It's the home of Mash Crew, Lupo the Royal Dog, Here comes The New kid and Worlds Changing.
Firstly, we have mentioned a few of Wolfe Alexander's projects in the introduction but what is your focus at the moment?
The project I am living and breathing with a passion at the moment is Mash Crew. It's an innovative animation series for primary school children about enterprise and being enterprenuerial. It's filled with interesting and imaginative content to encourage and inspire children into future careers choices. The Government has an initiative aimed at 4-11 year olds but it's more about bringing people in specific jobs to visit the children in schools. This only goes so far for this age range and particularly those who are aged 4-9. A man in a suit talking about retail is not the best way to inspire them. It needs to be relatable to them in their world. Our focus groups with Schools unearthed the need for even better tools for primary school children - ideas which will resonate for their age. Mash Crew has been created to fill this gap and along with Netflix award animators designed a "360 series" - which is more than just an animated show, it's a whole brand which comes with merchandise and incorporates AI/VR options, gaming, entrepreneurial handbooks and globally streamed episodes.
What stage are you at with the production?
The series has been fully developed with Unanico Animation Studios (Netfix Award'Buddi'). We are at the pilot stage and have been meeting with investors internationally who have an interest/background in children's education. We are looking to achieve committed funding of £6.0m to launch the series. With this series we have multiple revenue streams globally including Licensing, Merchandise, Music, Games, Advertising Revenue, Brand Sponsorship, Broadcast Licensing, Brand Sale and UK Animation Tax Relief/Tax Credits. We are finalising the entrepreneurial handbooks which accompany the series, with the first launching on Amazon in November 2023.
What are the biggest challenges for a production house and how do you stand out from the crowded marketplace?
There are lots of story tellers. And there are good ones in the production world but what makes us distinct, is that the content we create is aimed for children aged 4-11 and those living or working with them - so parents and schools. All of us who work on the productions have a heritage creating stories, films, animation and TV programmes for young children. Our approach is imaginative, inspirational and fearless - children's imaginations are vast and there's no room for being prescriptive with formats - which is the route some production houses go down. It's not a criticism, there's definitely a place for those that can create adult reality TV or light entertainment formats and then cut and paste across the world. But that's not us. We are also investing into the entertainment areas that primary children are playing in. With 70% of the work we are doing being done via digital platforms, since this is where this age group look for entertainment.
What enterprising advice would you give to other creatives?
Get yourself a good business advisor! And don't be afraid to consult and seek help from the experts. A lot of creatives need help keeping focused on the important issues of their business - such as a sound business plan and forecasting and a marketing strategy. Creatives are not short on ideas - but sometimes this blessing is a curse because you end up diluting your efforts, by not being focused enough on the core projects for your business. It's essential you make sure you are not spreading your time and resources too much.
For further information visit Wolfe Alexander
