CBBC and BBC Worldwide Announce First Animation Pilot Scheme – ANIM8
Straight from this mornings keynote speech at Manchester’s Manimation and Children’s Media Conference, Alice Webb Director of BBC Children’s announced ANIM8, a new initiative to find the next generation of British animation giants.
ANIM8 is offering the chance for everyone, from leading professionals to individual animators, to pitch their ideas for future children’s programmes. In a collaboration between BBC Worldwide and CBBC they’re looking for “new content which is original, character driven, fast-paced, funny and has great kid appeal. [They] are looking for compelling content that is energetic, unpredictable and up-beat with a unique take on contemporary life.”
Speaking at Manimation, Alice Webb said:
The animation industry is going from strength to strength and I am really proud that BBC Children’s are a major part of this and we have been able to work with some of the best animators in the country. With this initiative, we are hoping to open our doors even wider and bring new talent into CBBC that will engage with our audience in a fresh and innovative way.
Henrietta Hurford-Jones, Director of Children’s, BBC Worldwide, said:
ANIM8 supports BBC Worldwide in its mission to take the best of British creativity to the rest of the world. Our ambition is to find creatives and concepts to mirror the global success of our CBeebies titles like Sarah & Duck and Hey Duggee, but this time we’re on the look out for character-driven, fast-paced comedy that will appeal to older kids.
Sarah Muller, Creative Director, Scripted, Animation and Co-productions, for BBC Children’s, comments:
Launching the ANIM8 pilot scheme is an ambition realised for CBBC. It is an exciting time and a key step in our continued objective of nurturing home-grown animation talent and producing original, innovative animated series that resonate with the CBBC audience.
The ANIM8 initiative is hoping to receive anything from style bibles, character designs to proposed scripts. It’s all about getting to the heart of the story and the idea, so whatever stage you’re at then CBBC and BBC Worldwide want to see it. Opening up the floor in this way is a new approach and will allow CBBC to reach out to new and exciting animators all over Britain and collaborate with this new band of creatives.
Launching today with a deadline of 22 January 2016 for initial submissions, ANIM8 will take entrants through a multi-stage development process, culminating in the announcement of the project being taken forward to pilot stage in April 2016. Entrants are required to have a minimum of two broadcast, published or digital credits for commissioned work.For further details on this opportunity and to download the submission form please visit: bbc.co.uk/anim8
Stay tuned and start fleshing out those ideas.