Author and Emmy Award winner Mo Willems, Stampede Ventures and RedBird Capital Partners today announced the formation of Hidden Pigeon Company (“HPC”), a multiplatform kids and family content company that will leverage Willems’ best-selling catalog of children’s books and intellectual property across all entertainment platforms, including television, film, digital, gaming, live events, location-based experiences, publishing, consumer products and more.
HPC will harness its relationship with Stampede and now RedBird to build on the reach of Willems’ franchises and further enhance the development of his intellectual property through premier entertainment offerings and products created for kids and family audiences on a global basis.
“The Hidden Pigeon Company takes its name from how kids and former kids delight in finding The Pigeon hidden in every one of my books,” said Mo Willems. “It is my hope to create a similar bit of surprise and delight in the fabric of everything we make or do. I am thrilled to have found wonderful collaborative partners to make that hope a reality.”
The creation of HPC follows the success of Stampede Ventures and Willems’ existing producing partnership, which has already earned early success with two specials that premiered on HBO Max/Max — Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Underground Rock Experience and Storytime All Stars Presents: Don’t Let the Pigeon Do Storytime (2020), which was nominated for two daytime Emmys.
“We’ve deeply enjoyed the success of our partnership with Mo and Cher Willems to date, and it’s shown us that the popularity of his IP and the appetite for premium family entertainment are a powerful combination,” said Greg Silverman, Stampede Ventures’ CEO and Founder.
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With RedBird’s significant financial investment and industry expertise, HPC will be able to expedite its development pipeline, infrastructure expansion and commercial initiatives. RedBird’s involvement also marks the firm’s expansion into the kids’ and family entertainment sector.
“Working with creative entrepreneurs like Mo is at the core of our investing strategy,” said Gerry Cardinale, RedBird Capital Founder & Managing Partner. “The creation of HPC is consistent with RedBird’s broader media investment thesis of acquiring best-in-class IP and scaling its scope of impact and commercialization. Our goal is to help this new company and partnership transform the traditional kids and family entertainment landscape and the way audiences experience Mo’s stories.”
Chris Bosco, Stampede Ventures’ President, noted, “The launch of Hidden Pigeon Company with RedBird is our opportunity to bring the full range of Mo’s creative genius into one entity crafted to expand the impact of his work. RedBird’s extensive experience will be critical in HPC’s long-term success, and we are thrilled to have their support and partnership.” .
In addition, HPC will also house a new publishing imprint called Specific House, which has partnered with publisher Union Square & Co. to launch Willems’ latest New York Times Best Seller, the new adult humor book Be the Bus – The Lost & Profound Wisdom of The Pigeon, as well as the recent New York Times Best Seller The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! and the upcoming Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh!, which will be The Pigeon’s first-ever holiday book, and more titles to come.
Willems is repped by his long-term literary agent, Marcia Wernick at Wernick & Pratt Agency, LLC, who will continue to represent his domestic literary rights.
