Turner Broadcasting-owned children’s pay TV channel Cartoon Network has launched an initiative to create an animated comedy for its viewers in Africa.

Cartoon Network Africa Creative Lab is inviting pitches from African talent, with the winning idea being made into an original shortform show.

According to the company, Africans are well-known for their humour and storytelling, and this initiative seeks to promote that by encouraging local content creation that remains relevant.

Ariane Suveg, head of programming and acquisition at Turner Kids Africa, said the initiative had been inspired by the pitching contest at content market Discop in South Africa in 2016.

“As sponsors of the Discop 2016 Animation Pitching Programme, we were exposed to some really inspiring local animation projects,” Suveg explained.

“We were so impressed by Cape Town-based Punch Monkey Studios’ amazing creative energy in the winning entry, Cloud Life, that the project has since been travelling 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 mentor talent in the African animation industry.

“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 careers as content creators, following in the footsteps of some of Cartoon Network’s greatest talents.”

Interested participants must be 18 and above to qualify. Entries should be of the comedy genre and should be submitted as a one-minute or three-minute video. Submissions will end on August 31.

In September, 10 participants will be shortlisted to pitch their project to Cartoon Network Africa’s content programming team. Three finalists will be revealed at Discop Johannesburg in November.

The finalists will have their work produced as a pilot with Cartoon Network Africa, with the show airing on the channel in 2019.

Cartoon Network is a US-based animation TV channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner.

tagged in: Ariane Suveg, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Africa Creative Lab, Turner Broadcasting