Skywriter picks up int’l rights to The Raccoons

Skywriter Media and Entertainment, the recently formed Canadian producer and distributor, has picked up a number of kids series for distribution including classic cartoon The Raccoons.

The company, which was set up by former Breakthrough exec Kevin Gillis, is also eyeing more shows and catalogs to distribute to sit alongside its production business, which has a raft of new animated series in development.

It acquired back the rights to 60x30mins cult cartoon The Raccoons, which was originally created by Gillis and produced by Atkinson Film-Arts and Hinton Animation Studios in the 1980s. The show still airs on Canada’s Teletoon Retro and until recently aired in the UK on Cartoon Network’s Boomerang.

Skywriter has also picked up Lenz Entertainment-produced Nanalan, a 41x30mins preschool puppet series that airs on PBS in the US and CBC in Canada, and Big Green Rabbit, a live action-meets-animation series that also airs on PBS.

Former BBC Worldwide and CBC International exec Paula McLaren is selling the series.

Meanwhile, it has closed a French deal for its boy skewed series Discbots, which Gillis describes as “Battlestar Galactica for kids” and is close to securing a broadcaster for its 52x11mins comedy Chuckles and Knuckles.