Aussie book series wins international animation pitch

Brian Buchanan in Cannes, News Corp Australia Network

October 15, 2018 2:09am

TOP selling Australian children’s book series, Dinner Detectives, has kick started its move into an animation series with an international win.

The series, by screenwriter Yves Stening and illustrator Nigel Buchanan, has won the IP Pitch at MipJunior, the children’s entertainment market, in Cannes.

They beat four other finalists from around the world to take the award. This gives them international recognition and direct access to key producers.

“This is huge,” said Stening, who came to Cannes for the pitch and to promote the project. “It is hard to estimate how big this is.”

In the books,Dinner Detectives Clementine and Aksel travel back in time and around the world to uncover magical stories behind the food we eat.

Stening said the aim now was to develop a TV series, an app and other elements. He said key producers and broadcasters were at the pitch competition.

“These are exactly people we need to speak to,” he said. “We have created a TV bible, written the first three episodes and outlined the first six. We have all kinds of spin-off ideas — a game and an app and a YouTube program. But what we really want to make is a TV series.”

“And to get in the door for that many people would normally take you two years.”

He said he had already spoken to key personnel after the win.

“By being given the tick by three major players in the world, who were the judges, people were clearly interested in seeing me. That’s an entree. That’s gold.”