APC Kids Secures Deal with France Télévisions

APC Kids has inked a deal with France Télévisions for two live-action kids’ series, including the comedy-drama Hardball.

Following Hardball‘s season one debut on Okoo, season two will launch on France Télévisions in 2022. Produced by Northern Pictures in association with Screen Australia, Create NSW and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF), the series follows a group of kids caught up in the game of handball.

DisRupted, a live-action series of films produced by CJZ, Sticky Pictures and LateNite Films, explores universal themes through unique perspectives such as newly discovered independence, finding your own voice, the power of friendship and your relationship to the world around you.

The films were created through ABC and Screen Australia’s DisRupted initiative, which saw all three films led by young Australian creatives with disabilities. The films are set to launch on France Télévisions’ Okoo from November 18 and will air on France 4 on November 20 for National School Harassment Day.

Lionel Marty, managing director of APC Kids, said: “We are thrilled to continue our successful partnership with the ACTF. Hardball is an original, fresh comedy, and after seeing a great reaction to the first season, we are confident that the second season will be highly anticipated by the show’s French fans. We are also very much looking forward to bringing French audiences the DisRupted trio of films, which provide thought-provoking content for, and created by, talented young people.”

ACTF Executive Producer Bernadette O’Mahony said: “Hardball is a clever, warm and funny series, and it’s wonderful to see that audiences right across the globe love it as much as we do. The second series is full of new twists and turns and hilarious new characters, and we’re thrilled French audiences will get to enjoy more of the Block Street gang’s fun and crazy world. We’re also excited to see how French audiences respond to the DisRupted films, which challenge viewers to reflect on the experience of disability and the importance of accessibility and inclusion in a clever, funny and entertaining way.”