Backbone gets sweet with Sugar Pals


By AMRITA VALECHA | 17 August, 2009 - 15:30

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur based Backbone Entertainment which is currently working on SugarPals, a 2D and flash animated series (13 X 23 mins) has recently signed a deal with distribution company Peppermint for its worldwide distribution.

Peppermint is a distribution company with offices in Germany,Thailand and Malaysia The company distributes movies,dramas, documentaries and cartoon series.

Talking to Animation Xpress Asia Pacific about the series Evelyn Lee, Managing Director, Backbone Entertainment said, "The series is being funded by the MDEC. We have currently completed work for 6 episodes and Peppermint would distribute the series worldwide by January 2010."

SugarPals follows the whacky Gloria Baker,Charlie and the Sugar Pals that he has brought to life. In each episode Charlie will bring a SugarPal to life, which has a distinct look and personality, ranging from the adorable cuteness of Lottie Muffin, to the comically militant attitude of Mousse.

Targeted at the age group of 5-9 years,
Sugar pals are the series heroine, Gloria’s friends. They were initially pastries and sweets and which brought to life by Gloria’s father, Charlie (A Baker-cum-Scientist). Sugar Pals namely are Lottie the strawberry muffin, Mint the Candy, Snap the Cookie, CheeseGal the Cheese and Mousse the Mousse Cake.

Other than working on its own IP, Backbone Entertainment has signed a co-production deal with Neon Pumpkin (Korea) and Crewjo (Australia) for another series Charlie Gribbles (52 x 11mins). While the scriptwriting and concept development is being done at Crewjo, the production for the same which will be jointly handled by Neon Pumpkin and Backbone will commence in December 2009.

The studio is also working on 2 other IPs, Jinggo (26 x 23 mins) and Monster Ghost Academy(26 x 23 mins) and both the properties are currently in their pre-production stage and it is seeking funding and co-production for them.