Quebec’s Happy Camper Media (Super Agent Jon Le Bon!) has secured early development funding to adapt a pair of kids books, thanks to the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC).

Last week, the two orgs announced that they will funnel US$322,508 (CAD$466,259) into 14 French-language projects—all based on publishing titles. This funding is earmarked under the Pre-Development Program for Television Series Based on Literary Adaptations, which accepted project submissions between October 18 and November 20 last year. 

Happy Camper’s Héros Mont Dragon (pictured) was granted one of the biggest commitments at US$34,718 (CAD$50,000). This 26 x 22-minute series is based on a collection of tween books penned by Louis Patalano and Thomas Wilson. Since 2023, the pair has written five books (published by Gladius International) about a fantasy world that is losing its protector—a dying celestial dragon—and a group of heroes from eight different kingdoms across the realm who must step up and fend off the forces of the Dragon Devourers who intend to destroy the world. 

In addition to being turned into a series, the Héros Mont Dragon IP is also getting a video game adaptation that will launch  on September across all major platforms.

Le Grand Monde du Tout Petit, another Happy Camper kids project, was allocated US$25,541 (CAD$36,786). This 30 x five-minute concept is based on an essay written by biologist Boucar Diouf and published by Éditions La Presse exploring the role of microbes in everyday life. 

Happy Camper recently brought in former Nelvana development lead Athena Georgaklis to consult on its upcoming preschool series Woodchuckchucks. This 2D-animated series (packaged as three x seven-minute eps and four x three-minute eps) is currently in production with Maki Média. It remains to be seen whether Georgaklis will be involved in the studio’s two new projects

Other kidlit-based concepts that won a share of the CMF/SODEC funding are as follows:

• La ligue des (pas si) champions by Echo Media Productions 3 (US$31,939/CAD$46,000), based on a novel by Jocelyn Boisvert;
• Les pires moments de l’histoire by Couleur Point TV (US$25,481/CAD$36,693), based on a comic by Charles Beauchesne, François De Grandpré and Odrée Rousseau;
• Najma dans les étoiles from Pamplemousse Productions (US$20,190/CAD$29,075), based on a picture book by Farah Alibay and Jeremy Tabor;  
• La langue au chat from Tobo Média (US$18,885/CAD$27,196), based on poems by François Gravel and Laurent Pinabel;
• Ce qui disparait from Téléfiction Productions (US$12,930/CAD$18,620), based on the novel by Marie-Andrée Arsenault et Gabrielle St-Germain; 
• Une histoire à faire japper from Films Babel (US$5,952/CAD$8,573), based on a novel by Yves Beauchemin.

The CMF and SODEC are each contributing a 50% share of the funding that has been allocated to the 14 selected projects, which span all genres.