Wiggleywoo, the Dublin animation company behind RTÉjr's new preschool show The Day Henry Met, has been racking up international sales for the series, with a deal with Australian public broadcaster ABC and a major French broadcaster in the works.
Negotiations are also well under way with a channel in the United States market – one market that all animators hope to crack. "The US obviously pays very well," says the show's producer Susan Broe.
The Day Henry Met, which premiered on RTÉjr on Monday, has a budget of €1.2 million for its initial run of 26 five-minute episodes.
The series was funded by the Irish Film Board, the Section 481 tax incentive scheme, Creative Europe, RTÉjr and presales to other broadcasters, having been sold on the basis of its pilot episode to Nick Jr in the United Kingdom and Ireland region, TVO in Canada, YLE in Finland and SVT in Sweden.
Broe describes the process of financing an animation series as “a jigsaw” – only when all the pieces are in place can production begin.
This additional flurry of interest has been generated by its distributor Monster Entertainment and it means that the three-year-old Wiggleywoo, co-founded by Broe and creative director Gary "Gilly" Gill, can now plan to go into production on a second series of The Day Henry Met in December.
The series is voiced by Oliver Callan and his Callan's Kicks co-star Lisa Garvey, with 10-year-old Darragh Malone as the inquisitive, optimistic Henry.
