CBBC, BBCWW pick promising toons

UK kids’ pubcaster CBBC has announced the three projects sourced from its first animation pilot scheme with the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide (BBCWW).

The three shortlisted projects will now be taken forward to the final pitching stage of the Anim8 scheme, which was launched last year as part of the BBC’s bid to uncover the next generation of creatives.

The projects, chosen from 300 submissions, are: Mystery Soup by Hannah Jacobs and Victoria Manifold; Peeled Prawn and Shaved Sheep by Vincent James and Karina Stanford-Smith of Fat City Films; and Poles Apart by Alex Collier.

They will now receive additional development time to complete scripts, visuals and a bible before being pitched to and assessed by the BBC’s Cheryl Taylor and Sarah Muller and BBCWW’s Henrietta Hurford-Jones and Nathan Waddington.

Mystery Soup is a surreal comedy about three plucky 13-year-old girls investigating their weird new boarding school and the bizarre goings-on there.

Peeled Prawn and Shaved Sheep follows the adventures of a genius sheep and his shell-less crustacean friend, and Poles Apart is an action-packed, character comedy about a haphazard elf who has been banished from Santa’s grotto to live in the South Pole with Santa’s brother.

Once selected, the finalist will work alongside CBBC and BBCWW’s creative teams to develop their project through to a pilot.