Pitchee Name:
Lincia Daniel
Bella at the Bar
"Bella at the Bar" is a high-end, returning, 2-D, colour, animated, drama adventure series (12 x 20 min) that celebrates the intelligence, talent, resilience, courage and sense of fun at the heart of girls around the world. It is aimed at girls aged 10 to 12.
"Bella at the Bar" tells the contemporary story of an orphaned, British teenager, Bella Barlow who dreams of becoming a world class gymnast. With all the disadvantages and not a friend in the world, Bella uses her resilience and blazing talent to leap over her cruel legal guardians, side step her enemies and out perform her rivals to land olympic gold.
This is a modern Cinderella story set in the UK but with clear appeal to girls around the world who are captivated by stories of transformation. It champions the power of girls to be their own fairy godmother and change their world one leap at a time.
"Bella at the Bar" is among the most successful girls comic strips of all time in the UK. It ran for ten years from 1974 to 1984 and routinely outsold comic strips for boys. It was the leading strip i comic books for girls such as "Tammy" which had sales of 20 million copies per year in the early to mid-seventies - ending on sales of 5 million copies per year towards the end. The following links provide some background on the popularity of Bella at the Bar and it's significance in changing the history of comics for girls: Bella at the Bar Book One
Bella at the Bar at the Story Museum
Despite the popularity of the comic, Bella's story has never been adapted for the screen. To bring Bella's thrilling story of courage alive for young girls today, the story will be updated to embrace the diversity of British society and the lives of young girls in a technological, fast-paced world. At a time women and girls in societies around the world and in the UK continue to struggle to be seen, heard and listened to; we are passionate about making a show to celebrate them.
Synopsis:
Orphaned and in the care of her Uncle Jed and Aunt Gert, Bella Barlow should be at school but she’s forced to clean windows to make money for them. Home life is even worse as, Bella is forced to cook, clean and do any task that Gert and Jed are too lazy to do themselves. Whenever she can snatch some time for herself, Bella practices gymnastics. She dreams of being a real gymnast but doesn’t know how it’s done and couldn’t be further away from achieving her goal.
When cleaning the windows at a girl’s private school, Bella’s fortunes change when she uses her gymnastics prowess to leap to the rescue of a terrified pupil who’s about to fall from a climbing frame. As a reward, the gym teacher, Miss Mortimer, gives Bella lessons in secret. When Gert and Jed find out, they’re furious but change their tune when Miss Mortimer tells them that Bella could win prizes in competitions. They see dollar signs and start treating Bella like royalty.
A local gymnastics coach, Bob Benson, is impressed by Bella’s talent after seeing her in a competition and invites her to train at this club. However, instead of allowing Bella to develop her gymnastics, Jed and Gert sign her up with Mr Murton, a shady theatre producer. Bella is made to use her gymnastics to act like a clown on stage and she’s bullied by the jealous lead performer. After suffering an injury on stage, Bella realises she’s in danger and flees home in a bid to continue training with Bob.
With Jed and Gert away on holiday, no food to eat and Social Services in hot pursuit to take her into care, Bella incurs a further setback to her gymnastics ambitions when she’s involved in a car accident. Alone and without a friend in the world, Bella’s courage, and determination must not fail her now.
Project Information:
Director: TBC
Producer: Lincia Daniel
Partners: Rebellion
Development stage: Pitch
Planned shooting start:November 2023
Shooting location: UK and Europe
Languages: English
Total budget: £4,200,000
Budget per episode: £350,000
Financing already in place: None
Looking for from the International Business: International (non-UK) co-production partner and distributor.
Company profile: "Moonriver TV is a London-based television and film production company which produces prestigious and ambitious television shows with global appeal. Moonriver are currently shooting NAUTILUS, an epic fantasy series for Disney+, which tells the origin story of Jules Verne’s legendary Captain Nemo. This follows on the heels of MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS, a feature film starring Lesley Manville and Isabelle Hupert, which will be released worldwide in Autumn 2022. The Moonriver team are also in post on CONSECRATION, an elevated horror film from writer-director Chris Smith, starring Jena Malone, Danny Huston and Dame Janet Suzman. Moonriver is working with Paramount + and EOne on an adaptation of A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles. Projects on our developments late include VAIN GLORY, by the acclaimed late screenwriter Alan Sharp.
Prior to setting up Moonriver, CEO Xavier Marchand was President of Production for eOne’s Global Film division. His credits as Producer and Executive Producer include THE WOMAN IN BLACK, SPOTLIGHT and many more.
Rebellion are one of Europe’s leading independent media companies. Globally renowned as a video games developer-publisher and comic book publisher, Rebellion is home to a international brands including Judge Dredd®, and many more. It is the publisher of the legendary comic 2000 AD and has a catalogue of English language comic book IP stretching back over 130 years.
Contact: Lincia Daniel
Email: [email protected]. Phone: 07966187769
