Canadian Firms Team For ‘Fruit’ Animated Series; Outpost VFX Hire In London; JoBlo YouTube Features Expansion — Global Briefs

Andreas Wiseman
·3 min read

Canadian Firms Team For Animated Series

EXCLUSIVE: Toronto production company Hawkeye Pictures and Ottawa’s Big Jump Entertainment are developing Brian Francis’s novel Fruit as an animated series. The novel was the runner-up for CBC’s Canada Reads in 2009. Set in 1984, Fruit follows the awkward misadventures of fat-and-fabulous 13-year-old Peter Paddington as he navigates life as a total outsider. Bullied everywhere, Peter has only two allies – his opinionated nipples who begin an unwelcome mentorship to help him survive junior high. Screenwriter/director Pat Mills (Guidance) is attached to adapt the novel into series. “We are thrilled to be working with Karen, Rick and the whole team at Big Jump, and with the amazing Pat Mills to bring Brian Francis’s funny and beautiful novel to the screen. This feels like the right time to introduce a whole new generation to the wonderful world of Peter Paddington,” said Hawkeye producers Sonya Di Rienzo and Aeschylus Poulos.

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Wheel Of Time VFX Firm Hire

Outpost VFX has bolstered its UK team with the appointment of Kate Warburton as Executive Producer ahead of the opening of its London facility in coming months. Warburton will work alongside UK Head of Studio, Rachel Matchett. Best known for her work on major film and episodic productions including Aladdin (Disney), Paddington 2 (Warner Bros) and The Crown (Netflix), Warburton most recently marshalled visual effects for Channel 4’s acclaimed miniseries It’s a Sin as executive producer. Matchett said: “I have worked with Kate previously and I am thrilled this adventure will continue. Her ambition matches that of Outpost’s, and her passion for VFX will bond brilliantly with the team here.” Outpost, which alongside its UK and Indian facilities operates studios in Montreal and Los Angeles, has recently delivered visual effects for The Wheel of Time, Foundation and Star Trek: Discovery. Its UK facilities are currently in production on projects including The Offer and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

JoBlo Media Makes YouTube Feature Film Push

JoBlo Media, which operates a YouTube network that has 10 million subscribers and generated 2.2 billion views across 2021, has announced that it will expand its business model to include the distribution of completed full-length films. To guide the endeavor, the company has promoted John Fallon to Director of Original Content and Acquisitions. The network is already popular for promoting studio films via trailers and clips, plus for making its own content (Fallon has written and starred in some of those), and now it will start to feature movies across comedy, action, horror, sci-fi, documentary and animation via acquisitions. “We believe that we’re in the perfect position to take advantage of all the streaming options around the world today. Both John and I have been in the industry for over 25 years now, we know the movie part of it as well as anyone, but we also know the web and YouTube parts as much as anyone out there as well, so this was a no-brainer for us”, said JoBlo founder Berge Garabedian.

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