Since leaving his director of programs post at TV-Loonland this spring, John Bullivant has been taking a critical look at the traditional TV-centric modus operandi for launching properties. His new outfit Kickback Media, which officially opened its doors for business early last month, will be focusing on creating strong characters and design elements and then cherry-picking the right medium in which to introduce them. In the Kickback pipeline is a character-based preschool concept that’s being developed as a book first, as well as a live-action project for tween girls called The Wild Life, starring a 13-year-old girl who brings a group of animatronic animals to life again while working at her uncle’s talent agency.

Bullivant sees a lot of untapped opportunity for character design work in the corporate brand realm and will be working to establish contacts in that arena. He is also open to collaborating on third-party ideas and serving as an advisor to indie production companies that are having trouble defining their brand development strategy or securing financing.