DECODE Ent., a subsidiary of DHX Media Ltd., has teamed with Australia’s mememe prods. to co-produce an new animated preschool series titled dirtgirlworld. Commissioned by ABC (Australia), CBeebies and CBC, the show is DECODE’s first Canadian/Australian co-production. It will be packaged as a series of 52 11-minute episodes or 26 22-minute adventures. DECODE Enterprises will handle worldwide distribution, as well as merchandising and licensing rights outside of the U.K. and Australia, where the show will be represented by BBC Worldwide and mememe prods., respectively.
dirtgirlworld is created by mememe’s Cate McQuillen and Hewey Eustace, who, with Jenny Lalor, will exec produce the series alongside DECODE’s Steven DeNure. Beth Stevenson is producing the series, which will boast a distinctive animation style pioneered by Hackett Films in Australia.
Aimed at older preschoolers, the series is being made with a blend of animation, photomontage and illustration that takes the audience to a world where the real and unreal collide. The music-centric and environmentally conscious show explores the natural world and invites the audience to ‘go get grubby’ with Dirtgirl, a gumboot-wearing girl who grows awesome tomatoes, knows cloud names and drives a big orange tractor. Her friends include junk whiz Scrap Boy, a worm named Grubby, Ken the Weevil, Roger the Rooster, Hayman the monosyllabic scarecrow, and the Green Thumbs’real kids having fun in real gardens.
