Moomins prodco joins TRX

Moominvalley will launch next spring

MIPCOM: Finnish prodco Gutsy Animations, the company behind animated family drama Moominvalley, has signed up to online TV rights portal The RightsXchange (TRX).

The partnership gives Gutsy Animations control of all international sales of the series, which will be handled by its international sales manager Katherine Senior, using the TRX platform.

“Moominvalley is a pioneering show so what better way to offer it to distributors than via a pioneering new platform? TRX gives us the flexibility and control to ensure we are reaching the right markets and allows us to negotiate directly to ensure we are getting the best deals,” said Senior.

The first series (13×22’), based on the Moomin stories by Tove Jansson, is currently in production.

Finnish pubcaster YLE and UK pay TV operator Sky have both pre-bought rights to the series, which is directed by Steve Box (Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and features the voices of Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Taron Egerton (Kingsman) and Kate Winslet (Titanic).

Moominvalley will air on Sky1 and Sky’s on-demand service Now TV in the UK and on YLE next year.

The news follows last week’s further investment into TRX by European satcaster Sky and venture capitalists Edge Investments.

TRX is the brainchild of former RDF Media founders and Zodiak Media executives Matthew and David Frank. It enables rights deals to be completed online and allows distributors to reach buyers in new international markets, which in turn get access to rights that might otherwise have been difficult to secure.