Olivia Books to Become New Nick Preschool Series

NEW YORK, May 29:
Nickelodeon has partnered with Chorion to bring Ian Falconer’s bestselling Olivia
books to life in a new 3-D
CGI-animated preschool TV series that is slated to premiere during the first
quarter of 2009.

Published by Simon &
Schuster, more than six million copies of the Olivia book series have been sold to date, and have been
translated into more then 20 languages. The 26×30-minute TV series aims to
encourage children to be creative and to think beyond the scope of everyday
parameters. It will be animated by the Academy Award-nominated animation studio
Brown Bag Films; Teri Weiss will be the executive in charge with Chorion’s
Diana Manson, the executive VP of creative, and Megan Laughton, the director of
creative.

In addition, a
consumer-products campaign for the TV series is in the works. The Simon
Spotlight and Simon Scribbles imprints of Simon & Schuster will be
developing a television tie-in program that will include storybooks, novelty
and coloring books, set to launch in late 2009.

“Early in the development
process, Ian encouraged us to consider 3-D CGI for the adaptation to
television,” said Chorion’s Manson. “It was a brilliant idea and it inspired us
to find Brown Bag Films. They have been a wonderful partner as have the team at
Nickelodeon.”

—By Irene Lew