Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana in partnership with WeKids and Toon Boom Animation announced the success of their joint talent initiative, China Tales Incubator.
The China Tales Incubator was created to attract talent and discover story ideas to develop, produce, and distribute for audiences in China and around the world. The program welcomed China-based creatives—animators, writers, illustrators, storytellers, and artists—to submit kids’ animation concepts, with the best entry proceeding into development.
Nelvana, WeKids and Toon Boom Animation hosted six China Tales Incubator Workshops in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. Submissions of kids’ content included preschool and family TV series, feature film ideas, and 2D- and CGI-animated projects.
From Beijing, Bingo Animation Studio’s “Dreamweavers” project was selected to be put into development by the partnering companies. The larger goal of the initiative is to present the concept to an international market for distribution, licensing, and merchandising. Beijing Bingo Animation Studio, founded in 2010, designs, develops and produces animation series and feature films, and has worked in close cooperation with global companies including Disney, Alibaba Pictures, and CCTV.
“Dreamweavers” follows a budding creative named Eve who is invited into a fantastical textile world, where her costume-making dreams take a magical twist. Eve and her new friends apply their passion for fashion to create enchanted clothing and hope to one day earn the ultimate title of the Dreamweaver.
WeKids is a Chinese animation distribution specialist and brand manager, while Toon Boom Animation is a developer of leading storyboarding and animation software.