The Secret World of Benjamin Bear

TV Kids Weekly, October 17,
2006

ORIGIN: The Secret World of Benjamin Bear is based on a set of animated specials that star Benjamin
Bear, the first of which was The Teddy Bear's Picnic.

CREATORS: The specials and the series were created by Sheldon S.
Wiseman, the president and CEO of Amberwood Entertainment.

TV SHOW: The Secret World of Benjamin Bear is made in traditional 2D animation. 39 half-hours or
78×11-minute episodes are available.

The show is targeted at 4- to
8-year-olds and follows the adventures of fun-loving Benjamin Bear as he guides
the irrepressible rookie teddy bear Howie in their quest to help others. And as
part of the lovable but chaotic Tanner household, Benjamin and Howie always
find themselves having to help out their kids Maxwell and Eliza, without them
ever knowing.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sheldon S. Wiseman

COMMISSIONING BROADCASTER: The Family Channel in Canada

TV SALES: The series has been licensed to over 80 territories. Some
of the key broadcast partners include Canada's Sociéte Radio Canada, Germany's
Ki.Ka, France 5, Italy’s Mediaset and Finland's YLE.

MAJOR TOY LICENSEES: There are agents appointed in major territories. Amberwood
Entertainment has not yet confirmed a master toy licensee but hopes to make a
decision after MIPCOM.

OTHER PRODUCTS: There is back-to-school product in France, DVDs in numerous
territories, including Canada, France, Germany and the U.S., and plush in
France.

STRATEGY FOR ROLLOUT: Benjamin Bear’s
story lines and style of animation are the elements that make the series
attractive to broadcasters and licensees. “One of things that we hear a lot [is
that the series has] a traditional classic look that has a timeless appeal,” says
Jonathan Wiseman, the VP of sales and acquisitions at Amberwood Entertainment. “There’s
not a lot of traditional 2-D animation out there now. Benjamin Bear has very rich backgrounds. We employed a watercolor
technique, and the quality of the animation is of a very high standard and
people are taking notice of that.”

Amberwood decided the best
strategy for selling the series internationally was to start with terrestrial
broadcasters across Europe.

“It was the first series that we
distributed ourselves from the beginning,” continues Wiseman. “We had a heavy
launch at MIPCOM Junior about three years ago. We went after large terrestrial
broadcasters in most European territories. France was the first to hop on
board, we sold to France 5, and it really spread out from there, with sales to
Ki.Ka in Germany, Mediaset in Italy and YLE in Finland."

In Asia, Amberwood sold Benjamin
Bear to Cartoon Network Asia for Australia
and New Zealand and the channel is considering the show for other countries in
its Asian footprint. The series has also been sold to TVB in Hong Kong. “We’ve
been working with PorchLight Entertainment, they are representing the series in
Latin America and in the U.S., where they’ve put in place a home-entertainment
deal and they’re working on placing it on U.S. television,” says Wiseman.

Amberwood screened the third
season of the show at MIPCOM and was looking to make deals in the U.K., Sweden,
Benelux and the Netherlands.

Merchandising will be rolling out
12 to 18 months after the series airs on the different broadcasters. “We have
agents in place in various territories,” says Wiseman. “We have PorchLight in
the U.S. Mediaset in Italy is getting ready to air and their licensing and
merchandising people have just started their strategy for Italy and
Italian-speaking Europe. Our French agent has made the most progress and has
products in stores for back to school, including school bags and knapsacks,
along with a home entertainment deal in France. We also created a plush toy
that they were merchandising with the sale of DVDs.”