A rights venture has formed to bring Tattarrattat, the flipping, dual-personality characters created by children’s book artists and author David Sheldon, to TV animation as well as merchandising.
The deal sees Sheldon serving as creative director and lead character designer for the project, with Bix Pix Entertainment heading up development and production and SupperTime handling marketing and merchandise.
Burbank-based Bix Pix has specialized in combining stop-motion animation with other techniques to create original-looking hybrids. The company plans to mix stop-motion and CG techniques on Tattarrattat. The project is expected to begin production early next year, with initial distribution set for fall 2011.
‘David’s creatures, his line drawings, just jumped off the page begging to be transformed into three-dimensional characters,’ says Kelli Bixler, president and executive producer at Bix Pix. ‘Creating a dual world where everything has to work right side up and upside down, with regards to both design and story, presents endless inspiration and innovation.’
SupperTime will launch its merchandising efforts with a line of collectible toys featuring an initial cast of more than 30 characters.
Sheldon has had more than 60 books published from such publishers as Harper Collins, Scholastic, Simon and Schuster and Harcourt. His Barnum Brown: Dinosaur Hunter won the Outstanding Tradebook for 2006 honor from the National Science and Teachers Association.
