Taffy Ent., distributor of such animated series as Fantastic Four, ToddWorld and Code Lyoko, has added Shanghai to the growing list of cities where its offices can be found. Headed by experienced TV and advertising exec Yangsook (Grace) Lee, the extension will further the company’s presence in Asia and compliment its operations in Los Angeles, Paris and London.
In her new role, Lee will focus on extending the reach of Taffy Ent. programming with Asian broadcasters. She most recently served as VP of business development at House, a producer of advertising and live shows, and also held the position of international sales manager at Neuroplanet Group, where she was responsible for the Asia Pacific region.
‘Asia is already one of the largest and most important television markets in the world, and it’s still growing,’ says Lionel Marty, president of worldwide distribution for Taffy Ent. ‘We already have excellent relationships in place with broadcasters and producers through our many co-production partnerships.’
The opening of the Shanghai office follows on the heels of several deals Taffy has signed throughout Asia in advance of the Asia Television Forum in Singapore. NTV7 in Malaysia and TV12 in Singapore have acquired Moonscoop’s Fantastic Four, a new series based on the classic Marvel comic-book series and hit feature film. TV12 has also picked up Mike Young Prods.’ popular preschool series ToddWorld, as well as SamSam, a new comic-book-based, CG-animated television property produced in HD by Bayard Jeunesse Animation. SamSam has also been pre-bought by C4U in Korea and the Yoyo channel in Taiwan. In addition, C4U pre-bought the CG series Dive Olly Dive!, a co-production of Mike Yong Prods., Flying Bark Prods., KI.KA, ARD, Telegael and GDC, while PT Cintra in Indonesia has acquired all three seasons of Code Lyoko.
In other deals, Cartoon Network Asia has committed to Pet Alien from Mike Young Prods., MoonScoop, TF1 France, Crest and Telegael, as well as Little Vampire, a series based on the comic books by Joanne Sfar. Co-produced by MoonScoop, Story and Telegael in collaboration with France 3, Little Vampire has also been snapped up by Hong Kong’s ATV and the Horror Channel Japan, in a deal brokered through Tokyo Media and Hiro International. Preschool show Babaloos on Vacations has been renewed for a third time with TWA Japan.
On the production side, Taffy has signed a co-production agreement with Korean broadcaster EBS and France 5 for its new preschool series Lamimila, produced by MoonScoop and Characterplan. MoonScoop is now in production on a fourth season of Code Lyoko, bringing the total number of episodes to 97 plus a a 45-minute special. The series airs on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and around the world.
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