Hana’s Helpline Secures Publishing Deal

LONDON, June 15: In a publishing deal brokered by Start
Licensing, the U.K.-based Redan Publishing will feature imagery from S4C International’s stop-motion preschool animated
property Hana’s Helpline in its
British comic magazine Fun To Learn Friends.

The proposed content will be featured in four issues of Fun
To Learn Friends over the summer and will
include activities, puzzles and photo features. Aimed at boys and girls aged
three to seven years old, Fun To Learn Friends is sold in supermarkets and newsagents throughout
the U.K. A fortnightly publication, it is the second bestselling preschool
magazine in the market with a circulation of more than 81,000.

In a separate deal, Mega Merchandising has been appointed as
the licensing agent for Hana’s Helpline
in the Nordic countries, where it will handle toys and merchandising. Other
licensees already on board for the series include Golden Bear as the master toy
licensee for the U.K., Europe, Australia and New Zealand; Random House
Children’s Books as the publishing partner, and 2Entertain, which is working
towards a U.K. DVD launch this fall.

Hana’s Helpline is
distributed internationally by S4C International, which is run by a joint
venture between Parthenon Entertainment and Welsh facilities company Barcud
Derwen.

A Welsh-language version of the animation first aired on S4C
in April under the title Holi Hana. Hana’s
Helpline launched on U.K. broadcaster
Five’s Milkshake slot on June 12. A slew of other broadcasters have already
picked up the series, including SVT Sweden, YLE Finland, TV2 Denmark and
Norway, RTP Portugal, RTBF Belgium, EBS Korea, TVB Hong Kong and TV12
Singapore.

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. Combining hand-crafted 3-D models
with colorful 2-D sets, the series features a duck agony aunt named Hana, who,
together with her duckling son Francis, helps young animals with their
problems.

Carl Hall, the managing director of Parthenon Entertainment,
commented: “Hana has already captured
the interest of broadcasters around the world and is now starting to prove
herself as a real cross-platform property. Parthenon, as the exclusive
distributor of the S4C International library, is proud to managing a property
with such cross platform potential.”