Irish animation company Brown Bag Films has completed a 52 part CGI animation series ‘Olivia’ for leading family entertainment company Chorion. The series has started to air weekdays at 11.30am on Nickelodeon in the US.
Based on the award-winning books written and illustrated by Ian Falconer which have sold six million copies worldwide in 20 languages, ‘Olivia’ is composed of 52 x 11 minute episodes which will begin airing on over 20 leading broadcasters around the world from Spring 2009. ‘Olivia’ is a six year old dynamo who believes she can do anything and sees every day as an opportunity to try new things. Her vivid imagination takes her on grand adventures, both real and fantasy, and like all children, her antics occasionally result in endearing misadventures.
Animated in Brown Bag Films, with Art Direction by David McCamley and original music by Darren Hendely, the series is also directed by Brown Bag’s co-founder Darragh O’Connell. The series is commissioned by Nickelodeon with Brown Bag’s Cathal Gaffney executive producing along with Chorion’s Diana Manson and Kurt Mueller. Pat Resnick (the acclaimed screen and television writer whose credits include the Golden Globe-nominated ‘Hell on Heels - The Battle of Mary Kay’) leads the writing team. Chorion’s Supervising Series Producer is Megan Laughton and producers are Chorion’s Karen Ialacci and Brown Bag Film’s Gillian Higgins.
The series has already been picked up by Five in the UK, ABC Australia, YLE Finland, SVT Sweden, NRK Norway and RUV Iceland and many other broadcasters.
Commenting on delivering the series, the Director Darragh O’Connell said: “It was a fantastic challenge to bring such a beautiful series of books to the screen. ‘Olivia’ is such a great character and I think we managed to keep her personality true to that wonderfully, sassy little girl.”
Cathal Gaffney, Managing Director at Brown Bag Films adds: “This was a beautiful project to be involved in and over the past 14 months, more than 70 animators and designers were involved in bringing the series to life. The tax incentive Section 481 was instrumental in us being able to secure such a high profile international production to Ireland.”
Brown Bag Films employs 50 full time staff producing commercials and international television series. They are currently in production with the 52 part CGI series ‘Noddy in Toyland’ for Chorion and Five (UK). The company is located in the heart of Dublin City but also operates an office in Toronto, Canada. In 2002, their short film ‘Give Up Yer Aul Sins’ was nominated for an Academy Award. The company is nominated at the upcoming IFTA Awards in the animation category for ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’.
