12-12-2013

US Zodiak Picks up Polish Flapper and Friends

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    Flapper and Friends Flapper and Friends

    WARSAW: The Polish animated children’s series Flapper and Friends has been funded for a second season and has been picked up by Zodiak Rights Limited, a US company specializing in family entertainment.

    The series is produced by the Polish studio Se-Ma-For, which told FNE that Zodiak is currently negotiating with the BBC to broadcast the first season and that Australian broadcasters have also expressed interest in the title. The series is available in over a dozen of countries including Germany, Switzerland, France and the Czech Republic.

    Flapper and Friends was created by Wojciech Próchniewicz and Zbigniew Żmudzki. The first season, directed by Polish animator Krzysztof Brzozowski, was made in both Polish and English language versions after a long development period.

    Thirteen 10-minute episodes were internationally coproduced for the first season by Se-ma-for Produkcja Filmowa, Imagina Studio, Fundacja Filmowa Se-ma-for, Se-ma-for Switzerland and Narodowy Instytut Audiowizualny in 2013 with support from the Polish Film Institute and the City of Lodz. The show is created via stop-motion animation technique by a 35-person crew of animators and working on eight sets at once. Over a 100 figures were made for the show's first season.

    The series premiered in September of 2013 broadcast by the MiniMini+ channel and instantly received rave reviews, quickly becoming the most expensive advertising spot in the channel's line-up.

    The series has just received 2m PLN in production funding from the Polish Film Institute for the 13-episode second series planned with a budget of 5.3m PLN. The popularity of the show had also resulted in an early DVD released in November of 2013, distributed by Galapagos.