Category Archives: Press Release

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Multiple Emmy® Award-Winning Preschool Hit PEG + CAT Expands Licensing Activity in Germany

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PEG + CAT1 (1)Multiple Emmy® Award-Winning Preschool Hit PEG + CAT

Expands Licensing Activity in Germany

Toronto, Canada – June 10, 2015 – 9 Story Media Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Germany’s Super RTL to represent merchandising across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for Peg + Cat, the four-time Emmy®-winning animated series for preschoolers co-produced by The Fred Rogers Company and 9 Story Media Group.

Super RTL, which has been airing the popular series since August 2014, is planning a full range of hard and soft lines for the brand and has already signed its first home entertainment deal. Sony Music Entertainment Germany is slated to launch Peg +Cat on DVD in the territory later this fall.

HiHat Media was recently appointed as the U.S. agent for the property, while 9 Story manages licensing for the brand internationally. A book series from Candlewick Press is on its way in the U.S. market this fall, with the debut title, “Peg + Cat, The Race Car Problem.” PBS Distribution launched a line of DVDs in the U.S. in 2014 with three new releases planned for this year. Internationally, home entertainment partners include eOne in Canada and ABC Commercial in Australia. More Peg + Cat licensees will be announced soon.

In addition to its most recent Emmy Award this year for “Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Program,” the series has been honored with Emmys for “Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Animated Program,” “Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program” and “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Production Design.” Peg + Cat has also earned four Kidscreen awards as well as a Parents’ Choice Gold Award, and the Peg + Cat Big Gig App has earned a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor.

With relatable and funny adventures filled with upbeat music, the series has garnered a large and growing audience across broadcast and digital platforms. One of the top five kids shows across all major kids networks for the 2-5-year-old set* and in the top 10 among moms with kids under 3*, Peg + Cat attracts more than 7 million viewers each month. The series, which has proven to be a solid performer across all platforms where it is available, also draws upwards of 20 million video streams per month.*

*Kidranker, February 2015

The series is performing equally well beyond the TV screen. Peg + Cat’s “Really Big Album” ranked in the top 10 among children’s music on iTunes in its debut week, and the brand’s “Big Gig App” was #1 in education apps for kids in its first week.

The series follows the adorable spirited, Peg, and her sidekick, Cat, as they encounter unexpected problems that require fun and creative solutions. In order to solve the problems, Peg and Cat must add, subtract and apply basic arithmetic. Their adventures take them to historical far-away lands, art centers in bustling metropolises and the colorful cosmos, all the while demonstrating that it’s never too early to start learning the magic of numbers.

Peg + Cat is co-created and executive produced by Jennifer Oxley (Little Bill, The Wonder Pets!) and Billy Aronson (Rent, Postcards from Buster) and co-produced by The Fred Rogers Company and 9 Story Media Group for PBS KIDS. Kevin Morrison of The Fred Rogers Company and Vince Commisso of 9 Story also serve as executive producers. 9 Story, which also handles international distribution, has secured distribution in 180 countries.

About 9 Story Media Group

9 Story Media Group is a leading content creator, marketer and distributor of kids & family focused intellectual property. Recognized around the world for best-in-class brands such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Numb Chucks, Arthur and Peg + Cat, 9 Story represents over 1800 half hours of animated and live action programming, seen on some of the most respected international channels and platforms.  With one of North America’s largest animation studios, 9 Story employs over 250 creative and production staff and has produced over 900 half hours of award-winning children’s content. 9 Story is owned by senior management, ZM Capital and media entrepreneur Neil Court. www.9story.com

About The Fred Rogers Company

The company was founded by Fred Rogers in 1971 as the non-profit producer of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for PBS. In the years that followed, it not only created hundreds of episodes of this much-loved program, but also extended Fred’s values and approach to other efforts in promoting children’s social, emotional and behavioral health and supporting parents, caregivers, teachers and other professionals in their work with children. The Fred Rogers Company continues to build on Fred’s legacy in innovative ways through a wide variety of media, and engaging new generations of children and families with his timeless wisdom. The company’s highly-rated, award-winning children’s series includeDaniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Peg + Cat and Odd Squad. For more information, visit www.fredrogers.org.

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SHOUT! FACTORY ANNOUNCES U.S. THEATRICAL RELEASE OF THE SEVENTH DWARF

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SHOUT! FACTORY ANNOUNCES U.S. THEATRICAL RELEASE OF
THE SEVENTH DWARF
Peyton List, Norm MacDonald, Nina Hagen and Joshua Graham Lead All-Star Voice Cast
HIGHLY ANTICIPATED CG-ANIMATED FEATURE
OPENS IN LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK ON JULY 31, 2015
Los Angeles, CA – This summer, join your favorite storybook characters in a hilarious mash-up of the most celebrated fairy tales when the highly anticipated feature-length movie THE SEVENTH DWARF opens theatrically in New York and Los Angeles on July 31, 2015 from Shout! Factory Films.  This new CG-animated feature boasts an exceptional voice cast of Peyton List (Disney Channel series Jessie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Norm MacDonald (The Middle, Saturday Night Live), internationally renowned singer and actress Nina Hagen and newcomer Joshua Graham. Directed by Harald Siepermann (Tarzan, Enchanted) and Boris Aljinovic, THE SEVENTH DWARF is a wonderfully magical movie adventure packed with fantastical characters, non-stop laughs and toe-tapping songs that the whole family will enjoy!
Join all seven dwarfs for an adventure as big as they are small! It’s the eve of Princess Rose’s 18th birthday. Everyone in the kingdom has come to Fantabularasa Castle to celebrate, including Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood. But just before the stroke of midnight Bobo, the youngest dwarf, accidentally pricks the finger of Princess Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) with a cursed needle and sends the kingdom into a century-long slumber! To find Rose’s true love Jack to save her with a kiss, Bobo and the other six dwarfs must go on a treacherous journey, face a fiery dragon and outwit the jealous, scheming and evil witch, Dellamorta.
Written by Harald Siepermann, Daniel & Douglas Welbat, based on the characters by Otto Waalkes and Bernd Eilert, THE SEVENTH DWARF is produced by 7 Dwarves Animation Company in co-production with Cinemendo, Erfttal Film- & Fernsehproduktion, CC Medienproduktion, TransWaal Film, VIP Medienfonds 2 / VIP Medienfonds 4B, Rialto Film, MCC Independent, Universal Pictures Productions.

THE SEVENTH DWARF opens in New York and Los Angeles on July 31, 2015. The film is rated PG and has a run time of 88 minutes.  For more information about THE SEVENTH DWARF, please visit www.SeventhDwarfMovie.com .
North American film distributor: Shout! Factory
About Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory, LLC is a diversified multi-platform media company devoted to producing, uncovering, preserving and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their entire careers sharing their music, television and film favorites with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory’s entertainment offerings serve up feature films, classic and contemporary TV series, animation, live music and comedy specials.  Shout’s audio division boasts GRAMMY®-nominated box sets, Broadway cast albums, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable “best of” compilations.  In addition, Shout! Factory maintains a vast digital distribution network which delivers video and audio content to all the leading digital service providers in North America.  Shout! Factory also owns and operates Timeless Media Group, Biograph Records, Majordomo Records, HighTone Records and Video Time Machine. These riches are the result of a creative acquisition mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention.  Shout! Factory is based in Santa Monica, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit shoutfactory.com
# # #
Press Contacts:
Tom Chen & Sarah J. De Bruin                                Melanie Klein, Alyssa Hackman, Brianne Fortuna
Shout! Factory                                                             Mammoth NYC
310-979-5602/ 310-442-5013                                  212-352-2200
tchen@shoutfactory.com                                         alyssa@mammothnyc.com
sdebruin@shoutfactory.com                                    brianne@mammothnyc.com
Steven Zeller
GS Entertainment Marketing
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Portfolio Entertainment’s Globe-Trotting Kids Series Land in New Markets

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DOKIPROMO_03_v06Portfolio Entertainment’s Globe-Trotting Kids Series Land in New Markets

New kids sales include DOKI, The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! and RoboRoach

(June 5, 2015 – Toronto, Canada) – International distributor Portfolio Entertainment has signed multiple deals for three animated series from its kids catalogue with broadcasters in Canada, Norway and UAE.

The animated hit series DOKI (26 x 30’) has been sold to NRK in Norwayand TVO and Knowledge Network in Canada. The series centres around curious Doki, as he and his five friends travel the world, exploring distant lands and cultures while answering important preschool questions.

The UAE’s E-Junior has acquired season two of the celebrated preschool series The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!(20 x 30’). Inspired by Dr. Seuss’ beloved Cat in the Hat, the series follows best friends Sally and Nick on magical journeys into the natural world. With the Cat as their guide and Thing One, Thing Two and their Fish along for the ride, every outing becomes an unpredictable adventure.

Additionally, RoboRoach(52 x 30’), a high-concept animated series about cockroach Reg and his half-robot, half-cockroach brother Rube has been purchased by BBC Kids in Canada.

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Animation Vets honored at UCLA’s 24th Annual Film Festival

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IMG_2699

THREE-TIME ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED PRODUCER MICHAEL DELUCA, ACME FILMWORKS’ RON DIAMOND AND ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING SCREENWRITER GRAHAM MOORE TO BE HONORED AT THE UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION’S 24th ANNUAL FILM FESTIVAL

The weeklong festival celebrates the outstanding achievements of UCLA TFT students, while honoring some of the industry’s most distinguished talent

LOS ANGELES (JUNE 04, 2015) — The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), one of the world’s most prominent academic institutions for entertainment and performing arts education, announced today that three-time Academy Award-nominated producer Michael DeLuca, Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Graham Moore will be honored at its 24th Annual Film Festival, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Kanbar Entertainment and SAGIndie. The festival takes place June 5-10, 2015 at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

UCLA TFT alumnus Ron Diamond will receive the Crystal Anvil Award during the Festival of Animation on Saturday, June 6. Diamond is the founder and executive producer of the Los Angeles-based animation studio Acme Filmworks, which brings together renaissance animation filmmakers and agencies to create the right fit for advertising campaigns. Acme has created such memorable promotions as the Levi’s women’s jeans campaign and the long-running Charmin campaign featuring Acme’s iconic bear. Other notable Acme clients include director Ridley Scott, AT&T, United Airlines, Ford, Principal Financial Group, Hilton Hotels and Microsoft. Diamond is also the co-founder of the animation news site AWN.com and serves as its president. He is currently preparing his 17th annual Animation Show of Shows, representing his picks for the year’s best animated short films, which he tours around the world for animation professionals and students.

Graham Moore will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award during the Screenwriters Showcase on Monday, June 8. Moore’s screenplay for The Imitation Game (2014) won the Academy Award and WGA Award for Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, after topping The Black List in 2011. Moore recently adapted The Devil in the White City for Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio. He is currently writing original television pilots for HBO with director Michael Mann and SKY Atlantic with director Marc Forster, the latter which received a 10-episode, straight-to-series order at NBC. Additionally, Random House will publish Moore’s second novel, The Last Days of Wonder, about the early days of electricity, in fall 2016.   

Michael DeLuca, an esteemed production executive and prolific producer with nearly three decades in the film business, will be honored with the Vision Award during Producers Marketplace on Tuesday, June 9.He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year and three times for a Producer’s Guild of America Award for David Fincher’s The Social Network, Bennett Miller’s Moneyball and Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips. Earlier this year, De Luca produced the box-office hit Fifty Shades of Grey, for Universal Pictures, where he currently has a production deal. De Luca will produce the next two installments of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.

Student films from many notable alumni have showcased at the annual UCLA TFT festival including Shane Acker (9); Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar); Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist); Justin Lerner (The Automatic Hate); Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, upcoming Bourne sequel), and Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees), among others.

More information about the festival can be found at www.tft.ucla.edu/festival.

About UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

The vision of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is to serve as a premiere global interdisciplinary professional school that develops outstanding humanistic storytellers, industry leaders and scholars whose diverse, innovative voices enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better world. Consistently ranked as one of the top entertainment and performing arts institutions in the world, UCLA TFT offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the study and creation of live performance, film, television and the digital arts. The distinguished graduate and undergraduate programs at UCLA TFT include acting, directing, writing, producing, animation, cinematography, lighting design, set design, costume design, sound design, moving image archive studies, and the school offers doctoral degrees in theater and performance studies and cinema and media studies.

Media Contacts:

Sandy Hall

shall@tft.ucla.edu

(310) 206-6835

 

Noela Hueso

nhueso@tft.ucla.edu

(310) 825-0965

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9 Story Media Group Announces Sale of Emmy® Award Winner PEG + CAT to Discovery Kids Latin America

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Peg + Cat

9 Story Media Group Announces Sale of Emmy® Award Winner PEG + CAT to Discovery Kids Latin America

Toronto, Canada – January 20, 2015 – 9 Story Media Group is pleased to announce that its animated preschool series Peg + Cat (80 x 12’)  has been acquired by Discovery Kids for Latin America, including Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.  The series originally debuted on PBS Kids in the fall of 2013 and recently won 3 Emmy® awards, including Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Animation Program. Peg + Cat recently premiered on Discovery Kids in Brazil and Argentina with other markets expected to follow later this month.

The series has also been acquired by Treehouse (Canada), TFO (French-speaking Ontario), Télé-Québec (Quebec), Canal+ Family together (France and French-speaking territories), CSC (UK), TG4 (Ireland), Super RTL (Germany and German-speaking Europe), YLE (Finland), SVT (Sweden), ABC TV Australia, TVNZ (New Zealand), Disney (Korea), True Visions (Thailand), HOP (Israel), Mini-Mini (Poland), E-Junior (UAE), Zee Learn (India), RTP (Portugal) and MBC Kids (UAE).

Created by Emmy® award-winning creative director, animator and children’s writer Jennifer Oxley (Little Bill, The Wonder Pets!) and Billy Aronson (Rent, Postcards from Buster), Peg + Cat is co-produced by 9 Story Media Group and The Fred Rogers Company for PBS Kids. 9 Story has international distribution rights to the series.

The series follows an adorable spirited little girl, Peg, and her sidekick, Cat, as they encounter unexpected problems that require fun and creative solutions. In order to solve the problems, Peg and her cat must add, subtract and apply basic arithmetic. Their adventures take them to historical far-away lands, art centers in bustling metropolises and the colourful cosmos, all the while demonstrating that it’s never too early to start learning the magic of numbers.

9 Story Media Group is a leading content creator, marketer and distributor of kids & family focused intellectual property. Recognized around the world for best-in-class brands such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, Wild Kratts, Numb Chucks, Arthur and Peg + Cat, 9 Story represents over 1700 half hours of animated and live action programming, seen on some of the most respected international channels and platforms.  With one of North America’s largest animation studios, 9 Story employs over 220 creative and production staff and has produced over 900 half hours of award-winning children’s content. 9 Story is owned by Senior Management, ZM Capital and media entrepreneur Neil Court. www.9story.com 

For further information: 

Jennifer Ansley, Vice President, Marketing & Communications, 9 Story Media Group

+1 416 530-9900 ext 230, jennifera@9story.com