Canadian pubcaster TVOKids has partnered with Ottawa’s Big Jump Entertainment to develop a new 2D-animated series called Griffin and Turner, which shines a spotlight on Down syndrome.
The show will center around two real brothers—one of whom (Turner) has Down syndrome—who are featured in a series of videos available on the Special Books by Special Kids YouTube channel (3.3 million subscribers). “A Day in the Life of Griffin and Turner” alone has racked up one million views on the platform.
Around 6,000 babies with Down syndrome are born each year in the US, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control. And Big Jump and TVOKids are planning to work with experts on the condition to develop their series with accuracy and sensitivity in mind, says Big Jump president Rick Morrison.
Griffin and Turner (52 x 11 minutes) is intended for the upper preschool demo, and Big Jump development VP Karen Swerdfeger and TVOKids executive producer Kirsten Hurd are driving the project. A bible and several episode outlines are completed, and artwork is currently being finalized. If TVOKids greenlights the series, it will go into production in fall 2023. For next steps, Big Jump is looking for a co-producer and a distributor.
Down syndrome has been explored in quite a few live-action projects, but hasn’t yet been tackled much in animation for kids, says Morrison. “We want to properly represent Down syndrome and Turner in a way that doesn’t poke fun, but has humor and tear-jerking moments.”
Big Jump’s past credits include animated series Big Words, Small Stories and Shutterbugs. The company is primarily a service studio (this work represents 70% of its business), and so it only puts a few shows—which it’s confident will sell—into development. It has one other such project in the pipeline for a Canadian broadcaster right now, and should be in a position to announce it in a few months once the deals are closed.