Melinda Wearne and Silas Hickey
Banijay's Beyond Entertainment joins forces with independent animation and creative studio, Custom Nuts to co-produce cutting-edge animated series for the international market, with the first three projects, "Jock and Sunny", "Shape & Shapers" and "Classical Chaos", launching this month at Kidscreen. Further developments will be added from the pipeline through 2023 and into future years.
Melinda Wearne, Beyond Entertainment's executive charged with scripted development and production across kids and premium drama, has been driving the new relationship and comments: “This new co-production venture combines Beyond’s strength in scripted storytelling and its international reach, with the unique creative talents of the Custom Nuts team to present an exciting opportunity for us both. Our partner’s knowledge of, and expertise in, both anime and western cartoon narratives gives it a unique edge and together we are well placed to create and deliver truly global entertainment. We are thrilled to announce this new partnership and cannot wait to formally introduce Beyond Custom Nuts titles at Kidscreen.”
Silas Hickey, Custom Nuts founder adds: “The opportunity to combine anime and western cartoon storytelling, and formal aesthetics, is a creative vision that I have always been driven to fulfil. Beyond Custom Nuts was formed to solve these kinds of complex transnational conundrums. Beyond's scale and expertise will help us to accelerate the time from script to screen without compromising on quality – or our creative vision - and will allow us jointly to retain more control and ownership over our IP as we take it out to the market. We have exciting times ahead.”
LAUNCH SLATE
"Jock and Sunny: (52x7) is an anime hybrid Sci-Fi slapstick-comedy for kids with strong co-viewing potential, whereas "Shape & Shapers" (26x11) is a factual / slapstick anime for a 13+ audience and "Classical Chaos" is 26x11-minute episodes and feature-length specials for kids with strong co-viewing potential that combines the aesthetics of anime and golden-era vaudevillian cartoons.
Our partner’s knowledge of, and expertise in, both anime and western cartoon narratives gives it a unique edge and together we are well placed to create and deliver truly global entertainment.” Melinda Wearne Beyond Entertainment's executive
