You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
A can-do attitude abounds in Ella the Elephant<br />
Toronto, Canada-based Cookie Jar optioned picture book Ella the<br />
Elephant, created by Seattle’s Carmella and Steven D’amico, and<br />
quickly turned to writer Sheila Dinsmore. Her job was to spin<br />
the story about the helpful young elephant into a full-fledged 52<br />
x 11-minute series that echoes the artwork of the book property<br />
with its 2-D backgrounds and toon-shaded CGI characters. This<br />
series for preschoolers is “really about child empowerment and<br />
depicting Ella’s quiet self-confidence on-screen,” says VP of development<br />
Jilliane Reinseth. You see, Ella has a floppy red hat, which<br />
she believes can transform into whatever object she might need to<br />
assist someone in trouble. So in one instance, she imagines her hat<br />
turning into a basket with which she can collect an errant bunch<br />
of apples that her friend has dropped. In another, it inflates to the<br />
size of tent that Ella can use to place over the heads of her pals and<br />
shelter them from a rainstorm. Cookie Jar has a bible, educational<br />
curriculum, scripts and a three-minute trailer ready to go and is<br />
working with a budget of US$9.5 million for a fall 2011 delivery.<br />
Finding the funny side of science<br />
New preschool animated series Rose & Timothy from Paris-based<br />
Millimages follows the adventures of a happy-go-lucky, kindhearted<br />
cow named Rose and tenacious, hot-tempered little chick<br />
Timothy. The pair also happen to be investigative journalists<br />
assigned to discover all they can about the outside world on behalf<br />
of their fellow barnyard friends back on the farm. Its through this<br />
lens that the 52 x 11-minute series is aiming to instill an interest in<br />
science and experimentation in young viewers through the hilarious<br />
antics of the enthusiastic, yet hapless characters.<br />
The duo sets out promising to faithfully report their findings<br />
each day, while their research requires them to do things like scour<br />
the desert to find a mirage or eat spinach to determine whether or<br />
not it really makes you stronger. Along the way, know-it-all manipulator<br />
Timothy often tries to take advantage of Rose’s naivety. For<br />
example, he gets Rose to traipse around a precarious mountaintop<br />
to assess the risk of an avalanche. However, Rose has unerring luck<br />
and after she completes her perusal of the snowy peak without<br />
incident, it’s Timothy who sets off the avalanche.<br />
Still in development, the series has no firm delivery date,<br />
but Millimages has a bible and scripts on-hand and is seeking<br />
presales and possible co-<br />
production partners with<br />
an approximate budget of<br />
US$7.9 million. KC<br />
Child empowerment is a key theme for Cookie Jar’s<br />
Ella the Elephant, while Millimages’ Rose & Timothy<br />
(bottom) sparks an interest in science through comedy<br />
LINKS<br />
Cookie Jar > www.cookiejarentertainment.com<br />
Millimages > www.millimages.com<br />
JANUARY 2011 21
Change language