Sixteen South Restructures

Sixteen South has restructured its business as a group of three companies: Sixteen South Originals, Sixteen South Studios and Sixteen South Rights.

Sixteen South Originals creates and develops original children’s and family properties for the screen. It creates original ideas and formats, develops book properties for the screen and partners with other creators in co-developments. The current slate will be realized in 2D, 3D, hybrid, live action and fur. Previous productions include Claude for Disney Junior and Lily’s Driftwood Bay for Nick Jr. and Milkshake!

Sixteen South Studios produces 2D animation. Its teams of designers, animators and producers have many decades of network experience. Over the past 13 years, the studio has produced 463 episodes of 11 hit kids’ shows. As well as producing 2D series service work for Sixteen South Originals, it has also worked with co-production partners including The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop, WGBH and the BBC. A studio head will be appointed in due course. Being based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the studio can bring up to 32 percent of the cost of production in tax credits and screen funding.

Sixteen South Rights is the new commercial arm, which represents and manages the global distribution and licensing of all Sixteen South shows. An independent distributor involved in presales and rights management, it works with its sibling, selling their shows and managing the ancillary rights around the world. It will shortly also represent other similarly high-quality shows from small independent producers. Sixteen South Rights is managed by Alexandros Van Blanken.

Colin Williams, creative director of Sixteen South, maintains overall strategic oversight of all three companies. He commented: “Saint Patrick talked about the shamrock’s leaves being three parts of one flower—similarly, Sixteen South is three parts of the same name. With the growing success of all parts of the company, this was the logical next step to maximize our effectiveness across each area. We are really excited about the future opportunities this allows us to create.”