Keeping the creative well from running dry is a continual challenge. Thus finding viable concepts to put into development is top of mind for most prodcos.To assuage the situation Vancouver, Canada’s Studio B Productions has just started a unique internal program, B-Hive.tv Shorts.

The idea is to field toon pitches from any and all of the company’s 160 employees and help the cream rise to the top. ‘We want to help them realize what’s in their heads and get it out there,’ says Kirsten Newlands, producer of B-Hive.TV Shorts. And founding partners Chris Bartleman and Blair Peters are funding the project that has so far seen two 2-D shorts to fruition within 12 weeks from greenlighting to completion.

Once the internal pitch gets accepted, the company that’s currently producing Being Ian and Ricky Sprocket Showbiz Boy gives the successful canditdates a full animation crew, a sound mixer and a composer to deliver the final product in HD. ‘It ends up being really high quality and ready for broadcast on any platform,’ Newlands says.

Of course, the goal is to birth projects that have the potential to translate into longer-form series that Studio B can shop to international broadcasters. So far, the first two are headed to Cannes.

Board supervisor Rob Boutilier conceived Look What My Sister Dragged In, and the three-minute short about a sweet-looking cat that turns out to be rather malevolent is screening at MIPCOM Jr. While the second short Super Villian, created by layout supervisor Kevin Long that features an evil genius who just can’t adjust to life in retirement, will have a presence at Studio B’s MIPCOM stand.

It’s possible that the prodco will open up the B-Hive for creatives working outside of Studio B and also create a web channel to showcase successful projects in the future, but for now the goal is to keep creativity buzzing internally. LC