TV Kids In-Demand: Preschool & Bridge

We have an eclectic mix of preschool and bridge shows in this new in-demand report: Jetpack Distribution’s Master Moley, Lacey Entertainment’s Kiva Can Do!, ZDF Enterprises’ Space Nova, PBS International’s Elinor Wonders Why and Superights’ Clay Time.

Master Moley

Commissioned By: Acquired by WarnerMedia
Produced By: Nottage Productions
Rights Available: All forms of audiovisual (free, pay, VOD, home video) from Jetpack Distribution. Pay TV in EMEA is not available.
Description: Heartwarming GGI animated family show based around the adventures of Master Moley, who lives in the bustling city of MoleTown underneath Windsor Castle. The 52×11-minute series, The Misadventures of Master Moley, and 30-minute family special, Master Moley By Royal Invitation, are targeted to kids 4-plus and families. Tony Nottage of Nottage Productions is producer, with James Reatchlous and Warwick Davis as executive producers.
Pitch Perfect: “Lovable, charming and relatable, Master Moley has huge appeal for kids and families globally,” says Dominic Gardiner, CEO of Jetpack Distribution. “The animation is timeless. It really shines as a passion project based on original stories James [Reatchlous] created and read to his children. Full of heart and humor, it has a real star quality and a stellar A-list cast.”
Slot Winner: Master Moley features an award-winning cast, including Warwick Davis (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Moominvalley), Julie Walters (Mamma Mia!, Harry Potter, Billy Elliot), Gemma Arterton (Their Finest, Quantum of Solace), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Horrid Henry: The Movie), Togo Igawa (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Thomas & Friends) and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, The Crown, Gosford Park). The 30-minute animation has already created buzz with audiences through touring the short film festival circuit in 2019, picking up several awards at the Latitude Film Festival, LA Independent Short Film Awards and Global Shorts Awards.
Sales Contacts: Dominic Gardiner, Sophie Prigent, Marie-Laure Roche.

Kiva Can Do!

Commissioned By: Screen Ireland, Broadcast Authority of Ireland, RTÉjr; developed with support from Creative Europe & Screen Ireland
Produced By: Kavaleer Productions
Rights Available: Free TV, all forms of VOD, pay TV in select markets and L&M, via Lacey Entertainment.
Description: Along with her best friend, Saul, and her cardboard dog, Angus, Kiva conceives some amazing adventures that bring them around the world and well beyond. The 52×11-minute series is targeted to kids aged 3 to 5.
Pitch Perfect: Each day after school, grandmother Nanni brings Kiva to her home where Kiva, Saul and Angus have the run of the living room. This special place is where every awesome adventure begins. Nanni’s home is an incubator for ideas and dreams that are filled with promise and excitement. Using whatever odds and ends are found around Nanni’s home, Kiva and Saul quickly transform these items into fantastic props for their adventures. Kiva Can Do! is an original series with positive prosocial stories that are characterized by warmth and cheerful fun that reflects the highly imaginative play patterns of children around the world. Kiva is an especially aspirational character helping to encourage constructive development. The Kiva Can Do!storytelling deftly avoids academic moralizing that children viewers instinctively consider dull and trite. The ensemble cast of characters, most notably the very affectionate relationship with grandmother Nanni, helps to infuse a genuinely authentic transgenerational appeal to the series. Featuring a colorful and multi-textured animation production design combined with magical storytelling, the Kiva series will deliver a strong and loyal viewing audience. The kid-identifiable characters living in their own worlds gently remind and encourage young viewers that like Kiva, anything you can dream, you can do. The stories and dialogue are playful and fresh with just the right comedic touch that makes for compelling children’s entertainment. Available in 25 languages.
Slot Winner: Airing on Nick Jr. (worldwide excluding U.S.), Gulli, Discovery Italy, RTÉ.
Sales Contact: Brian Lacey.

Elinor Wonders Why

Commissioned By: PBS
Produced By: SHOE Ink
Rights Available: All rights available worldwide from PBS International.
Description: Elinor Wonders Why encourages children to follow their curiosity, ask questions, figure out the answers, and learn about the natural world around them using their science inquiry skills. Aimed at kids 2 to 6, the series consists of 74×11-minute episodes (delivered as 37×25 minutes) and a 55-minute special.
Pitch Perfect: The warm, funny main characters—Elinor, Ari and Olive—are curious about the things all preschoolers are curious about. Why do birds have feathers? Who or what is making those “whoo hoo” sounds at night? In finding the answers, they explore the remarkable ways that our everyday lives are connected to nature. Preschoolers relate to this desire to explore and feel empowered to make these same kinds of connections in their own lives.
Slot Winner: Elinor Wonders Why is already one of the top-rated PBS KIDS shows on broadcast and digital!
Sales Contacts: Betsy LeBlanc, Director, Sales; Anna Alvord, Senior Sales Manager; Nanci Church, Senior Sales Manager.

Space Nova

Commissioned By: ZDF Enterprises
Produced By: SLR Productions
Rights Available: All rights worldwide, excluding Australia and New Zealand, from ZDF Enterprises.
Description: Set in 2162, Space Nova stars tween siblings Jet and Adelaide, who live not-so-ordinary lives on an international space station with their astronaut parents and schoolmates. As the series unfolds, life changes forever for the young Aussie space adventurers when they discover a link to an intelligent alien civilization. Aimed at kids 6 to 10, the series consists of 26×22-minute episodes.
Pitch Perfect: Space Nova is an exciting and captivating space adventure which follows the Nova family’s search for alien life throughout the universe. It is a great collaboration between SLR Productions, Super RTL, ABC ME, Nine Network, Giggle Garage, Screen Australia, Create NSW, ZDF Enterprises and Australian Children’s Television Foundation.
Sales Contacts: Arne Lohmann, VP, ZDFE.junior; Katharina Pietzsch, Director, ZDFE.junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director, ZDFE.junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director, ZDFE.junior.

Clay Time (Season 2)

Commissioned By: France Télévisions
Produced By: Reaz – JLA Group
Rights Available: The show is sold in all the continents, but some rights remain available in Europe, Asia, the U.S. and Latin America. Contact Superights for more details.
Description: Through a series of sweet 3-minute stories, the narrator helps viewers to discover a fun world with all kinds of animals made of clay in a wide palette of colors. The tutorials come along with the series, allowing kids to create their own clay world at home. Two seasons are available with more than 60 episodes of 4.5 minutes, including 60 1.5-minute tutorials teaching the kids how to create the animals at home. This is a “do it yourself” series!
Pitch Perfect: Discover the poetic universe of Clay Time, aimed at 3- to 5-year-olds, where young viewers are invited to develop their imagination with a universal activity: modeling clay. Each episode features a new animal and a new story. Each animated episode of 3 minutes is delivered with a tutorial of 1.5 minutes. Tutorials teach the kids how to create the animal at home. This is a gender-neutral preschool show that fits European quota requirements.
Slot Winner: Partners on season two include Télé-Québec (Canada), JY Animation (China), Daekyo Kids (South Korea), Now TV (Hong Kong), LTV (Latvia), Artmotion (Kosovo), TV5MONDE, RTS (Switzerland) and RTV (Slovakia), with many more on season one. On France Télévisions, where Clay Time is available on the linear channel and on Okoo, the series is among the seven most-watched series since the start of the school year 2020. The show has been watched more than 3.6 million times since the launch of the second season at the end of February 2020. In Canada, the show has been available on Coucou and Telequebec.tv since December 2018, with a total of 67,116 cumulative viewings through September 2019. The series is in the sixth position for preschool series (out of 40 titles). On CJ in South Korea, the series was ranked in the top ten in 2019.
Sales Contacts: Nathalie Pinguet (Canada, Western Europe, Nordics, Russia, Australia, New Zealand); Jéromine Ader (CEE, Middle East, Africa, inflight); Pedro Citaristi (Asia, LatAm, Southern Europe); Louise de Staël (U.S.A.).