Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Summer Doldrums to Winter Excitement: Tails of Whimsy is Back in Action

The truth is, every business appears to follow a cyclical pattern. In licensing, January to May can be crazy, gearing up for presentations and pitches for KidScreen, Book Expo, Toy Fair and Licensing Expo. And then, people in the licensing business go dormant, almost a recovery period, until Brand Licensing Europe and MIP Jr. in Cannes crank into gear each fall.
 
Daryl attending Licensing Expo 2016
Of course, people do come in to work and new projects go into development. But, summer is a quietly creative period where follow-up from shows can result in licensing deals and properties optioned can begin to take shape.

Daryl and I are thrilled that we have such strong representation at these shows. Through our animation agent David Wollos, The Book Mytes is now in first and second rounds of reviews at an unusually high number of animation studios. It is very promising that so many producers have requested this pitch bible. However, this can result in very long waiting periods before an option deal can surface. 

But when they do, Wow!, its very exciting. And then work begins in earnest. This summer, smart producers like Chris Hamilton and Fred Schaefer at OddBot, the LA-based studio that optioned The Mighty Machines of Mackie McKeens,  got down to earnestly address the content and characters that Daryl created. A team of talent began to bring the characters to life. They added humor, history and backstory to Mackie, Mika and the Mini-Bots.


But the talented Samantha Berger, who wrote the fabulous childrens book Crankenstein, also added magic to the mini-pitch bible that is currently being presented to networks. Samantha has won both a NAPPA Gold Award and an E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Crankenstein. Her work thus far on Mackie McKeens is, in our humble opinion, nothing short of BRILLIANT!
 
Working with the talented author Samantha Berger
So, this is just a peek into the progress of Tails of Whimsy since summer. The rhythmic pace of fall shifting into winter has kicked into gear and so have we.