Aardman Staffs Up for Distribution Drive

BRISTOL, August 14: Aardman Animations has appointed Alix
Wiseman as head of sales for its new dedicated distribution division, Aardman
International, which launches at MIPCOM.

Wiseman takes up her new post at the end of this month, in
time to attend Cartoon Forum. Most recently she was the head of sales and
senior territory manager at Entertainment Rights, following a stint as program
sales executive at Channel 4 International.

In her new post, Wiseman reports to Miles Bullough, the head
of broadcast and development at Aardman Animations. She will be responsible for
the British and worldwide television and new media distribution of the
company’s brand portfolio. She will also be looking for third-party properties
that can be exploited along with Aardman’s in-house productions across
television, licensing and merchandising and new media.

At MIPCOM, Aardman is launching Shaun the Sheep, its 40×7-minute stop-motion animation series for
the CBBC featuring the star of the Wallace and Gromit short A Close
Shave. Aimed primarily at kids aged 4-to-8,
the series has already been picked up by co-producer WDR in Germany and has presold
to ABC Australia, TVNZ New Zealand, SVT Sweden, DRTV Denmark, NRK Norway, YLE
Finland and RTBF in Belgium.