Andy Heyward links with AOL for Warren Buffett and Martha Stewart toons

A Squared, the new company from kids TV veteran Andy Heyward, is linking with AOL to launch a quartet of shortform cartoons including one featuring an animated ten-year-old Martha Stewart and another featuring billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

There will also be animated series based on the environmental super hero exploits of an animated Gisele Bündchen, the Brazilian supermodel, and another inspired by the classic Carl Sagan PBS series Kosmos.

Heyward worked with AOL before when his previous company DIC and KOL unsuccessfully co-programmed a kids block on US network CBS. This deal followed talks between Heyward and AOL chairman Tim Armstrong.

Heyward told TBIvision: “I talked to the new chairman of AOL and we proposed working together. We wanted brands with equity and marquee value. They don’t necessarily have that with kids yet, but we can build that after. We went after people who are at the top of their field.”

The Warren Buffett show, Secret Millionaire’s Club, was something Heyward developed while at DIC and insisted he kept when he sold the company to Cookie Jar. It wll be the first of the new shows out of the gate early next year, likely followed by GiGi and the Green Team with Bündchen and then Little Martha (WT).

Each will be 26×3-5mins and will launch via AOL and their own, dedicated, sites. A Squared will work with AOL and technology company MGX Labs to market the shows and develop games and interactive services around the properties. Heyward said that no TV deals had been done yet, but he was confident that traditional distribution agreements with broadcasters will be reached.