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A Cartoon Forum Sampler A quick look at some of the new shows that will be pitched at the Forum this year:
Rabarbar
T
his charming 2D-animated series (26 x 11’) from Denmark’s Copenhagen Bombay studio follows the adventures of a young girl who moves with her barbarian parents to the ancient metropolis of Weinlos — home to a host of fantasy creatures (trolls, elves, etc.) who adhere to a strict social hierarchy. Studio founder Sarita Christensen tells us, “The show is created by the talented Rune Ryberg, who is a very strong comic-book artist and animator. He is super creative and able to create the most whimsical and crazy characters with his designs. Our well-regarded writer Stephanie Wahlstrom has also created very many shows for children in this target audience (six- to 11-year-olds). I believe that this team is very strong and together they have shown us a different way approaching relevant topics such as identity, friendship, family, bullying and the importance of standing up for yourself.”
Hey Fuzzy Yellow
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his innovative preschool offering is billed as “a show like you haven’t seen before!” Produced by Germany’s Toon2Tango, Italy’s Mondo TV and Jungle Fruit in the U.S., the series uses an unconventional curriculum basis to equip children with 21st century skills and an approach that “mirrors the parenting values of Millennials,” per the official description. We love the colorful designs and the attractive visuals which support a hybrid magazine format showcasing the arts, academics, exploration and logic/emotion. As the producers point out, “Hey Fuzzy Yellow sits in a place where no other show sits: in spite of it being strongly curriculum driven, it has lots of music and is also the funniest preschool show you have seen in a long time!”
Goat Girl
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reland’s Daily Madness is bringing a fun and hilarious show about a 13-year-old girl who is raised by mountain goats and has to attend a regular boarding school with regular humans. As producer Lindsay Adams tells us, “When I started Daily Madness, the first show I wanted to option was an animated comedy with a female lead. I was looking for the animated answer to The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt by Tina Fey! After two years of attending markets, we just realized that it didn’t exist anywhere as an option we could pick up... so we locked Shannon George and Kristina Yee in a room together for three days in August 2018 to come up with a bunch of concepts. They came up with a beautifully simple and hilarious idea: Goats are cool, what if a girl was raised as a goat?” Adams points out that Goat Girl is definitely not a show made for girls only. “Comedy is comedy and laughs are laughs,” she says. “Therefore, this is a gender-neutral series for a gender-neutral audience. However, we are all aware that when it comes to down-to-earth, slice-of-everydaylife comedy shows, they tend to lean towards boy lead characters (and majority male creators/writers). This is where Goat Girl stands out. Behind the scenes, having a series that is created by women, directed by women, produced by women and written by women also helps to ensure that we continue to move towards more equal representation in the comedy sections of the animation industry.”
www.animationmagazine.net
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september|october 20
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