Animated series ‘Flying Animals’ sold to Janson Media

Animation and family entertainment distributor Media I.M. has licensed its social-purpose animated Flying Animals franchise to New York-based digital aggregator Janson Media.

Janson Media has acquired the exclusive AVOD, SVOD and TVOD/EST rights to Flying Animals (44 x 6.30 minutes) and spin-off series Kids and Flying Animals (56 x 1.45 minutes) for the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Flying Animals is a fantasy comedy series aimed at children aged six to nine. The storylines centre on a country of musical animals, who are given wings to reward them for their courage in trying to change their lives for the better. In Russia, Flying Animals currently airs on seven channels and online services, including children’s nets Carousel and Moolt.

The series was originally developed by the St Petersburg-based animation studio DA, whose community activities include conducting animation therapy sessions to teach children suffering from cancer how to create cartoons. The idea for Flying Animals was born out of this project.

Media I.M. teamed up with UK-based charity Hope For Children when it first acquired Flying Animals and donates the distribution profits from the series to the charity’s ‘Your Business, Their Lives’ initiative. Hope For Children’s mission is to ensure that every child has a happy, healthy and positive childhood.

Originally produced in Russian, Janson Media will join efforts with Kip Kaplan, the director of Audioworks Producers Group in New York to dub both Flying Animals and Kids and Flying Animals into English.

Both series have also been dubbed into Portuguese and Mandarin after earlier deals with, respectively, RTP for Portugal and Sino Media in Beijing for mainland China.

Maria Ufland, co-founder of Media I.M., said: “This and every deal for Flying Animals is, of course, hugely satisfying, but what makes this one special is that we now have an English-language version of this enchanting series. That opens up many more markets for us, which in turn means we can do even more to help Hope For Children.”

Jesse Janson, EVP of acquisitions at Janson Media said: “The Flying Animals series is a wonderfully produced animation that is not only entertaining but provides an excellent model of doing better in the world through their partnership with the Hope For Children charity.”

Janson Media’s clients include the English-speaking world’s major broadcasters and home-entertainment companies. It also has direct relationships with platforms, including Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, iTunes, Twitch, Hulu and Facebook.

Media I.M. is best known for its management of the Sunny Bunnies portfolio, which is now broadcast in more than 160 territories