France’s Kayenta Productions commissioned to deliver 26 three-minute shorts.
HOLLYWOOD -- The Jim Henson Company, currently in production on an all-new fourth season of the EMMY-nominated and Parents’ Choice Recommended animated PBS KIDS series Dinosaur Train, has partnered with France Télévisions on the production of a series of shorts for the France 5 channel, which will educate young viewers about the letters of the alphabet. The new shorts will debut in December.
The popular Dinosaur Train continues to perform among France’s top-rated children’s series, fueling demand for more content. That growing demand resulted in the commissioning of Paris-based Kayenta Productions to develop and produce the 26 three-minute shorts, each focusing on a different letter of the alphabet. In the new shorts, 26 islands are featured, each shaped like a letter. Aboard the Dinosaur Train, Buddy and his friends travel from one island to the next, where they learn about animals, plants and other objects that begin with the letter of the island, helping young viewers to associate the letter with familiar, everyday words.
“The Dinosaur Train franchise has proven to be incredibly popular in France, and giving fans value-added content on television and online will further strengthen the brand’s popularity with parents, educators and the children themselves,” commented Richard Goldsmith, Executive Vice President, Global Distribution for The Jim Henson Company. “The Jim Henson Company has a long relationship with France TV and is committed to working with our international broadcast and distribution partners to nurture our brands and grow content opportunities.”
“It has been a great opportunity to work with The Jim Henson Company and Kayenta Productions on the production of this new Dinosaur Train content which will provide even more ways for our audience to spend time with their favorite dinosaur family,” said Tiphaine de Raguenel, Head of Children and Youth Activities, France Télévisions.
“Kayenta Productions creates high quality and informative entertainment and we were confident that the shorts would remain true to the education and entertainment goals that are at the heart of Dinosaur Train, and what parents and children expect,” added Claire Heinrich, Head of Youth Acquisitions, France Télévisions. “We hope that children will have as much fun watching these Dinosaur Train shorts as we had working on them, and we are thrilled to launch them the first week of December.”
Source: The Jim Henson Company
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
