Icelandic entertainment brand and animation studio Tulipop is heading to MIPJunior and MIPCOM in Cannes with a growing global digital audience and an expanding slate of original animation, revealing its new preschool series Tulipop: Island Adventures and the newly completed Halloween special Pumpkin Pip.
Created by Icelandic illustrator and designer Signý Kolbeinsdóttir, Tulipop is an original character-driven fantasy world inspired by Icelandic nature, folklore and storytelling.
The property’s first animated series, Tulipop Tales (52X7′ episodes) has been sold internationally across broadcast and digital platforms. Tulipop has since expanded its catalogue with three 30-minute seasonal specials, including Pumpkin Pip, directed by Selina Wagner -wich will premiere in Icelandic cinemas this October. The brand has also expanded its international licensing programme through a partnership with Pogo Group, including print-on-demand merchandise for global markets through Amazon.
Tulipop contents are now approaching 60 million views on YouTube and are available in multiple languages. Island Adventures is moving into visual development, storyboarding and pre-production following Tulipop’s most extensive development programme to date, including a writers’ room, broadcaster and audience research, educational and social-emotional consultation, and the creation of a new series “bible”. Building on the internationally distributed Tulipop Tales and Tulipop’s growing slate of 30-minute seasonal specials,
Helga Árnadóttir, Tulipop’s CEO and co-founder:
This is our most ambitious development process to date. It has enabled us to push Tulipop further creatively while remaining true to the characters and world, and we are excited to share the new series with international partners in Cannes.
In the wake of internationally distributed Tulipop Tales and the growing catalog of 30-minute seasonal specials, Island Adventures marks a significant creative evolution for the property.
Signý Kolbeinsdóttir, creator and co-founder of Tulipop:
“Island Adventures allows us to explore new relationships, introduce bigger challenges and reveal new sides to our characters, while retaining the humour, warmth and playful weirdness at the heart of Tulipop.”
The series will explore the emotional lives of its young characters in greater depth as they make mistakes and navigate friendship and growing up, while retaining Tulipop’s irreverent humour, warmth and distinctive visual identity. The stories will also make greater use of Tulipop Island’s rich environments and ensemble cast, creating bigger adventures and revealing unexpected sides to its characters.
Selina Wagner is the series director, Martha MacDiarmid leads the writing team – including Ian Carney, Zahara Andrews, Isabel Fay, Evgenia Golubeva, Myles McLeod, James Walsh and Ross Collins MacKay-, and Claire Casswell -whose credits include BBC Bitesize, Paramount and Moonbug- is the educational and cultural consultant, for the series’ educational and social-emotional framework. The series has also received development support from Screen Scotland, and Tulipop is also collaborating with Scottish animation studio 2D Workshop.
Claire Casswell, series’ educational and cultural consultant:
“Tulipop trusts its young audience and explores the complexities of childhood without ever feeling preachy. Its combination of humour, emotional depth and a magical world makes it genuinely distinctive within the preschool landscape.”
