Zoo Factor Trailer

A SOUTH Wales TV company is being paid by the BBC to create an on-screen send-up of X Factor.

The hit show pulled in more than 19 million viewers who watched Joe McElderry beat Olly Murs in the final screened on Sunday night.

Now BBC bosses are hitting back at that success with a Muppet-like TV series poking fun at Simon Cowell’s talent shows.

Real-life judges Cowell, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole will be replaced by puppets of a boastful lion, ugly baboon and clapping seal in Zoo Factor, made by Cardiff-based TV company Calon.

Zoo Factor sends up Cowell, who holds the rights to the X Factor brand, but BBC chiefs say it is just a biting satire aimed at children.

Cowell’s role of head judge is taken by a vain and lazy lion called Clive, who eats acts for breakfast with the catchphrase: “If you are beaten, you are eaten.”

Programme bosses describe his fellow judge Celia as “a glamorous showbiz seal” and Barry as a banana-scoffing baboon “guaranteed to say something inappropriate”.

Hostess Holly Willoughby is replaced in the mock talent contest by a blonde marsupial known as Hilly Wallaby.

Jedward-style duo Mick and Mack are meerkat twins, while other contestants are sheep, leopards, elephants and mice.

Each week puppet animals will display their talents before the three judges, trying not to make a meal of their performance.

A programme spokesperson said: “There’s no million-pound recording contract or chance of world domination for the winners of this show.

“The ultimate prize is to stay alive in Zoo Factor in case you are eaten.”

Zoo Factor is being put together by the writers of Strictly Come Dancing, Pop Idol and Eight out of Ten Cats. It is being made by Calon, who made Fireman Sam and Superted, to be shown by the BBC in the spring.

by Sion Barry, Western Mail

WELSH-LANGUAGE animation Sali Mali has been sold to Channel 4.

The deal is the first struck by Cardiff-based animator Calon since it regained the commercial rights to the children’s programme from S4C in April.

S4C’s policy is to, wherever possible, return programme rights to producers. The channel no longer has a distribution arm – although it has maintained a majority equity stake in Sali Mali.

Calon has signed an deal that will see Channel 4 screen all 52 episodes of the series in English.

Having promoted studio manager Lynne Stockford to head of international sales, Calon has also sold the second series of the Bafta-winning S4C and Five pre-school children’s series Hana’s Helpline to German public broadcaster ZDF.

Calon hopes the latest sale will drive other commercial deals and more overseas sales for its catalogue of award-winning children’s animation. These include the Bafta-winning Hana’s Helpline, 1980s favourite Wil Cwac Cwac, Under Milk Wood and the feature film the Princess And The Goblin.

It also leads the way for sales of its new pre-school series, based on the adventures of cave girl Igam Ogam, which is due to premiere on S4C in November and Five in the spring.

Recent figures from regulator Ofcom into public service broadcasting reveals that investment by ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five (public service broadcasters), on UK-produced children’s programmes fell by 70% from £42m in 2004 to just £11m in 2008.

Calon’s managing director Robin Lyons said: “We hope this will be the first of many much-loved Welsh programmes which will go on to become equally loved by children in the rest of the UK. We have taken an iconic Welsh language children’s character series and repositioned it for a UK-wide public service broadcaster.”

The value of the deal with Channel 4 is not being disclosed. However, Mr Lyons said: “It is good money to have, but it is not going to change the world for us. More importantly is the fact that Ofcom is trying to persuade public service broadcasters to work together. This doesn’t happen very often, but this is an example of this.”

He added: “Lord Carter’s Digital Britain Report also encourages C4 to get more involved in children’s programmes, which this deal also signs.”

Welsh Assembly Government Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones said: “This is a tremendous boost for Calon TV and it’s great to hear that Sali Mali will now be able to be enjoyed by children across the UK. In the light of the recommendations made in the recent Ofcom review, this is an example of producers and broadcasters working together to maximise public value from the investment in public service broadcasting.”

Generations of Welsh children have grown up learning to read with Mary Vaughn Jones’ books based on the adventures of Welsh girl Sali Mali and her mischievous pet bird called Jack Daw. The animated TV series is narrated by Hollywood actor Rhys Ifans while Cerys Matthews sings the title song. Originally made in 2000 for Welsh language broadcaster S4C, Sali Mali has been sold to 25 countries, including Australia and Korea, and is regularly shown on S4C’s dedicated children’s channel Cyw.

Deborah Poulton, offpeak commissioning editor for Channel 4, said: “We are delighted to be broadcasting such a charming series. We are sure it will be as big a hit with kids in the rest of the UK as it is with children in Wales.”

The channel will start broadcasting Sali Mali next month.

MipTV: A Britain’s Got Talent-style puppet show starring a host of wild animals and the catchphrase “If you’re beaten, you’re eaten”, is set for CBBC.

Welsh indie Calon TV have produced the 13 x 20-minute series Zoo Factor, which will be aimed at 8-to 10-year-olds and is earmarked to air this autumn.

Animal contestants share their sob stories, hopes and dreams for the competition before displaying their unusual skills to vain and lazy lion Clive, gaff-prone monkey Barry and indecisive Carmel the chameleon.

A host named Hilly Wallaby presides over the backstage action with meerkat security guards Mick and Mack and production manager Oscar the ostrich.

Contestants voted off are eaten by Clive.

Scripts for the show are being written by Mark Evans (Saturday Night Takeaway, Strictly Come Dancing) and Will Ing (Pop Idol, 8 Out of 10 Cats). Alan Nixon, a former commissioning editor at Five, is producing and directing the show, and Calon managing director Robin Lyons is executive producing.

Distribution rights for the show are owned by Calon, which also produces kids series Hana’s Helpline, and the company hopes to secure international pre-sales at MipTV.

Western Mail Wednesday 4th February

Animation company Calon TV has teamed up with Merrill Osmond of the 70s supergroup the Osmonds to develop an animated movie for TV.

The Cardiff company, which is better known for the award winning C5 and S4c pre-school animation Hana’s Helpline, first met Mr Osmond and his writing partner, Mal Pope, last year.

And they are now working together to turn Mr Osmond’s idea of mythological horse called Shiloh into a feature length film.

The Osmonds singer will write the soundtrack will write thesoundtrack and lend his voice to the title character.

Set in the Wild West, Shiloh is the tale of Amy, a young mute girl, who forms a special bond with the mythical horse.

The idea was inspired by Mr Osmond’s beleif in the healing power of horses after he witnessed a friend’s son give up his drug addiction with equine help.

Robin Lyons, managing director of Calon TV said: “We thought it was an interesting project to work on and we are delighted that Merrill chose to work with us.

“After an initial meeting, with the creative team at Calon TV came up with the sketches of the characters. As soon as Mal and Merrill complete the script we will start looking into finance.”

Mr Osmond has toured regularly with Mr Pope.

On the creative spark for their latest project, he said: “We were sitting down in Mal’s studio in Swansea where we were recording some songs together for an album. I told him about a dream I had about this little girl and a white horse. And Mal, being the genius he is, came up with the story.”

Mr Pope the took the proposal to the management team at Calon TV.

He had worked with them in the 1980s when he performed the themes to the popular children’s animation series Fireman Sam and SuperTed.

He said: “When Merrill first started talking about his dream , it got me thinking about a story. Although my background is writing for stage, I’m excited about working on a TV movies.”

Later this month Mr Lyons and Calon’s Commercial director Huw Walters will be visiting the KIdscreen Summit, an annual children’s animation industryevent in New York, where they will be looking for more financial backing for the project.

On the creative spark for their lastest project, he said: “We were

Pre-school animation wins Best Children’s category at 2009 Broadcast Awards.

Calon TV’s pre-school children’s animation Hana’s Helpline has picked up a gong in the Best Children’s category at the 2009 Broadcast Awards, beating off competition from five other programmes.

This was the first time Welsh firm Calon has won an award at the London event, which is organised by trade magazine Broadcast in order to recognise and reward excellence in programme-making.

The panel of judges - which included executives and controllers from the UK’s leading terrestrial TV channels and independent programme makers - said that Hana’s Helpline was ‘charming, funny, the sort of programme you would happily watch with your children’.

The stop-motion animation, featuring hand-sewn fabric puppets and cartoon style cardboard sets, is one of the flagship shows of Welsh-language channel S4C’s new pre-school service CYW, where it is translated as Holi Hana.

The second series of the English language version was screened on Five’s Milkshake block last autumn.

“I’m delighted for both myself, the team at Calon TV and S4C,” said Robin Lyons, Calon’s MD. “In these difficult times, it shows how high quality programming can be achieved when broadcasters in the UK, in this case S4C, Five and MG Alba in Scotland, work together.”

Calon TV has now gone into production with Igam Ogam, another stop-motion animation based on the adventures of a curious cave girl and her pre-historic friends.

UK Indies Stand at MIPCOM

The Calon team have just returned from MIPCOM - Europe’s major market for television programmes and multimedia content.   The week long event held in Cannes gave the company an opportunity to showcase its programmes to some of the 13,000 attendees from broadcasters, coproducers and other financiers of media content from around the world.

News from Cannes included :

Hana’s Helpline 

The second series of Calon’s popular preschool series will broadcast on UK Network Five in their daily Milkshake slot from October to December.  

The series has already been shown by Welsh broadcaster S4C as part of their new children’s service Cyw, and on newly launched MG Alba in Scotland.

Series 2 has recently been sold by Calon to ZDF whose commercial arm ZDF Enterprises will also represent the merchandising rights in Germany.

Hana’s Helpline is now on air in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Scandinavia and Australia amongst others.   Ranges of Hana’s Helpline soft toys, children’s DVDs and children’s book have been launched as a result of licensing deals with Golden Bear, Random House, Cooneen and 2Entertain.

Igam Ogam 

Production is under way on this brand new 26 x 10m stop frame series featuring the pre-historic adventures of curious cavegirl Igam Ogam and her friends.   The series is scheduled for completion in October 2009 for S4C, Five and MG Alba.   

A deal has recently been signed with ZDF Enterprises who will handle distribution of the series outside the UK. 

The series will be voiced by Ruth Jones following her success as the writer and star of BBC hit comedy Gavin & Stacey. 

Abercadabra

A trailer for Calon’s new animation series for the 6-9 year old audience was shown at this year’s Cartoon Forum at Ludwigsburg.

The Cartoon Forum has proved to be a winning way of securing coproduction funding for new animated series.  In previous years the Calon team have successfully presented Hana’s Helpline, Igam Ogam and PSI5 to broadcasters and other financiers at the Forum.

Coproduction interest will be pursued post MIPCOM with a view to raising finance to start production on a 52 x 10m series in 2009.

Camelot Codebreakers

This innovative adventure game show format for kids recently aired on S4C as 10 x 30m series Herio’r Ddraig.     A trailer was available at the market in response to strong international interest in the format rights.    Production has also started on a new live action format for S4C entitled Gobyldigwyrdd an eco-makeover show for the 7-12 age group.   This further strengthens Calon’s credentials as a producer of live action entertainment alongside its established track record in animation.

Calon Comedy

Calon’s hiring of respected executive producer Alan Nixon to co-develop entertainment ideas has already resulted in a recently announced deal with UK network ITV to develop new comedy ideas for its flagship channel ITV1.    Calon was one of only 3 UK companies (and the only company in Wales) to secure a development deal in ITV’s latest round and it marks the beginning of an expansion which will see Calon develop more ideas in this genre for its home market and beyond.

Short form content

Calon’s keep fit tips for couch potatoes featuring the dysfunctional Tatties are proving a hit on web channel www.blinkx.com.   35 of these short interstitials are available to stream online and can also be viewed on mobile thanks to a deal with Player X. 

Calon is developing more short form content for web and mobile with new ideas on a sporting theme including Mr Poker Face and a series of short comedy interstitials on a golfing theme.

Hana

From the Western Mail:

INDEPENDENT television company Calon TV has won a commission to develop a comedy series for ITV1.

The Cardiff programme-maker has been awarded the money from the ITV nations and regions production fund to create a scripted comedy using Welsh talent.

Calon, based in Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay, is best known for its children’s TV shows, among them S4C’s Holi Hana – Hannah’s Helpline – which is due to start on Five this month.

ITV is looking to commission new scripted comedy programmes to follow its recent hit Benidorm.

Calon TV, whose team produced worldwide children’s TV favourites Superted, Sali Mali and Fireman Sam, has been working with comedy consultant Alan Nixon to develop comedy shows for a mainstream adult audience.

As the controller of entertainment at Channel 5 when the channel launched in 1997, Mr Nixon helped in kick-starting the career of Graham Norton.

He also worked with British comedy stars Simon Pegg and Sanjeev Bhaskar, resurrected game show It’s A Knockout and produced the surreal Channel 4 comedy series Absolutely, dubbed the Scottish Monty Python.

Calon has already worked with some of Wales’ best new comedy writers such as Mark Evans, who wrote Radio 4’s series Bleak Expectations, and award-winning comedian Bennett Arron, and now they will pull together a team to develop a scripted comedy in the hope of securing a commission by ITV.

Mr Nixon, who won a Welsh Bafta for the ITV comedy series Barry Welsh starring John Sparkes, said: “Gavin and Stacey showed the quality of comedy writers we have in Wales.

“ITV wants us to come up with ideas for a scripted comedy that can be made in Wales and we want to tap into the talent available.”

Robin Lyons, Calon TV’s managing director, said: “In the last year we’ve quietly been developing ideas for comedy programmes, which we’ve been pitching to TV networks including ITV.

“This money shows that they are taking us seriously and will give us the opportunity to work with top-notch comedy writers. We hope that we will be able to produce another comedy hit that’s made in Wales.”

Emma Barker, editor nations and regions production development fund, said: “We are delighted to be investing in such a creative and dynamic company as Calon.

“ITV is very keen to develop voices from the nations and regions and we have high hopes that the investment will pay off with some comedy commissions from Wales.”

Calon TV was formed in 2005 by the former management of Siriol Productions, who created the Bafta-winning Superted, Hilltop Hospital, Fireman Sam and the animated Under Milk Wood.

The company has been the major employer and developer of talent in the Welsh animation industry. It employs more than 40 people.

Stop-motion pre-school animation series Hana’s Helpline, about an agony aunt duck, is broadcast in Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Ireland and Scotland.

In recent years the company has also branched out into children’s drama producing Help! I’m a Teenage Outlaw for CITV/Nickelodeon and the adventure game show Herio’r Ddraig (Challenge the Dragon) which is being shown on S4C.

Last year Calon produced Big Tatties, a series of 30-second animated keep fit tips from couch potatoes, which was their first downloads for mobile phones.