Animation Insider

UK based IP incubator Wildseed Studios announces a new raft of six new pilots including a comedy featuring Green Wing star Michelle Gomez as a right wing agony aunt, new animation from Tom Gran and Martin Woolley (AKA the Spin Kick Bros), a new show from Funny Women winner Gabby Best, and animation from award-winning director Matthew Walker.

London, UK – creator led next gen IP incubator Wildseed Studios announces details of six new pilots including Heather’s American Medicine, a new comedy created by and starring Michelle Gomez (Green Wing, The Book Group and Bad Education), a new animated sitcom from award-winning animation director Matthew Walker, three animated series from the Spin Kick Bros, and a new show for Funny Women winner, Gabby Best.

Lone Wolves teaser (work in progress)

Bristol based animators Tom Gran and Martin Woolley, AKA the Spin Kick Bros fresh from making their first show for Cartoon Hangover in the US, have been signed to Wildseed Studios for three pilots including: Lone Wolves – a sitcom about a family of hard-as-nails bikers trying to live together, Rajesh Finesse – an Anglo-Indian aristo cad getting in and out of scrapes with his gentlemanly English manservant and Buck and Rick – a serialised western-style revenge comedy about improbable twins out to avenge the murder of their mother.

“As soon as we met with Tom and Martin we knew we were in the presence of some serious talent – it’s not every day you come across three fully formed brilliant, irreverent, wicked shows boxed up and ready to go. We didn’t play it cool – we jumped straight in!” said Cleverly, “Adult animation is a massive category globally, and represents a huge untapped opportunity for Wildseed Studios – it is a genre we are determined to unlock in the UK.”

Heather’s American Medicine teaser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crEAe5hoxmw

A new comedy featuring Green Wing star Michelle Gomez as a right wing agony aunt, Heather’s American Medicine features Heather McAfferty, a no-nonsense Scottish Agony Aunt whose mission is to cure America’s woes, one whiplash slap-down at a time. Heather’s American Medicine sees her reply to video problems sent in by troubled Americans struggling with the madness of modern life in the hope that her Medicine will cure rather than kill them. But as Heather says – “if it didn’t taste so bad – it wouldn’t work so good!”.

Wildseed Creative Director Jesse Cleverly said: “We’ve been big fans of Michelle’s work for a long time and are absolutely delighted to be working with her on her new character ‘Heather’. It’s Wildseed’s mission both to discover emerging talent and work with established names like Michelle who are attracted to the creative space we provide to creators to explore their creative ambitions.”

“Working with Wildseed gave me the chance to find my own voice creatively” said Gomez. “Most of your career as an actor you’re trying to tell someone else’s story or convey someone else’s viewpoint or politics but I got the chance to comment on where we are at in society today from my own perspective, uncensored and supported. We were able to create a character who we hope will be able to talk to the people, point out all the ways in which they are so very wrong, and hopefully insult them horribly in the process! “

Gabby Best as Marijana at the Funny Women Awards 2012

https://vimeo.com/m/64089136

Winner of Funny Women 2012, Gabby Best is developing a new character which will make its Wildseed debut early in 2014. “We’re really attracted to strong, female comedy characters” said Cleverly “and Gabby encapsulates all of that, and more. Since she won Funny Women in 2012 we’ve seen her grow from strength to strength and hope our collaboration can add more fuel to her comedy fire!”

Astronauts (clip from the original short film)

Wildseed Studios has also signed ‘Astronauts’ an animation series based on the acclaimed short from Bristol-based animation director Matthew Walker. The studios are in advanced discussion with A-list American voice talent and networks to develop Astronauts into an adult animated TV about a mismatched pair of Astronauts on a chaotic spaceship with an incompetent crew and psychotic robot whose “kill instinct”, he constantly reassures the crew, “has been almost completely suppressed”.

Cleverly comments: “We invested in Astronauts after seeing the short film which we loved for the wonderful characters Matthew had created and the potential for expansion is represents.”

All the content Wildseed are creating with these artists will be available to view across their digital platforms in early 2014.

“Our first 6 months has all been about rolling out our proposition to the creative community,” said Miles Bullough, Wildseed Studio’s Managing Director. “We’ve had a really positive response to our offer and now, as well as maintaining the flow of new ideas coming into the Company, we can ramp up our production pipeline and start setting up our distribution channels. It’s going to be a very busy and very exciting second six months for Wildseed.”

Open Road just released a brand new TRAILER and POSTER for their hilarious 3D animated film, THE NUT JOB! When Liberty Park doesn’t have enough food for winter, it’s up to Surly the squirrel (voiced by Will Arnett) and a rag-tag team of animals to plan a nut store heist of nut-rageous proportions! With an all-star cast, including Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Katherine Heigl, and Maya Rudolph, this is sure to be the nuttiest movie of the year! Check out the trailer that debuted TODAY on Fandango, Fandango Family, Hulu, and Movies.com!

SYNOPSIS:  

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNutJobMovie

iKIDS 2014 ANNOUNCES KEYNOTE SPEAKER, LAIKA’S ADVENTURES ARCHITECT LANCE WEILER
The full event program is now live at ikidsevent.kidscreen.com November 20, 2013: Kidscreen is thrilled to announce that Lance Weiler—the mastermind behind last year’s ground-breaking immersive educational project Laika’s Adventures—will jumpstart iKids 2014 with a keynote entitled Designing For the 21st Century. Sharing insights gleaned through helping two classrooms of kids—with a continent between them—work together to get a lost robot home, Lance will deliver a thought-provoking presentation that outlines his approach to building digital experiences for modern audiences. He’ll also explore how to take advantage of changes in media consumption, embrace emerging technologies and build franchisable storyworlds that innovate new business models.
An alumni of the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, Lance has designed experiences that have reached millions of people via theatres, mobile devices and online. He is recognized as a pioneer for the innovative way he mixes storytelling and technology, and also a thought leader in the entertainment space. Wired Magazine has identified him as “one of the 25 people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood,” and Businessweek echoed the sentiment by naming him “one of the 18 who changed Hollywood.” Lance currently sits on a World Economic Forum steering committee for the future of content creation, as well as teaching courses at Columbia University on the art, craft and business of storytelling in the 21st century, and developing a slate of film, TV and gaming projects.
Kidscreen has also just unveiled the full conference program for iKids, which will take place on Thursday, February 13 at the Westin NY Times Square. In addition to the iKids Awards Ceremony and Luncheon, where the winners of our second annual awards for the market’s best digital media products for kids will be announced, highlights of the event include:
In Pursuit of the iDream
With hundreds of thousands of kid-targeted apps in the Apple App Store alone (never mind Android, Windows and other marketplaces), competition is only getting tougher for developers. Drawing on research from her upcoming book on the US app market, Dr. Carla Fisher will give a lowdown on the current kids app landscape and share tips on how to leverage its biggest possibilities and sidestep its biggest challenges.
Nick App: A making-of case study
Sitting at five million downloads and counting, Nickelodeon’s Nick App has more than made good on its promise to deliver the net’s content through fun and games wherever kids may be.

In this session, Katie Bessiere and Jane Gould from Nick’s Consumer Insights Research Group will provide an in-depth look at the role kids’ input played in designing and building this ground-breaking app and the features that are driving its audience engagement.
Playing by the Rules
First, COPPA 2.0 changed the children’s app development space in the US. And now, Apple’s new global Kids category is poised to change the game around the globe. But as the new regulations and restrictions that come along with these initiatives continue to pile up, how can IP owners and developers create apps that comply, meet parental approval, and keep kids engaged? In this session, renowned consultant Linnette J. Attai will give five essential tips for doing just that.  Making Sense with Digital Marketing. There’s no shortage of apps, websites and subscription-based diversions for kids to choose from, so how do you get your properties and products noticed in all the digital din? This panel’s group of experts will offer key insights on the marketing and promotional strategies, tactics, and tools to guide digital goods to the top of the charts.  Hot Right Now: 45 minutes, 11 slides and a lot of good ideas.
To cap off iKids 2014, five digital media pros who live on the bleeding edge of innovation will talk through 20 new things they’re excited about, and highlight what it all means for the kids industry in particular. This can’t-miss session is sure to be informative, inspiring―and a lot of fun!
iKids passes are available for $695. Anyone interested in registering can do so online at https://ikidsevent.kidscreen.com/2014/register/, or offline by contacting Event Sales Manager Joel Pinto (jpinto@brunico.com or 416-408-2300 x650).
For further details, please contact:
Janet Balmforth/Aimee Norman at DDA Blueprint PR
Tel: +44 (0) 208 868 0511 Email: janet@ddablueprint.com