Toon2Tango GmbH & Co. KG., the kids and family entertainment venture headed by long-time television and movie industry experts Ulli Stoef and Jo Daris, announced it has both been awarded with E.U. funding and secured an equity stake from a U.S. social media platform and original content provider for its new preschool edutatinment series, Hey Fuzzy Yellow!, created and developed by Måns Swanberg and Toon2Tango.
Hey Fuzzy Yellow! has been specially selected for funding by Creative Europe, the European Commission’s flagship program to support the culture and audiovisual sectors. The media strand of the Creative Europe program, which supports the European film and audiovisual industries to develop, distribute and promote European works, has selected Hey Fuzzy Yellow! for funding totalling 500,000 euros.
In a further show of support for the new series, Curiosity Ink Media has acquired an equity stake in Hey Fuzzy Yellow!. Based in the U.S., Curiosity Ink Media is the original content generator and prolific storytelling division of Grom Social Enterprises, a media, technology and entertainment company dedicated to family-friendly programming, web filtering technology and safe social media for kids. In securing the stake, Curiosity and Grom are partnering with Toon2Tango to co-produce Hey Fuzzy Yellow!.
“The continuing interest from multiple players in the creative field in Hey Fuzzy Yellow! underlines not just its strength as an edutainment property, but the humor, fun and originality that will ensure it stands out in the highly competitive preschool marketplace,” comments Daris, Toon2Tango’s Chief Creative Officer. “We’re looking forward to amusing and engaging viewers everywhere with this unique new property.”
Aimed at the youngest audiences and focused on independent thinking and self-expression through exploration, the spirited new series takes viewers along with Fuzzy Yellow and other colorful friends as they combine curriculum-driven content with unconventional, comical characters and situations — accompanied by plenty of music.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with internationally acclaimed Toon2Tango to bring this series to life for a global audience,” says Russell Hicks, Chief Content Officer of Curiosity Ink Media. “Each episode will be developed and crafted to bring fun, excitement and catchy songs that grownups will love just as much as their preschoolers. Hey Fuzzy Yellow! is a series for younger kids that invites parents and caregivers in for a one-of-a-kind co-viewing opportunity rarely seen in programming today.”
As well as the just-announced E.U. funding and equity support from Curiosity Ink Media, Hey Fuzzy Yellow! has secured financing and programming commitments from several international broadcasters. It will enter production this year.
