A global production company has acquired a majority ownership stake in a Bristol-based animation studio known for its award-winning work on children’s programmes.
A Productions, which has helped to produce programmes such as Cbeebies’ JoJo and Gran Gran and an Emmy-nominated special edition of long-running US show Sesame Street, has agreed a new strategic partnership with Paris-based Cyber Group Studios.
A Productions has 150 staff spread across two studios in Bristol, on Old Market Street and a space it recently occupied at 15 Colston Street close to the Bristol Beacon venue in the city centre.
The company said its agreement with Cyber Group, which has been forged to help both animation specialists expand into new global markets, would allow it to develop its own original content, alongside its growing creative-led service work.
This year the pair will collaborate on a joint production called Digital Girl, a new children's animated series.
A Productions added that it would also invest and benefit from Cyber Group Studios’ latest innovations, which include real-time animation technology.
Katherine McQueen and Mark Taylor, joint managing directors at A Productions, said in a joint statement they were “excited” by the new opportunities joining Cyber Group Studios would bring.
The pair said: “By teaming up with Cyber Group Studios, we'll be able to further expand the studio, supporting our ambition to become one of the largest and leading animation studios in the UK in a competitive and growing global market.
“In Cyber Group Studios, we've found a partner who will support us in continuing our commitment to making the very best creative and authentic content, as well as driving forward our strategies for diversity and inclusion and staff wellbeing."
Cyber Group Studios is known for a portfolio of animated series such as Giganotosaurus, which has aired on Netflix and the Disney Channel in the US.
The producer and distributor has two production studios in France; one in Singapore; one office in Los Angeles; and two strategic partnerships in Russia and China.
Pierre Sissmann, chairman and chief executive, and Dominique Bourse, chief operating officer of Cyber Group Studios, said in a joint statement: "We are thrilled to be able to join forces with Mark, Katherine and the whole A Productions team to develop cutting-edge new content for a growing global audience.
“The productions developed by A Productions over the years are of exceptional quality; a great asset for this exciting new venture."
The Monster At The End of The Story, the first-ever animated Sesame Street special in more than 50 series of the show, earned A Productions and its collaborators a Royal Television Society (RTS) West of England award, as well as two Daytime Emmy Award nominations.
Its work on JoJo and Gran Gran, the first UK pre-school animation series to centre around a black British family, won the Best Pre-School Programme prize at the Broadcast Awards last year.
Bristol is also home to the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, the creators of Wallace and Gromit , and Wildseed Studios, which recently agreed a licensing deal that will see its animated series Dodo shown on Cartoon Network.
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