Galway-based animation and live-action studio Dancing Girl Productions has sold its latest animated series ‘Joe and Jack’ to nine international broadcasters through Toronto-based distributor CCI Entertainment.
Broadcasters including ABC in Australia, Canal + in France, NPO (Netherlands), RTP (Portugal), Telequebec, Knowledge Network, BBC Kids in Canada, TVNZ (New Zealand) and Korea Hi Tel have all bought broadcasting right to the 39-part series, which is also due to air on RTÉ in September.
‘Joe and Jack’ is a pre-school series about a boy named Joe and his best friend Jack the cat. Both characters use their imaginations to make their dreams come true, tackling preschool challenges and exploring the theme of friendship.
The story was developed by Corrina Askin with Jeremy Purcell directing the 39 episodes. Maeve McAdam and Villi Ragnarsson of Dancing Girl produced the seven minute-long episodes. Marco Martis was the art director.
The animation was previously selected as a finalist at the MIP Junior event last year.
Arnie Zipursky, co-chairman and CEO of CCI Entertainment said: “We are very happy with the response we have had from broadcasters on ‘Joe & Jack’. The charm of the series as well as the incredible art is garnering a lot of attention on all continents”.
CCI is responsible for distributing award-winning animations such as ‘Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs’, ‘GeoFreakZ’ and ‘Artzooka!’. In addition to television, CCI has also reached a home entertainment agreement with ABC Enterprises in Australia for the property rights of ‘Joe and Jack’.
The series was funded by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ, the BAI, the MEDIA programme of the European Union, Northern Ireland Screen and the Irish Language Broadcast Fund. It also benefited from Ireland’s Section 481 tax incentive.
