Pop Paper City (52 x 11’) has won MIPTV’s 2020 Kids Series Pitch.  The Kids Series Pitch presents the most promising projects from creators and producers of animation and live-action series from around the globe, showcasing new projects to meet kids’ growing appetite for innovative content. Pop Paper City was one of only five projects to be selected for the pitch out of hundreds of applications, and was the only series to have been produced in the UK.

MIPTV is a global, multi-genre content market that takes place in Cannes, France every year. The event provides producers, content creators, distributors, and many others with the opportunity to discover exciting new content and trade rights on an international scale.

Pop Paper City is a vibrant 3D craft show with adventure. The series follows a group of unique paper characters as they get crafty and create adventures together in a captivating paper world. In each eleven-minute episode, the characters find new ways to have fun together by creating new parts of their already impressive world. The craft montages in the show – which mix live-action with 3D animation – inspire children to make their own paper creations, encouraging ‘doing as well as viewing.’

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, many of MipTV’s sessions were held virtually. This included the Kids Series Pitch, for which finalists had to submit an online pitch presentation for their projects. An esteemed panel of Jury Members from across the children’s TV landscape were in charge of assessing the pitches. The panel included the Senior Acquisitions Manager (Kids EMEA) for Warner Media, Zia Bales, the VP Animation for Nickelodeon International, Chris Rose, and Acquisitions Executive of YLE, Vicky Schroderus, just to name a few.

Pop Paper City’s success in the MipTV’s 2020 Kids Series Pitch follows a noteworthy development journey for the show. In 2019, Pop Paper City received development funding from the BFI’s Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF). The YACF supports the creation of distinctive, high quality content for audiences up to the age of 18. Using the development money, the LoveLove Films team developed a brand new teaser trailer for the show, along with various other development materials. Alongside LoveLove MD/Pop Paper City’s producer Georgina Hurcombe, the Aardman distribution team presented the new Pop Paper City teaser at MIPJr 2019, where the project became the 4^th most-viewed project at the event’s screening library. Aardman was appointed the distribution partner for the LoveLove Films property last year.

Commenting on Pop Paper City being selected for MIPTV’s Kids Series Pitch, Producer/LoveLove MD Georgina Hurcombe said:

“We are absolutely delighted that Pop Paper City has won the Kids Series Pitch. The Pitch is such a great way for upcoming producers to get their content out there, and it’s a wonderful showcase of all the innovative kids’ content in development right now. The whole team have worked so hard to develop Pop Paper City, and it’s really fantastic to get this prestigious industry recognition from MIPTV. We are thrilled to be the winning pitch.”

For more information about the BFI’s YACF Development Fund, visit: https://www.miptv.com/production/kids-pitch/

For more information about the Kids Series Pitch, visit:

https://www.miptv.com/programme/kids-live-action-pitch/

For more information on the distribution of Pop Paper City, please contact:

Alison Taylor, Aardman Alison.Taylor@aardman.com