Amazon announced that it has picked up three indie children’s series Annebots, Creative Galaxy and Tumbleaf, along with two comedy shows Alpha House and Betas today. The shows have been given the greenlight to begin production on a full series of episodes that will air exclusively on Prime Instant Video later this year and in early 2014. Amazon and LOVEFiLM customers gave feedback that Amazon Studios used to decide which comedy and kids pilots should be made into Amazon’s first original series.
“We are thrilled at the enthusiastic customer response to our first original pilots,” said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “We built Amazon Studios so that customers could help decide which stories would make the very best movies and TV shows. It’s exciting to see the process in motion, doing exactly what we set out to do. The success of this first set of pilots has given us the push to try this approach with even more shows—this is just the beginning.”
“It’s really rewarding to hear that customers loved Creative Galaxy. It has been a passion project for me to bring the best arts and creativity to kids with Amazon, and I’m so excited that kids are going to be able to enjoy a full season of the show early next year,” said Angela C. Santomero, Creator of Creative Galaxy. “We need more innovative kids programming that puts a strong emphasis on creativity and education. I’m proud and honored to be collaborating with Amazon to make these shows for kids.”
Drew Hodges, creator and director of Bix Pix Productions’ Tumbleaf told Animation Magazine, “I’m very excited to continue to build and explore the world of Tumbleaf and share the adventures that Fig the Fox will have there. Amazon Studios has given us a great opportunity to create a new type of stop-motion series that we hope kids will have as much fun watching as we will have making it.”
“Every time you put a child in front of a screen you have the opportunity to positively influence them which is why we focused on developing pilots that purposefully combined entertainment and learning,” said Dr. Alice Wilder, Education Psychologist and Curriculum Advisor. “Parents and kids have told us they loved Annebots, Creative Galaxy and Tumbleaf and it’s going to be very exciting to see these pilots develop into shows that provide a unique and modern approach to education that will prepare children for a world that is rapidly changing.”
Annebots revolves around Anne, a young scientist, who creates three robot helpers to assist her scientific experiments in the back of her dad’s junkyard. This science-based series from creator J.J. Johnson aims to introduce kids to science and technology in a fun, new way.
Creative Galaxy is an animated interactive art adventure series, designed to inspire kids’ creative thinking through crafts, story, music and dance. The series was created by Angela Santomero, creator of Blue’s Clues and the Emmy-nominated literacy series, Super Why!
Tumbleaf was created by Drew Hodges and Kelli Bixler of Bix Pix Entertainment, the award-winning stop motion studio. The series, aimed at preschoolers, is set in a whimsical land where a small blue fox named Fig plays each day and discovers adventure, friendship and love around every bend. Children will be enriched by narratives that promote play through exploration and scientific thinking.
Since its launch in November 2010, more than 15,000 movie scripts and 3,600 series pilot scripts have been submitted to Amazon Studios. There are currently 24 movies on the development slate and in the processes of being tested with audiences. The original series announced today are the first set of shows for Amazon Studios.
Amazon Studios continues to invite series creators to upload their proposals for comedy and children’s programming at studios.amazon.com/getting-started/series or submit them privately via Amazon Studio.
