Hana’s Helpline

TV Kids
Weekly, September 18, 2007

ORIGIN: Based on an original idea by Jack and
Elke Counsell.

DISTRIBUTOR: S4C International, which is run by a
joint venture between the U.K. production-and-distribution company Parthenon
Entertainment and Welsh facilities company Barcud Derwen. U.K.-based licensing
company Start Licensing is handling the licensing and merchandising.

CREATORS: Originally created by Jack and Elke
Counsell and developed for television by Andrew Offiler of Welsh-based
animation experts Calon.

TV SHOW: Hana’s Helpline is a 10-minute stop-motion animation
series for children, created and produced by Calon. It features Hana, a Duck
agony aunt, who together with her duckling son Francis helps young animals with
their problems. No problem is too big for Hana who, for instance, helps Lee the
lion overcome his fear of the dentist and Douglas the duckling who is too
frightened to learn to swim. The series combines handcrafted 3-D models with
colorful 2-D sets. The first series of 26×10-minute episodes has been delivered
and production is under way on the second batch of 26 episodes. The second
season will deliver in summer 2008.

EXECUTIVE
PRODUCERS: Robin
Lyons, Nick Wilson and Meirion Davies.

MAIN
BROADCASTER: Hana’s
Helpline is a
co-production with Calon, S4C, Five and ZDF, with funding from the EU’s Media+
Programme and the Wales Creative IP Fund. A Welsh-language version of the
animation aired first on S4C under the title Holi Hana in April. Hana’s Helpline launched on U.K. broadcaster Five’s Milkshake
slot on June 12 this
year.

TV SALES: ZDF and KI.KA in Germany, SVT Sweden,
TV2 Denmark, TV2 Norway, YLE Finland, France 5 and TPS in France, RAI in Italy,
RTP Portugal, Nickelodeon Australia, Hop! Channel in Israel, TVB Hong Kong, EBS
Korea, TV12 Singapore, JCC Middle East and Eastern TV Taiwan.

MAJOR TOY
LICENSEES: British toy
company Golden Bear for the U.K., Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

PRODUCTS: Random House Children’s Books is the
global publishing partner for Hana’s Helpline, while U.K. company 2Entertain has the
British DVD rights and is working towards a Christmas release in 2007 and a
spring release in 2008.

OTHER
INITIATIVES: A deal
has been concluded with U.K. publishing company Redan Publishing. Redan is
featuring Hana’s Helpline in four issues of the Fun To Learn Friends comic magazine over the summer. The
content includes activities, puzzles and photo features. Fun To Learn
Friends is sold in
supermarkets and news agents and is aimed at boys and girls aged 3 to 7. A
fortnightly publication, it is the second best-selling preschool magazine in
the market, with a circulation of more than 81,000.

In addition, a
cause-related marketing partnership has been developed with the charity
Barnados. Five collectable zip pulls featuring characters from the series will
be sold in branches of Alliance Boots pharmacies throughout the U.K. Funds
raised from the sale of the zip pulls will benefit Barnados. The promotion will
be communicated in store with counter display boxes and posters.

STRATEGY
FOR ROLLOUT: “The TV
show is being aired across Europe from autumn 2007 onwards,” says Anna-Lisa
Jenaar, the head of children’s programming at S4C International. “The
merchandising, publishing and DVD activities will start in spring 2008.”

Ian Downes,
the managing director of Start Licensing, adds: “The U.K. is the lead market
for the licensing of Hana's Helpline. In addition to the existing licensees already on board,
the plan is to add key partners in apparel, electronic learning and ancillary
toys such as jigsaw puzzles. Discussions are under way with theatrical
production companies as well. In addition, new areas of licensing, such as
music downloads, are in discussion. The plan is to replicate the U.K. program
in other markets through local agents. With this in mind, local agents are
being appointed. The first of these is Mega Merchandising in the Nordic
countries. Licensees such as Golden Bear and Random House will work closely
with local agents to set up distribution deals for their product ranges.”