Nelvana preps preschool live-action

Nelvana’s Miss Persona, P.U.R.S.T. Agent Binky and The Remarkable Mr King

Corus Entertainment-owned animation studio Nelvana is working on three new preschool series, including a digital-first live-action series from the creative team behind Princess Sparkly Butt & The Hot Dog Kid.

Miss Persona (52×3′) centres on a character who takes care of the creatures that inhabit her forest world and will launch on Corus-owned Treehouse Direct YouTube channel on September 21.

The series, which is created by and stars Kimberly Persona, marks a rare foray into live-action for Nelvana and will also air on Treehouse’s linear channel in January 2019.

Meanwhile, P.U.R.S.T. Agent Binky (52×11′) is based on the Corus-owned Kids Can Press graphic novels written and illustrated by Ashley Spires.

The CGI series follows the adventures of Binky and his fellow Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel agents on a mission to protect their human families from aliens, robots and other interstellar threats.

The comedy-action series for kids aged four to seven will air next fall on Treehouse in Canada. It marks the second project between Nelvana and Ashley Spires, with Nelvana currently producing the short film version of Spires’ picture book The Most Magnificent Thing.

Meanwhile, The Remarkable Mr King (39×7′), based on the Kids Can Press picture book series by Montreal author-illustrator Geneviève Côté, is aimed at kids aged two to five and will air next fall on Treehouse.

The preschool series follows a well-meaning, short-sighted lion whose “big thinks” sometimes cause big snags and tangles, Nelvana said.

Toronto-based Nelvana holds global distribution and merchandising rights to all three properties and will introduce the series to the international market at Mipcom next month.