Hairy Scary Takes MIP Jr. Licensing Challenge

Wednesday, October 10, 2007
By: Ryan Ball

We reported earlier this week that My Big Big Friend from Canada’s Breakthrough Animation won the 4th Annual Licensing Challenge at MIPCOM Jr., and have since learned that the project tied for first place with the series Hairy Scary from France’s Alphanim. The animated kids’ shows were selected from approximately 50 entries at the event, sponsored by License! Global Magazine. The five finalists were presented in live pitches moderated by Tony Lisanti, global editorial director for License! Global.

“It was a very close competition with five high-quality programs that resulted in two winners for the first time,” says Lisanti.

The Licensing Challenge is a pitching session that awards the TV property with the highest licensing potential. The international jury included Leigh Anne Brodsky of Nickelodeon, Stan Clutton from Fisher Price, Anna Hewitt with BBC, Andrew Lane of Hasbro, John Lee from World World and Richard Woolf with Jetix. Hairy Scary and My Big Big Friend were singled out from a short list of five entrants based on such criteria as uniqueness and overall appeal of the property, visual and story elements, distribution/broadcast plans and licensing and merchandising potential.

The other finalists included Katie’s Picture Show from New Moon Television in the U.K., Sportlets from Workout Factory BV in the Netherlands and Uki from BMC Publishing/ARS Ent. in Belgium. The winners received several prizes including an exhibit booth at the Licensing Int’l expo, taking place June 10-12 at the Javits Center in New York City.

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