x 11’ series has been commissioned by Sprout, the NBC-Universal owned kids channel with a 55 million audience reach, who will also co-produce. The series is set to launch on the channel in 2015.
Based on an original idea from Dan Good and developed by The Foundation, Floogals is being produced in conjunction with Nevision Limited who is the strategic investment partner in the series. The deal was brokered by Karen Vermeulen, SVP Global Sales and Coproduction, Zodiak Kids with James Cabourne of Nevision. The show will be distributed internationally by Zodiak Kids in 2015.
Michael Carrington, CEO of The Foundation explained, “Floogals will be an entirely British production with The Foundation set to benefit from the UK Animation Tax Credit, enabling the Company to shoot and animate the series entirely in the UK with UK special effects studio, Jellyfish”.
Floogal’s is a state of the art combination of photo real CGI and live-action never seen before in preschool television. It follows the wild and comedic adventures of three teeny aliens who’ve landed in a suburban house near you. Their Planet Floog is very different to Planet Earth, of course, and everything we take for granted is fascinating to them – from ice cubes to bubble baths, birthday cakes to wild rabbits, garden hoses, trumpets and escaped hamsters.
The trio of aliens are keen to impress with their daily reports to Floog on what they’ve discovered. Their investigations involve theories and clue following that lead them and our viewers to fun revelations. ‘Accidental Learning’ at it’s most hilarious and enjoyable. Through the daily missions of our little aliens children will gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the uniqueness of the world around them just as they are learning about the world and how it works themselves, with a hearty helping of giggles and classic entertaining slapstick along the way.
Karen Vermeulen, SVP Global Sales and Coproduction, Zodiak Kids added, “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Sprout, Nevision and Jellyfish on this exciting new co-pro. Sprout is the perfect home for Floogals and joins a fantastic line-up of leading distinctive pre-school brands which are flourishing on their growing platform. We are confident that the partnership will produce a stand-out hybrid show which will appeal to children everywhere.”
James Cabourne Nevision added, “Floogals is one of the most original and ambitious kids series we have considered and we are proud to be investing. The creative team behind the series, along with the US partner, has encouraged us to believe that Floogals will become a worldwide success.”
Philip Dobree, Jellyfish Pictures CEO and Creative Director, said, “The combination of the UK animation tax credit, the Floogals concept, and teaming up with The Foundation and Sprout has created the prefect scenario for us to embark on this series in the UK. We are all incredibly excited to be starting on this fantastic series. With a great team in place we look forward to building on our reputation for creating award winning animation and VFX.”
Floogals is directed by SHYNOLA, the showrunner is Ceri Barnes and the Executive Producers are Nigel Pickard for The Foundation & James Cabourne for Nevision.
