Star Farm Edgar & Ellen

"Star Farm Productions' flagship property, Edgar & Ellen, is gearing up for multiple deals following extensive broadcast, publishing, and online exposure.
When Trish Lindsay, Sara Berliner, and Rick Carton co-founded Star Farm Productions in May 2002, they set out to revolutionize the way content is created, and they did it with today's digital generation in mind.
This talent has been particularly visible in Star Farm's flagship property, Edgar & Ellen, which artfully combines traditional and new media. Currently supported by books, animated TV, and an online community, the property is poised for further market expansion, thanks to licensing agency Lisa Marks & Associates.
The initial inspiration for Edgar & Ellen came from Carton, illustrator of the "Edgar & Ellen" book series, and his brother, Billy, at their mom's kitchen table.
As the company's flagship property, Edgar & Ellen championed the Star Farm model of creating stories in multiple media and releasing these stories into the marketplace simultaneously. "Edgar & Ellen first appeared in a six-book series (now with Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing) and an online community (http://www.edgarandellen.com/), and then moved into animated television, via shorts and specials on Nicktoons Network and YTV in Canada," explains Lindsay. But the twins have even more up their sleeves, as the book series—which currently boasts 14 publishers covering 12 languages and 67 countries—expands, and Star Farm gears up for the release of the Edgar & Ellen TV series (co-produced with Bardel Entertainment) in August on Nicktoons Network. So far, deals are in place to roll out the series in 15 countries. Plans also are underway to add graphic novels and a live-action feature film. As a next step, a major retail program will take place later this year.
"Getting kids' feedback is essential to the story development process at Star Farm. Stories are presented to kids and kid experts such as parents, teachers, and librarians," explains Lindsay. "In the case of Edgar & Ellen, the book series is kid-influenced. Kids read manuscripts as they were being written, tweaked, and reworked long before the books hit shelves. Major Web activities and applications also were shown to kids as they were being developed." Additionally, she says, "the upcoming TV series not only was researched, it is 10 percent kid-inspired. Kids sent in their personal ideas for the 2-minute shorts, which we then animated and made part of the half-hour show. In addition, Edgar & Ellen TV shows, in varying stages of development—from script to animatic to final animation—were, and continue to be, reviewed regularly by kids and schools."
The success of the first book series also received a healthy boost from the Edgar & Ellen online community.
"Patience has been a dwindling virtue among many entertainment property owners as licensing revenues from consumer products are being sought earlier and earlier, to offset production and development costs," explains Marks. "Unfortunately," she continues, "there have been too many cases where early-to-market has translated to early-to-rest for these programs, as consumer awareness and demand have not adequately led product development and retail distribution. In the case of Edgar & Ellen, all major media elements have been put into place, and significant retail, marketing, and promotional programs have been established in advance of the comprehensive consumer products effort."
Timing, agrees Lindsay, is key to the development of Edgar & Ellen in both multiple platforms and retail programs. "In the case of multiple media, Edgar & Ellen first gained an audience through publishing and the online community, before further growing that audience through TV shorts and specials. We are continuing to grow Edgar & Ellen internationally, and also have deals throughout Europe and the rest of the world." For licensing, she adds, "we are looking to the U.S. as a model to roll out international programs by territory. As awareness and success stories are built domestically, international plans will focus on growing the brand, as well as focusing efforts on cross-partner opportunities and securing retail exclusives." License Global April 2007