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African Creators Wanted for Short-form Comedy Projects

The leader in children’s animation in South Africa, Cartoon Network, invites African creators to submit their short-form comedy project in the first ever Cartoon Network creative venture run in Africa.

If there’s one thing Africans do really well, it is the ability to laugh at themselves! Taking advantage of Africans’ humorous streak, and incredible storytelling abilities, Cartoon Network Africa is proud to announce the launch of their brand new initiative, Cartoon Network Africa Creative Lab, an African venture designed to bring innovative, local short form content to the channel, and its digital platforms, while reinforcing the local relevance of the brand.

In this ground-breaking move, the leading network in the kids’ entertainment industry, Cartoon Network is taking another bold step in addressing the gap in locally relevant content which offers a viewing experience that resonates with its African audience. The initiative will encourage African talents: creators, writers, graphic artists, animation students … in fact anyone who loves kids’ content, to explore their creative, animation and production talents and have the chance to produce a short-form animated comedy to make Cartoon Network viewers across Africa laugh out loud!

“As sponsors of the DISCOP 2016 Animation Pitching Programme, we were exposed to some really inspiring local animation projects,” says Ariane Suveg, Head of Programming and Acquisition Turner Kids Africa. “We were so impressed by Cape Town-based Punch Monkey Studio’s amazing creative energy in the winning entry, Cloud Life, that the project has been traveling through the Turner group and is now in a development process with the Turner Asia Pacific production team! This just reinforces our need to invest in local content and our commitment to further mentoring talent in the African animation industry.”

Entries for the Cartoon Network Africa Creative Lab will be open from 7th June until 31st August 2018 across the continent.

African residents, aged 18 and over, or any African-based company, can submit their one-minute to three-minute creative short project which must fall in the comedy genre and fit with Cartoon Network’s values of random, irreverent, smart and contemporary humour. Editorial guidelines can be found on www.CartoonNetworkAfrica.com/CreativeLab.

Ten projects will be short-listed in September, and the local creators will get the opportunity to pitch their work to Cartoon Network Africa’s content programming team. The winner and two runners-up will then be revealed at DISCOP Johannesburg at the end of the year.

The winner and runners-up will be given the opportunity to get their project produced as a pilot with Cartoon Network Africa which will then premiere on Cartoon Network Africa and its digital platforms in 2019.

“We are honoured to be supporting local African animation talent through the Cartoon Network Africa Creative Lab. We look forward to seeing the entries and hope to see the winners flourish in their career as content creators, following the footsteps of some of Cartoon Network’s greatest talents.” concludes Ariane Suveg.

Editorial guidelines

  • Format: Short animated film (1 minute to 3 minutes long)
  • Target: 6 to 12-year-olds (core target: boys 7 to 10-years-old)
  • Language: English or non-dialogues
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Goal: Make African kids laugh out loud!
  • Ingredients: Fresh new style; All kinds of humour, including irreverence and randomness; Comedy driven by engaging characters and unexpected stories
  • Positive values such as kids spirit, kindness, diversity and never-ending imagination
  • Unique graphism based on any animation technics (2D, 3D, stop motion, mixing real footage etc)

Requested material

  • Concept presentation: Pitch, heroes’ description, storyline(s), graphic intention; Any additional material accepted (including story-boards, animatics, videos etc)

Submission process

Timeline

  • Call for entry: June 7th to August 31th 2018
  • Winner/runners-up announcement:   November 2018 at DISCOP Johannesburg

African residents aged 18+ or an African based company from the below countries will be eligible to enter the competition:

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, St Helena, Sudan, Republic of South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

About Cartoon Network Africa

Turner’s Cartoon Network is a universally appealing children’s channel, slightly boy focused, filled with an exciting slate of surprising comedy and adventure. The programming line-up explores themes of humor, friendship, imagination and action, targeting children aged 6-12 with a rich mix of globally successful content, such as The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10 and The Amazing World of Gumball.

Cartoon Network has localised services across the world, available in 19 languages in over 142 million households in 70 countries.

Cartoon Network is a brand owned by Turner, a Time Warner company.

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