Cool new shows!

Gormiti: The Lords

of Nature Return

Co-producers: Paris, France-based Marathon Media and M6,

along with toyco Giochi Preziosi and Mediaset in Italy

Style: 2-D animation

Format: 52 x half hours

Demo: Five to 11

Budget: US$7.5 million for the first 26 episodes

Financing needs: The Marathon team will be out in full force

at MIPCOM to close as many international broadcast sales

as possible.

Status: In production

Delivery: The first 10 episodes will start airing exclusively on

Mediaset this month; the full series will be available in fall 2009.

Concept: Building on the toy phenomenon that has taken Europe by storm to the tune of 65 million action figures sold to date, this animated project stars four regular kids who discover a portal to a parallel universe inhabited by a race of mythical creatures that harness the four elements of nature. The peaceful Gormitis are in a constant state of war with the evil Fire Gormitis, and their epic battles cause natural disturbances in the world of humans. Only the kids can put the Fire Gormitis in their place because when they flip over to Gorm, they become all-powerful super-Gormitis.

That's the action part. But the series' scripts, penned by Brian Swenlin (who counts Xiaolin Showdown and Kim Possible amongst his many credits), also draw on the comedy that's inherent in kids playing a monumental role in saving the world and then having to come home and wash the dishes, or being too shy to talk to the cute girl in school. Ah, to be young again!

Tilly and Friends

Producer: Walker Books out of London, England

Style: 2-D animation. An early test using Flash and After Effects came off quite well, but Walker plans to try some other techniques before committing to one.

Format: 52 x 11 minutes at the moment, but the episode length may change to seven minutes during development.

Demo: Preschool

Budget: In the region of US$265,000 per half hour.

Financing needs: Walker is in negotiations with a couple of potential co-producers, so the plan is to secure one as a lead partner first, and then start preselling the series to broadcasters.

Status: Tilly's creator, Polly Dunbar, is still working on two of the initial six books in the publishing program, so development on the series won't get underway until she's freed up in the spring.

Delivery: If the project goes into development on schedule, then it could be delivered in early 2011.

Concept: This project stems from a six-book series written and illustrated by Polly Dunbar, England's current darling of kids publishing. Walker has published all three of her previous books, including Penguin, which won several prestigious publishing awards last year. What Dunbar excels at is weaving pastel shades together to create rich narrative tapestries, and her simple toddler-relevant stories are presented with great timing and a fresh brand of humor.