Sometimes it’s OK to judge a book by its cover, especially when it has been carefully selected and handcrafted for the screen by Bob Higgins, former EVP of kids and family at Boat Rocker Media.

Now installed as president of New York-based Trustbridge Entertainment—a division of publishing powerhouse Trustbridge Global Media that he’s been running since September 2022—Higgins has spent the last year cherrypicking a first slate of TV and film projects from the company’s many publishing catalogues, which include Candlewick Press, Walker Books, Holiday House, Peachtree Publishing and Pixel+Ink. And he’s just starting to introduce these concepts to potential partners and buyers in the global market.

Before Higgins joined Trustbridge, there was nobody at the company focused on IP expansion, so the catalogues were full of potential just waiting to be fulfilled. As he dove into this process of discovery, Higgins looked beyond book sales data to root out unique premises that could fit into a content strategy covering every demo and filling all market gaps.

It’s important for Trustbridge to stand out from competitors in the market, without “cannibalizing” its own efforts with overlapping projects, says Higgins. The result of his deep-dive is a diverse slate of 15 concepts that are distinct from each other, and also from what other companies are shopping around right now, ranging from preschool animation, to a live-action YA film trilogy, and even a holiday special in the mix for good measure.

Higgins has a well-honed instinct for what will sell, thanks to 30 years of experience in the kids TV industry. He started his career working for broadcasters and studios such as Cartoon Network and Nelvana. But more recently, he was EVP of children’s and family content at FremantleMedia—a role he stayed in when Boat Rocker acquired the division in 2018. All told, Higgins has spent a decade overseeing the development, production and delivery of kids content at Fremantle/Boat Rocker, including high-profile shows such as Dino Ranch (Disney Junior), Amber Brown (Apple TV+) and Daniel Spellbound (Netflix).

One of his first bets at Trustbridge is Lucy Cousins’ popular Maisy book series (Candlewick), which has sold more than 30 million copies since its first title came out in 1990. The preschool franchise about a friendly little mouse was previously turned into an 2D-animated series for Nick Jr. and CITV in the ’90s by King Rollo Films. Trustbridge’s all-new 52 x five-minute animated treatment Maisy & Friends has Matilda Tristram (Peppa Pig) attached as a writer.

Higgins is also adapting Natalie and Alphonse (Candlewick) for preschoolers, based on a four-book series by Daisy Hirst. Sheila Rogerson (Max & Ruby) is writing scripts for this 52 x 11-minuter about rambunctious monster siblings who don’t always get along. And Toybox Animation, which designed some of the characters and sets for Disney Junior series Superkitties, is attached as a production partner.

The final project on Higgins’ slate for younger viewers is Gustavo, The Shy Ghost (52 x 11 minutes, Candlewick), which Hilda studio Mercury Filmworks is on deck to produce. Robert Ramirez (Minnie’s Bow-Toons) is the lead writer on this series for three- to five-year-olds, in which Gustavo and his monster friends (including a vampire and a witch) learn to accept and love themselves.

Trustbridge has linedup talent and studio partners for a few of its projects, including Gustavo, The Shy Ghost, which Mercury Filmworks is on board to produce.

For the six and up set, Higgins has a 26 x 22-minute, live-action TV treatment in the works for a new book series called Montgomery Bonbon (Walker Books), which should span four titles by the end of 2025. He describes it as Knives Out and Murder, She Wrote for kids, featuring the world’s most famous detective, who is secretly a 10-year- old girl in disguise. The show will see this legendary sleuth cracking all sorts of cases, including murders, which should give it an edgy point of difference in the market of mystery-driven programming for kids.

For the big screen, Trustbridge is developing an animated feature based on Chris Van Dusen’s 2009 book The Circus Ship (Candlewick). The story starts when a ship-wreck strands 15 circus animals on an island off the coast of Maine, where the humans go from shock and fear to embracing the courageous animals with love and empathy. Higgins also has an ambitious live-action film trilogy planned for Marc J. Gregson’s YA-skewing fantasy series Sky’s End (Peachtree). This dystopian tale revolves around a 16-year-old who rejects his inheritance and a murderous uncle’s legacy to join a dangerous group that hunts massive monsters, where he begins to hear talk of rebellion.

And to cover off market demand for holiday specials and event programming, Higgins has also lined up two one-offs: Dasher and The Dot (both from Candlewick). Dasher is a 45-minute family-skewing holiday special that tells the iconic reindeer’s backstory of breaking out of a zoo to find her true home. 9 Story Media Group’s Brown Bag Films is already attached to produce this project, which is based on a 2019 book by Matt Tavares that has sold more than 350,000 copies worldwide.

Earlier this week, Trustbridge and 9 Story Media Group also announced that they are co-developing an animated series adaptation of Megan McDonald and Peter Reynolds’ long-running Judy Moody comedy book series (Candlewick). Brown Bag Films will handle the animation, with 9 Story’s distribution team managing worldwide sales (excluding China). This will be the second adaptation of the 15-plus book series, following 2011’s live-action feature film Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer.

The Dot (60 minutes) is about a young girl who doesn’t think she can draw—until she makes a dot and learns that creativity can take many shapes. Scriptwriter Joey Mazzarino (Sesame Street) will draw from the New York Times bestseller that inspired International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity and collaboration.

Higgins says he’s close to finalizing first deals with broadcasters and studios for several of these initial Trustbridge projects. His goal is to start pitching in earnest at Kidscreen Summit in order to deliver them by 2026 and 2027.

A version of this story originally appeared in Kidscreen‘s February/March 2024 magazine issue.