Bento Box & Princess Pictures Pact for Animated Content

FOX Entertainment’s Bento Box Entertainment and Melbourne-based producer Princess Pictures have entered into a first-look animation development deal.

Bento Box and Princess will develop animated content from undiscovered Australia-based creators that will be fully produced in the country with local talent and crews and made available for the global market.

Bento Box’s Scott Greenberg, co-founder and CEO; Joel Kuwahara, co-founder and president of production; and Ben Jones, creative director, will join Princess Pictures’ Laura Waters, founder; Mike Cowap, senior producer and Emma Fitzsimons, managing director, will executive produce all projects developed by the two companies.

“Laura, Mike and their entire team have the keen ability to identify emerging, multi-faceted storytellers, and, in doing so, are delivering some of the strongest comedy material we’ve seen,” said Greenberg. “Expanding our creative footprint globally is a top priority of ours; and we are excited to partner with Princess Pictures in Australia on finding, championing and introducing animation’s next wave of creators who deserve a shot to showcase their voices and points of view across platforms in the U.S. and beyond.”

“Australia punches above its weight in animation talent, with scores of Oscar nominations and wins, and very successful children’s animation series,” said Waters. “There’s a slew of Australian talent making hilarious animation online, all with dedicated audiences. In collaboration with Bento Box, we’re excited to support this new wave of comedy talent with professional budgets and access to opportunities on major platforms.”