Kids round-up: Fred Rogers names creative development manager; Studio 100 & SPI ink content deal; D360 strikes global sales  

Gabrielle Howard

Fred Rogers names creative development manager

US-based Donkey Hodie producer Fred Rogers Productions has appointed Gabrielle Howard to the newly created role of creative development manager.

In her new role, Howard will manage the company’s growing portfolio of IP in development. She will report to Ellen Doherty, chief creative officer.

In addition to managing the company’s production slate, Howard will seek out new collaborators and projects that she will help guide through the development process.

Prior to joining Fred Rogers Productions, Howard was a media consultant and advisor on podcast development and social media strategy who developed original concepts for the web and television. She worked for The N, later named TeenNick, from MTV Networks, where she developed live-action and animated properties with production companies including Endemol and Klasky Csupo.

“Gabrielle is a terrific addition to our team. She knows the kids industry, and has a great eye for talent,” said Doherty. ”I look forward to working with her to find and generate even more extraordinary content for young viewers.”

Alice In Wonderland

Studio 100 & SPI ink content deal

Studio 100 Media has closed a multibrand deal with global media company SPI International for digital exploitation of several 2D animation classic series from its catalogue.

The shows Maya The Bee, Heidi, Pinocchio and Alice In Wonderland will be available on-demand in various language versions, including English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

The contract will give SPI non-exclusive worldwide AVOD and SVOD rights (with the exception of a few territories per program) on SPI platforms such as FilmBox+, FilmBox on Demand, Film1, ToonzBox and ToonzStream.

All-Round Champion

D360 strikes global sales

A slew of global broadcasters have acquired a range of kids programming, following deals with Distribution360 (D360).

UPtv in the US, ABC in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand have acquired the Marblemedia-produced live action comedy series The Parker Andersons / Amelia Parker (20 x 30-minutes).

Future Today in the US has taken live-action kids’ culinary series Tastebuds (33 x 30-minutes), also produced by Marblemedia, and natural history title AnimalFanPedia (26 x 11-minutes) from Mobius.Lab Kids. Other buyers picking up AnimalFanpedia include Knowledge Kids in Canada and DuoMedia in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

DuoMedia has also picked up two edutainment series from GAPC Entertainment, ScienceXplosion (45 x 3.5-minutes) and MathXplosion (50 x 3-minutes) and seasons 1-4 of Marblemedia’s All-Round Champion (44 x 60-minutes).

Also buying All-Round Champion is Akili in Kenya, which has acquired all four seasons and RTM in Malaysia which has taken seasons 1 and 2 (22 x 60-minutes) along with Skyship Entertainment’s pre-school title Caitie’s Classroom (26 x 22-minutes).

D360 has secured further sales for Skyship Entertainment properties including a deal with Mini Me Videos for a package of popular pre-school title Super Simple Songs (75 x 1-4-minutes) in Spanish for Latin America, while Asiana Licensing in South Korea has taken a package featuring Super Simple Songs (220+ x 1-4-minutes), Super Simple Draw (58 x 3-minutes) and Super Simple ABCs – Phonics Fun (52 x 1-2-minutes). Elsewhere in Asia, PCCW has renewed its license for Marblemedia’s Super Mighty Makers (26 x 11-minutes) and MathXplosion (50 x 3-minutes) in Hong Kong and Macau.

Meanwhile, beIN Media Group has picked up the second season of Yaya & Zouk (68 x 5-minutes), produced by ToonDraw Productions, as well as GAPC’s ScienceXplosion (45 x 3.5-minutes) for the Middle East.