From a media release:
THE DETOUR ON TELETOON PILOT PROJECT GREENLIGHTS TEN PILOTS FOR PRODUCTION
After considering 200 submissions from across Canada, ten titles have been selected for The Detour on TELETOON Pilot Project, the initiative launched September, 2007 to find new and irreverent comedies for the popular evening programming block aimed at audiences aged 18 to 34. Part of the network’s commitment to the Canadian animation industry, the pilots will air on both English and French networks in spring 2009 and will give producers a finished pilot available for the international marketplace.
“We’re committed to finding the sharpest shows for The Detour†said Michael Goldsmith, Director, Original Content. “The ten selected pilots reflect the broad and sometimes twisted humour that Canadian show creators can offer and although we can’t guarantee a series for all the pilots, I can promise that we are keen to explore risky and innovative ideas and support Canadian producers to find content that will resonate with the discerning Detour audience and hopefully adult animation audiences around the world.â€
For five months, The Detour on TELETOON Pilot Project encouraged producers across Canada to submit pitches for surreal, irreverent and hilarious cartoons to be broadcast on The Detour on TELETOON. As well as on-air broadcast the ten selected pilots will also be made available digitally for possible multi-platform distribution.
The selected pilots come from established producers, some that have worked with TELETOON before, as well as companies just starting in the industry. Featuring characters including ninja nuns, an amnesiac Rasta and sexy assassins, the ten titles straddle a wide range of topics, style of animation and comedy sensibilities. TELETOON will invest nearly one and a half million dollars across the ten pilots with additional funding available to many of the pilots from the Canadian Television Fund Production Incentive Pilot Program.
The ten selected pilots are: (Please note: titles are working titles only)
Angora Napkin
2 X 11 mins, 2D Digital
Mugisha Enterprises (PEI)
A unique musical bubble-gum pop trio, Angora Napkin is a band unlike any other composed of three sexy girls Beatrice, Molly, Mallory. Attracting trouble along with the macabre, the girls always seem to come out on top with the help of their impromptu peppy songs and inability to see the dark side of any situation, no matter how menacing.
Celebutard Nation
2 X 11 mins, 2D Digital
Nelvana (ON)
Celebutard Nation places the undeserved spotlight on the scandalous exploits of four over-exposed 20-something celebrities as they stumble headfirst into the pitfalls of unwarranted fame and unearned fortune. Budding movie-star Paisley, heiress Terra, rock star spawn Kimberly and billionaire Baron, are blissfully unaware that the whole world mocks them, pities them and occasionally, in their darkest moments, wonders what it is like to be them.
Chinatown Cops
22 mins, 2D Digital
Portfolio Entertainment (ON)
A crime wave has hit Chinatown, enshrouding everything from the mom and pop laundromat to the dim sum restaurant in a dangerous veil of crime and corruption. Sadly, nobody cares but Officer Jay Walker and his partner Rick Xia (“Shawâ€): sexy, sensitive super cops of the Chinatown beat. They will brave any danger and suffer any humiliation to inflict their specialized brand of Ginseng Justice in order to save their home from the talons of mysterious new crime queen-pin, Honey Moon.
Drop Dead Gorgeous
22 mins, 2D Digital
CINEMARIA (QC)
Animated in a distinctive anime-inspired style, Drop Dead Gorgeous is fast-paced morality tale with a bloody, absurdist twist as four luscious, sex-hungry, fashion-gorged college girls moonlight as an elite troop of hired assassins. Into fashion, music, hot guys and tabloid gossip, the girls are as ruthlessly selective about who is in, as they are about who is taken out.
Fugget About It
22 mins, 2D Digital
9 Story Entertainment Inc (ON)
It’s hard for a quick-tempered goodfella who’s used to always getting his way to settle for suburban life in Canada. Powerful New York under-boss, Jimmy Falcone and his family try unsuccessfully to fit in the suburban life in the witness protection program in sleepy Oakville Ontario.
Nerdland
22 mins, stop-motion
Cuppa Coffee (ON)
Full of sharp pop culture references and with a scathing sense of humour, Nerdland follows the misanthropic adventures of a group of obsessive nerds as they try to achieve pwnage and survive in a decidedly nerd-unfriendly society.
Ninjamaica
22 mins, 2D digital
Lenz Entertainment (ON)
With a cutting edge graphic look and a creative team made up of hot new comedians and musicians, Ninjamaica melds animated action adventure with biting comedy and a bumping musical soundtrack. An amnesiac Rasta with extraordinary fighting powers and an insatiable appetite sets out to rebuild his memory and reclaim his life, all while dodging bullets from his many enemies and possibly making time for a Twinkie.
NUNCHUCKS
2 X 11 mins, 2D digital
Fresh TV Inc (ON)
Ninjas are everywhere, from housewives to school janitors and even nuns. NUNCHUCKS follows the amazing adventures of Sister Mary O’Lary and Sister Catherine Fitzgerald, two undercover ninjas posing as nuns at the impoverished St. Pius X Convent. Between fighting injustice, drooling over the hot instructor at the new karate dojo and dodging the pious sister Anne Sheppard, things get complicated for the girls.
Space Knights
2 X 11 mins 2D Digital
Fatkat Animation (NB)
Space Knights is a parody of super hero cartoons of the late 90’s. A group of slightly outdated superheroes who drive Honda Accords that when linked together, can transform into a variety of giant robots, from a pterodactyl, to a giant T-Rex, to a saber tooth tiger, the Space Knights use these and other powers to stop a never ending stream of bizarre creatures and insane villains. The irreverent comedy follows the misshapen adventures of the crime fighting team who must battle bickering and in-fighting almost as much as the external foes they face.
The Wireless Family
22 mins, Stop Motion Animation
Riez Encore (QC)
The Wireless Family is your typical dysfunctional and crisis prone suburban family. Ordinary challenges soon develop into extraordinary situations however, as they become unintentional participants in the Middle East peace process, an assassination attempt on the Pope and a character assassination in the NHL.
