Rupert Bear–Follow the Magic

TV Kids Weekly,
November 7, 2006

NAME: Rupert Bear—Follow the Magic

ORIGIN: Rupert Bear has an 86-year heritage.
Over 50 million annuals have been sold around the world to date and generations
of children have grown up with Rupert.

CREATORS: Rupert Bear—Follow the Magic is a collaboration between
Entertainment Rights (ER), the U.K. animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films and
the British broadcaster Five.

TV SHOW: Rupert Bear—Follow the Magic is an animated series consisting of 52
10-minute episodes. Its unique mix of stop-frame animation and cutting-edge 3D
CGI to create magical locations and effects has produced a fresh and
contemporary new television series.

The series is
set in the woodland environment of Nutwood and its story lines help children
understand the patterns and rhythms of the natural world. Another important
element of the series is the use of magic. Some of the characters have magical
powers. Rupert’s friends include; fact-loving Bill Badger; tall but timid
Edward Trunk; Raggety the tree elf; feisty Ping Pong the Pekinese and her pet
baby dragon, Ming. Miranda the enchanting mermaid lives on Mermaid Rock in
Rocky Bay and Freddy and Freda Fox are playful and mischievous twins.

EXECUTIVE
PRODUCERS: Mike Heap,
the CEO of Entertainment Rights; Jane Smith the group commercial director at
Entertainment Rights; and Franc Vose, the art director and producer at Cosgrove
Hall Films

COMMISSIONING
BROADCASTER: Five for
the preschool block Milkshake! Rupert Bear—Follow the Magic premieres on Five’s terrestrial
channel on November 8 at 7:30 a.m. The series will also air on the Milkshake! block on Five’s new digital channel,
Five Life, starting in December.

TV SALES: Rupert Bear—Follow the Magic launched internationally at MIPCOM and
was very well received. ER is in negotiations with broadcast partners in all
key European markets including the important territories of Germany, France,
Benelux and Scandinavia, as well as Latin America and Japan.

MAJOR TOY
LICENSEES: Martin
Yaffe International has been signed as the master toy licensee and will develop
and manufacture a range of preschool toys including plush and plastic toys
featuring Rupert and his friends Bill Badger, Edward Trunk, Raggety the Tree
Elf as well as new characters Ping Pong, Ming and Miranda the Mermaid. The
magical world of Nutwood will be represented by a range of interactive plays
sets, which have been developed to encourage creative play. Martin Yaffe will
also develop a range of ride-on vehicles including scooters, bikes and
tricycles.

Egmont Books
has been chosen for publishing and will develop a variety of formats including
novelty, storybooks and annuals.

Ravensburger
will be developing puzzles and games.

OTHER
PRODUCTS: The roll out
of other categories, including DVDs, wooden toy range, apparel, outdoor/garden
toys, confectionery and an amusement ride will start in 2007. Further
opportunities include interactive, music downloads, games and hand-held
devices. The Rupert Bear website, www.rupertbear.com, launched mid October and
will become an important element of the brand.

STRATEGY
FOR ROLLOUT: While
retaining the magic and quirkiness of the original Rupert, the brand new series
Rupert Bear—Follow the Magic has been made relevant and age appropriate for the preschool
audience. The acquisition of Rupert Bear by ER in November 2005 marked the
first time that all rights were under the control of one company.

Rupert
features a gang of friends in story lines that children can relate to, explains
Jane Smith, the group commercial director at Entertainment Rights. “In the old
Rupert some of the stories were a little bit spooky and a little bit too weird.
We are very conscious we have to be age appropriate for preschoolers and make
the series gender neutral so it will appeal to both girls and boys,” she says.

Smith points
out other elements of the series that she believes make it unique. “The magic
makes it truly different from any other preschool show. There are only two
characters who have magical powers and one is Ping Pong. She is a new character
we introduced and she’s Rupert’s best friend. She can use her magical powers
but she doesn’t always get it right, so there is a lot of humor her magic
brings.”

The other
character with magical powers is Raggety. “He did exist in the annuals, but he
was a very scary, spiky character. We’ve redeveloped Raggety completely. He is
now endearing and has magical power. The magic is a fantastic thing we can play
with in the story lines.”

The magical
element, which is a recurring theme throughout the series, also plays an
important role in the toys that are being planned. ER signed on Martin Yaffe
International while the show was still in development. “With Rupert we have the
opportunity to develop quite exciting product,” explains Smith. “One of the
phrases we’re using when we are talking to potential licensees is, ‘Expect the
unexpected.’ You’d never have an episode that was just a birthday party. It may
be a birthday party, but a spell would turn everything upside down, or
everything would be turned a funny color. The element of magic allows us to
deliver on that. So when you see Rupert’s car, for example, you’ll pick it up
and think it’s a gorgeous red car, but guess what? It expands, it has wings and
it can fly. We’ve spent a lot of time developing that with Yaffe.”

ER has its own
home entertainment label called Right Entertainment, which will be releasing
DVDs in 2007. Other products such as toys, publishing, games and puzzles will
follow.

“We want to
take our time with this property,” says Smith. “It is an evergreen, and has
huge awareness with mums and dads and retailers. We don’t want to rush out with
a huge product range as quickly as we can. We want to choose the right partners
and have a planned, slow roll out of product. And we want children to fall in
love with Rupert, hopefully that won’t take too long!”