Annecy: France’s Play Big, Taiwan’s Dottodot Team for ‘Musenito’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By John Hopewell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – ANNECY  —  Unveiled on the eve of this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Festival, Play Big, the newly-established distribution-production company of longtime Ankama Planet Nemo Animation head Frédérich Puech, has unveiled its first title: ‘Musenito.’

Produced by Play Big and Taiwan-based Dottodot, the 52-part, five-minute episode CGI animated series will also see a collection of apps and toys, Puech announced at the Annecy Festival on Tuesday where he and Dottodot will be bringing “Musenito” onto the market.

“Musenito” will be produced in association with Puech’s Paris and Lille-based Something Big animation service studio.

Described as a fun and innovative show for pre-school children to encourage them to discover the joy of creating music, the animated series inks abstract music concepts to strong, simple images which pre-school children can easily relate to, Big Play and Dottodot announced in  written statement.

Doing so, the series promotes kids’ creative, critical and music thinking skills to encourage them to become active music-makers, the partners argued.

A first poster suggested the series will feature blob-like characters pictured in soft limpid colors plus abstract emoji-style heads. Most of the characters are pictured in attitudes of joy.

The series will be developed from an original concept created by Dottodot and inspired by Bafta awarded acclaimed series “What’s the Big Idea,” which Puech developed and produced for CBeebies while at Planet Nemo Animation. It sold to over 100 countries.

“As music offers the repeated challenge of situations in which there is no right or wrong answer, it can promote critical thinking at an early age. We are proud to co-develop this uniquely crafted series with Dottodot,” Puech said at Annecy.

Dottodot’s Chun-Chien Lien commented: “MuseNiTo is a pre-school show that provides a unique perspective into the world of music. Through interacting with a series of unique-sound-making musical creatures, it inspires young audience to the endless possibilities of music.”

The co-production deal marks the first major announcement from Puech since his exit from Planet Nemo Animation, where he served as president. During his 15 years at Planet Nemo, Puech emerged as an energetic fire on the French animation scene, both in production and his forging links with many of the key upscale animation players in Asia. He produced fifteen series and more than 600 episodes of animation, including the series “Bali,” “Missy Mila’s Twisted Tales,” “Rita & Whatsit,” “What’s the Big Idea” and  “Groove High.”