Animation Magazine
Mercedes Milligan
March 22, 2017
Wind Dancer Films, a Hollywood-based company behind many top TV sitcoms and box-office winners, is growing its kids’ entertainment footprint following the success of its first foray into the area, Ready Jet Go!, which launched last year on PBS KIDS. The company has unveiled a full slate of new animated and live-action TV and film projects for kids and families, teaming with top children’s media creatives to deliver fresh content.
“We’re thrilled that our first-ever children’s series, Ready Jet Go!, has been an out-of-this-world success,” said Dete Meserve, Executive Producer of the series and Principal of Wind Dancer Films. “Our priority continues to be creating quality entertainment offerings for kids and families and we’re very excited to be working on these smart and engaging new productions with the best-of-the best in the space.”
New projects in the works at Wind Dancer include:
Ready Jet Go! Season 2 (CGI Animation; Ages 3-8)
Season 2 of the popular series created by Craig Bartlett (Dinosaur Train, Hey Arnold) will debut in 2018, with 24 new episodes, an hour-long special and a range of new web games and mobile apps. Ready Jet Go! takes viewers on far-flung, fun and learning-rich adventures through astronomy, technology, scientific exploration, innovation, and invention. Since its premiere, the show has reached 34.3 million viewers, including 10.2 million kids on linear TV. Ready Jet Go! content has been streamed more than 146 million times since January 2016. In addition to airing on PBS stations, full-length segments from the series are available for streaming on pbskids.org and on the free PBS KIDS Video app. The series is also on Amazon Prime Video.
The World Wide Webbers (Animated Pilot; Ages 4-8)
An exciting new concept designed to spark children’s interest in both literacy and geography. Created by Kim Berglund, a 15-year veteran in the kids’ entertainment arena, the program follows the Webber kids and their family on a series of adventures around the world.
Not A Box
Winner of two Daytime Emmys, two Annie Awards and a Writers Guild Award, writer/showrunner Carin Greenberg (Tumble Leaf, Lalaloopsy, Octonauts) has joined the Wind Dancer team to pen the script for a pilot that adapts Antoinette Portis’ award-winning book property, Not A Box, for the small screen.
Hello, I Love You (Live Action; Tweens)
Wind Dancer has partnered with one of Canada’s largest film and television productioncompanies, Muse Entertainment (Life of Pi, Being Human), on this new TV movie and series.
Good Sam
Based on the best-selling and award-winning novel by Wind Dancer Principal Dete Meserve, the company is producing the upcoming film for The Hallmark Channel in partnership with Muse Entertainment.
Additional (as-yet untitled) animated projects in the works include a music-centered series for kids 5+ with Craig Bartlett; feature film for family audiences with writer Robert Zappia (Christmas Is Here Again, Tom & Jerry); “maker”-influenced CG series for preschoolers with Kid Glove executive producer Brenda Wooding (SheZow, Space Racers); and The Wilde Family, a preschool science series created by Ready Jet Go! alums Rachel Lipman (Splash & Bubbles) and Joe Purdy (Dinosaur Train).
Wind Dancer is also planning two additional live-action series, a comedy about a secret club for solving tween problems with author/writer Elise Allen (Gabby Duran) and Corey Powell (Doc McStuffins, My Little Pony); and an informational series about the stories behind cars, with Tod Mesirow of Robot Body (Mythbusters, Top Gear).
