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Amazon Studios has added two new children’s series to its development slate, after selecting three comedies and another kids’ show as its first projects earlier this year.
The US shopping giant’s entertainment studio has selected Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and Javi and the Treehouse Club, created by newcomers David Anaxagoras and Federico Badio respectively.
Gortimer Gibbon is about an 11-year-old and his two best friends and is aimed at children and tweens, while Javi targets the preschool market and is about how nature can inspire inventiveness.
Amazon will pay each creator US$10,000 to extend the initial option by 18 months, during which time pilots and promos will be made and tested on audiences.
If the series go into production, the creators will receive US$55,000 and up to 5% of net merchandising receipts from toy and t-shirt licensing, while the shows will be distributed through Amazon’s US VoD service, Amazon Instant Video.
Amazon first called for kids’ and comedy projects at the beginning of May, launching a web page for producers to upload their series ideas. The first projects added to its slate were children’s series Buck Plaidsheep and comedies The 100 Deaths of Mort Grimley, Doomsday and Magic Monkey Billionaire.
Amazon Studios was launched through a first-look deal with Warner Bros in 2010 to develop full-length movies. Now the company, which is stepping up its video-streaming efforts and credentials in the tablet space, is driving into shorter-form original content.
Announcing the new series, Amazon said its studio arm “intends to add projects to its series and movie development slates on a regular basis,” and called for original script submissions.
