Scottish Television Enterprises (STE) has emerged as a surprise partner with Nelvana to produce six animated series for the CBS fall 1998 schedule (see ‘Nelvana and CBS sign deal’ in KidScreen’s February 1998 issue, page 34). Under the terms of the deal, STE will have significant creative input in the production of all the shows except for Franklin, which is already completed. In addition, STE will take U.K. distribution rights on all of the series, totalling 117 half-hours.
STE general manager Darrel James, who oversaw the deal, says ‘it came together in a surprisingly short time. We have worked very successfully with Nelvana on the Rupert series in the past. So when they came and asked us if we wanted to get involved, we said `yes’ almost immediately. It is not often that you get the opportunity to work on such a high volume of co-produced material at one time.’
In recent years, STE has emerged as one of the most active co-producers of kids programming in the U.K.. In addition to its work on Rupert, STE is currently working with DIC on the making of the animated series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century.
As part of the CBS deal, STE has also secured a commitment from Nelvana that it will come on board two new STE series as a partner. Although the series are yet to be finalized, STE is proposing that one of the shows be an animated series loosely based on the legend of King Arthur called Swords of Pendragon. STE is showing a pilot of the series, made by the Cardiff-based studio Siriol, at MIP-TV.