Canal Plus Solicits Short Ideas

Makers of short-form, family-oriented toons may want to brush up on their French, as Canal Plus has issued a worldwide call for such fare to become part of its New Cartoons effort.

The French pay-TV outlet made the announcement Wednesday at the Annecy Intl. Film Festival, where head of children’s programs and channels Francois Deplanck told the trades the channel wants short-format series in particular to replace its now-gone supply of Warner Bros. cartoons and fill its new Canal Plus Family channel lineup.

Canal Plus will choose 10 winners to have a pilot financed and produced. Successful pilots will be turned into series running 37 to 51 episodes at five to seven minutes each.