Today’s Daily Bite features news that Amazon Studios has begun developing four TV projects; a German production house is seeking animation partners for a YouTube project, and StudioCanal acquires the rights to Irish director Declan Lowney’s forthcoming project ‘The Alan Partridge Movie’.
Amazon Studios picks first projects… Amazon Studios has begun developing its first four projects, one children’s show and three comedies. The children’s project ‘Buck Plaidsheep’ and the comedies ‘The 100 Deaths of Mort Grimley’, ‘Doomsday’ and ‘Magic Monkey Billionaire’ have been optioned by the online retailer. Amazon says that it intends to add new projects to its series and movie development slates on a regular basis. Amazon Studios was launched through a first-look deal with Warner Bros in 2010 to develop full-length movies.
Animation partners sought for YouTube cartoons... A German production company is on the lookout to partner with animation studios and distributors around the world to set up a network of YouTube channels featuring professionally made cartoons, according to C21 Media. The channels will launch on the Google-owned online video giant this autumn, under the banner World of Animation. German production house Scopas Medien is “curating” at least 10 channels designed for a “global audience” in partnership with the Stuttgart International Animation Festival. Although the production house can not, at present, finance any projects for the channel, they are seeking “any producer with online streaming rights to content” to contact them.
StudioCanal acquires rights to ‘The Alan Partridge Movie’… French-owned distributor StudioCanal has bought the UK rights to ‘The Alan Partridge Movie’, which will be directed by Irishman Declan Lowney (Fr Ted). The much-anticipated project starts shooting in January for an Aug 16, 2013 release, according to Deadline. The Baby Cow/StudioCanal production is backed by BBC Films with development support from the BFI.
If you watch one trailer today… HBO look to be on to another winner after its much-anticipated Aaron Sorkin drama ‘The Newsroom’ aired to 2.1 million viewers in the US last night – making it the pay-per-view channel’s third biggest drama debut since 2008. Only ‘Boardwalk Empire’ (4.8 million) and ‘Game of Thrones’ (2.2 million) drew bigger audiences.
