With DR and Ketnet on board as co-production partners and a presale to Canal+ secured, Gigglebug Entertainment’s 2D-animated comedy series Tadpoles (52 x 11 minutes) is getting closer to being fully financed.
Introduced to buyers at Kidscreen Summit 2022, the toon is about two tadpole siblings who are on a quest to reach the top of the pond and find out if the legends they’ve heard about the surface are true. In every episode, the pair make some progress towards their goal, even if it’s just an incremental amount.
But Tadpoles‘ main point of difference in the marketplace is that it has a version with a vertical aspect ratio to mirror the characters’ upward journey—and to maximize the real estate of cell phone and tablet screens. For Canal+’s Géraldine Soto (head of kids acquisitions, pre-buys and co-productions) and Ketnet’s Telidja Klai (content manager for program acquisitions & co-productions, animation), this unique transmedia potential is what attracted them to the project that was created by Gigglebug co-founders Anttu Harlin and Joonas Utti (Best & Bester).
The company’s studios in Helsinki and the Canary Islands (Las Palmas) are working with Belgium’s UMedia on setting up the production pipeline. And Folivari International, which distributes Tadpoles globally, is heading to Kidscreen Summit 2025 next month to secure more broadcasting partners.