Nickelodeon International Sets India Co-Production 'The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj'

Update - Official Nickelodeon Press Release:

NICKELODEON INTERNATIONAL AND NICKELODEON INDIA ANNOUNCE FIRST COPRODUCTION, THE TWISTED TIMELINE OF SAMMY & RAJ

New animated series follows time-altering adventures of cousin-brothers who can pause, rewind, fast-forward and slow down their reality thanks to a mysterious phone app

London, UK —September 2, 2020—Nickelodeon International is teaming up with Nickelodeon India, a part of Viacom18 that is a joint venture between ViacomCBS and Network18, to coproduce The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj. The new series marks the first collaboration between the top kids’ entertainment brand and the leading Indian kids’ category brand from India’s fastest growing entertainment network.

Currently in production with Nickelodeon India of Viacom18, The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj is slated to roll out across Nickelodeon International in 2021. With a mysterious time-altering app at their fingertips, the series follows the reality-bending adventures of a pair of cousin-brothers, as they pause, rewind, fast-forward and slow-motion their way into a whole host of rowdy laugh-out-loud exploits.

The international collaboration is underway on the new 20 x 30-minute 2D animated series, with animation and storyboards developing in India, scripting in progress in the U.S. and U.K., and casting initiated in the U.S.

“The popularity of international content is on the rise, and Nickelodeon is focused on meeting the rising demand for diverse, creative stories for a global audience. This groundbreaking partnership with Viacom18 goes beyond kids’ content, as we look to embrace greater diversity both on-screen and behind the camera,” said Jules Borkent, Executive Vice President, Kids & Family, ViacomCBS Networks International.

Nina Hahn, Senior Vice President, International Production & Development, Nickelodeon International, stated: “In the creative world, geographic borders have diminished, as more content is drawn by the hands of global artists from every corner of the world. The idea for this series was developed in collaboration with the team in India as we sought a way to fuse western and eastern story telling elements. Indian culture is very much a part of this series’ DNA, and we are eager to share those elements with our global audience.”

Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Head of Hindi Mass Entertainment & Kids TV Network at Viacom18 said: “Over the years, Nickelodeon India has created successful local IPs and characters that kids love. This partnership with Nickelodeon International has gone beyond the border lines of creativity and stands testimony to the success of Nick India and Nick International in creating groundbreaking content. It further reinforces the capability of the Indian Animation Industry. We are happy to partner with Nickelodeon International for this show and look forward to working together in creating this series for kids across the world.”

Anu Sikka, Head Creative, Content & Research, Kids TV Network at Viacom18 said: “Kids imaginations and aspirations are universal and it’s this learning that has brought this show to life. The series will be showcasing stories that kids around the world will find relatable and engaging, hopefully opening up more opportunities for future collaboration. Our efforts are to make sure that kids get to experience the best of animation and that this show will stir their imagination and transport them into a new world of adventure.”

Chris Rose, VP, Animation, Nickelodeon International and Anu Sikka, Head Creative, Content & Research, Kids TV Network at Viacom18 are overseeing the project. The head writer of the series is Jordan Gershowitz.

About Nickelodeon International

Nickelodeon, now in its 41st year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location based experiences, publishing and feature films. Nickelodeon is one of the most globally recognized and widely distributed multimedia entertainment brands for kids and family, available in more than 400 million households across 170+ countries and territories, via more than 100+ locally programmed channels and branded blocks. Outside of the United States, Nickelodeon is part of ViacomCBS Networks International, a division of ViacomCBS Inc. (Nasdaq: VIACA, VIAC). For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of ViacomCBS Inc.

About Viacom18:

Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. is one of India's fastest growing entertainment networks and a house of iconic brands that offers multi-platform, multi-generational and multicultural brand experiences. A joint venture of Network18, which owns 51%, and ViacomCBS, with a 49% stake, Viacom18 defines entertainment in India by touching the lives of people through its properties on air, online, on ground, in shop and through cinema.

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Original post:

"The popularity of international content is on the rise, and Nickelodeon is focused on meeting the rising demand for diverse, creative stories for a global audience."

Citing audiences’ growing appetite for international content, ViacomCBS’ Nickelodeon International is teaming with an Indian joint venture to co-produce new animated series The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj.

Nickelodeon India, part of the Viacom18 venture between ViacomCBS and India’s Network18, will be the partner on the 20-episode 30 minute 2D series. The companies said it marks “the first collaboration between the top kids’ entertainment brand and the leading Indian kids’ category brand from India’s fastest growing entertainment network.”

"The popularity of international content is on the rise, and Nickelodeon is focused on meeting the rising demand for diverse, creative stories for a global audience," said Jules Borkent, Executive Vice President (EVP), kids & family, ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI). "This groundbreaking partnership with Viacom18 goes beyond kids’ content as we look to embrace greater diversity both on-screen and behind the camera."

The show will roll out across Nickelodeon International channels in 2021 and could also land on Nickelodeon in the U.S. "With a mysterious time-altering app at their fingertips, the series follows the reality-bending adventures of a pair of cousin-brothers, as they pause, rewind, fast-forward and slow-motion their way into a whole host of rowdy laugh-out-loud exploits," according to a show description.

Work on the series is underway, with animation and storyboards being developed in India, while scripting is in progress in the U.S. and U.K., and casting has been initiated in the U.S.

The head writer of the series is Jordan Gershowitz, whose TV animation writing credits include The Tom and Jerry Show, Gigantosaurus, Taffy and Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty. Chris Rose, Vice President (VP), animation, Nickelodeon International and Anu Sikka, head creative, content & research, kids TV network at Viacom18, are overseeing the project.

“In the creative world, geographic borders have diminished, as more content is drawn by the hands of global artists from every corner of the world,” said Nina Hahn, Senior Vice President (SVP), international production & development at Nickelodeon International. “The idea for this series was developed in collaboration with the team in India as we sought a way to fuse western and eastern storytelling elements. Indian culture is very much a part of this series’ DNA, and we are eager to share those elements with our global audience.”

Nina Elavia Jaipuria, head of Hindi mass entertainment & kids TV network at Viacom18 said: “Over the years, Nickelodeon India has created successful local IPs and characters that kids love. This partnership with Nickelodeon International has gone beyond the border lines of creativity and stands testimony to the success of Nick India and Nick International in creating groundbreaking content. It further reinforces the capability of the Indian Animation Industry. We are happy to partner with Nickelodeon International for this show and look forward to working together in creating this series for kids across the world.”

Anu Sikka, Head Creative, Content & Research, Kids TV Network at Viacom18 said: “Kids imaginations and aspirations are universal and it’s this learning that has brought this show to life. The series will be showcasing stories that kids around the world will find relatable and engaging, hopefully, opening up more opportunities for future collaboration. Our efforts are to make sure that kids get to experience the best of animation and that this show will stir their imagination and transport them into a new world of adventure.”

The Indian animation and VFX sector is valued at $351 million and is projected to grow 18% annually to reach $463 million by 2022, according to a recent EY Indian media industry report.

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From TBI Vision:

Exclusive: Kids’ TV leaders talk financial and culture benefits of co-productions

Co-productions are helping to drive quality and increase cultural diversity on children’s shows, say leading kids’ TV industry figures.

Speaking on yesterday’s TBI Talks (click here to watch on demand), Shabnam Rezaei, co-founder and president of Canadian-US animation studio Big Bad Boo, producer of Hulu’s The Bravest Knight, highlighted how she has seen the number of co-productions on the rise for several years and that the current climate means they make sense “now more than ever”.

“We have all the French-Canadian and English-Canadian broadcasters as partners and they have been talking about co-productions for a very long time, simply because it makes financial sense,” said Rezaei. “The cost of production wants to be kept high, because we want to produce really high-quality shows that are in line with a Netflix show or as Disney show and so co-productions make sense.”

Rezaei added that this desire to maintain high quality productions has led to alliances between the likes of Canada’s CBC, the UK’s BBC and ABC Australia “because they’re very like-minded in the children’s space and they want to work together.”

Nina Hahn, SVP of international production and development at Nickelodeon International, who also took part in the webinar, gave a specific example of an upcoming co-production at the company, which she said would represent the best of both Eastern and Western cultures.

“We’re actually half-way through production on a project, The Twisted Timeline Of Sammy And Raj, which is a co-production between ourselves and Viacom18, which is our Nickelodeon Indian arm,” revealed Hahn.

“There is so much amazing content in India and so much amazing content in the West, but never the two sort of meet, and so we sat down to create a show which takes the Indian culture and is reflective of what works in India, but also has what works in terms of ingredients of stories that are told in the West.”

Hahn explained: “We put it together and came back with this show, which is an amazingly fun show acted by Indian actors, written by an Indian and West writing team and it’s a real collage of the two to take the best of both East and West to make a show.”

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From Indian Television Dot Com:

Viacom18's global push with international animation series

The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj is being coproduced with Nickelodeon International.

MUMBAI: Entertaining kids on television is not a child’s play. Many an Indian broadcaster will agree. But Viacom18 owned Nickelodeon India has managed to do it well by bringing to life iconic characters like Motu Patlu, Gattu Battu, Shiva and Rudra amongst several others. Now the kids broadcaster is making its biggest bet: teaming up with its international associate Nickelodeon International to co-produce a new 2-D animation series targeted at two to 14-year-olds all over the world.

Titled The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj, it is slated to roll out on Nickelodeon’s international channels in 2021.

“The UK and the US are two nations that produce a lot of animation content. India is the only region other than these two which has scaled up its original IP animation production capability,” says Viacom18 content & research Kids TV network creative head Anu Sikka. “When the UK team approached us, we thought as so many productions are happening in India why not do something from India. The idea was to create an IP and a show which works across the globe.”

And that’s why it took the teams from the two companies which included - Sikka and Nickelodeon VP animation Chris Rose - two years to crack the project. Sikka brainstormed with her Indian colleagues to come up with the basic concept, which was then fine-tuned and honed jointly with the Nickelodeon International team. “We have incorporated India’s cultural nuances in the show in order to make it more endearing for both Indian and international audiences,” reveals Sikka.

She points out that the initial idea to bring Indian writers on board was dropped in order to avoid communication hassles. The writers room for The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj is now located in the US under head writer Jordan Gershowitz’s supervision. Creatives are being supervised by both the UK and Indian creative teams with the animation being done at Big Animation’s Pune studio.

The channel is using Frame.io for better connectivity as well to clear assets and storyboards. Sikka highlights that due to the pandemic, the entire process slowed down. According to her, the studio has gradually picked up the pace and arranged software and necessary equipment for employees sitting at home. She says: “Luckily for kid's content and animation, we did not require any shoots, so our work didn’t stop. Yes, initially the challenge was to coordinate with everyone, there were internet connectivity issues at some places. There were initial hiccups but now we are back on track. Pre-production work that also includes conceptualisation and writing went at a rather swifter pace.”

Sikka says that while the IP of the new series lies with Viacom18, distribution will be done by Nickelodeon International in the territories where it can be sold. Of course, the first telecast right will lie with all Nickelodeon channels. She says her primary focus is to launch the show on a larger scale, and then depending on the traction the channel will look further into distribution and licensing.

She points out that English dubbing will be done in both India and the UK, but the dubbing of the content in Hindi and other regional languages will be completely homegrown. She further adds, a movie franchise could also be in the works – just like Motu Patlu - depending on The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj’s popularity.

Animated shows on Indian television are budgeted at between Rs 12-25 lakh for a 2D series and Rs 22-35 lakh for a 3D one. Sikka was loathed to reveal the budget of the co-production. But industry sources reveal that it might be in multiples of what Indian shows can command.

The news about the co-production has warmed many an animation industry veteran’s heart. Says one of them: “This is so good. There was a time when India was known for outsourcing and not for original IPs. But recent efforts like Mighty Little Bheem by Green Gold on Netflix and Vaibhav Studios’ Lamput on Cartoon Network has made waves globally and are telling a different story about India’s animation prowess.”

The hope, amongst most industry professionals is that The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj will take that story of animation further into its next chapter.

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From C21 Media:

Untapped opportunity

The Muslim market is an investor’s dream, but many children’s broadcasters are ignoring the demographic.

With over 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, it’s a market certainly worth tapping into. Global spending by Muslims on food and beverages is growing and by 2023 the sector is expected to be worth US$1.9tn. Major UK fashion retailers have already invested in this growing demographic, with the likes of H&M, Asos and Nike creating their own ‘modest’ clothing lines. And why wouldn’t they, with Muslim spending on clothing predicted to reach US$361bn by 2023?

Yet even with all these staggering spending figures across the globe, the Muslim market is one of many underrepresented diverse markets seeing very little investment from global broadcasters. Children’s networks are missing a trick, with Muslims making up around a quarter of the global population and being the fastest-growing religious group in the world.

Nickelodeon International recently announced a new venture with Nickelodeon India to create the animated series The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj, a great investment opportunity harnessed by tapping into an underrepresented Indian market in children’s content.

As well as reaping the financial rewards destined to come from a large audience hungry for such content, Nickelodeon is showcasing diverse characters with cultural differences, marking a fantastic leap forward in representing true diversity and inclusion.

Nickelodeon International’s investment into this market also has the potential to have a ripple effect, hopefully inspiring other big broadcasters to do the same. Perhaps next, broadcasters will look to the English-speaking Muslim market, who are a growing population and eager for new and interesting content that represents them on a global level.

The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj features two BAME lead characters, cousins who go on adventures through time using a mysterious time-travelling app. Seeing two BAME main characters at the forefront of a children’s animation shouldn’t be groundbreaking or newsworthy. But when a report from children’s streaming service Hopster shows that BAME main characters appear in only six out of the 50 shows studied, and that BAME characters are often ‘pushed’ into the background of children’s programmes, this truly is a massive leap forward for the representation of cultural diversity.

The characters for The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj are to be created by animators in India, where there is fantastic talent within the animation sector and a huge audience that, until now, are not being catered for on a global scale.

According to a recent EY Indian media industry report, the animation and VFX sector in India is set to grow 18% annually to reach an industry value of US$463m by 2022. Nickelodeon has clearly seen this opportunity to provide for these viewers and invest in the growing Indian market. Let’s not forget, this decision is not driven solely by the need for diversity but also for commercial value and investment; diverse characters are quite the silver lining of this investment.

I believe other major broadcasters could be missing out on huge revenues by not investing in the English-speaking Muslim market, and as demonstrated by Nickelodeon, they’re forgoing an opportunity to feature culturally rich content at the same time. Surely this can only be a win-win investment opportunity on the cusp of discovery?

This decision from Nickelodeon International is positive progression, where we are seeing a broadcaster smartly investing outside of their usual demographics. It’s a far cry from when I met with two major US children’s companies two years ago to pitch Zayn & Zayna’s Little Farm, an animation I created featuring a Muslim Family on fun adventures across their British family farm and multicultural neighbourhood.

The show aims to teach preschool age children about diversity, inclusion and sustainability through fun, relatable characters. At the time, my pitch was politely declined by the broadcasters as they didn’t see themselves investing in this type of content, calling it, “too cultural and too religious.” It’s great to see Nickelodeon adapting to modern times and taking interest in markets which present fantastic business opportunities but also the chance to feature much-needed culturally diverse content too.

Finding a place for culturally rich content in the broadcasting schedule is a step in the right direction for diversity, as well as a lucrative business decision. For many years, broadcasters have been promising to make our screens more diverse. Perhaps this lip service could turn into a reality when the realisation hits that there is a multi-million-dollar market open to investment. Could this be the driving force to get more diverse programming on our screens? I hope so.

As The Twisted Timeline of Sami & Raj hits international screens next year, I have no doubt in it being popular, and I hope it opens the doors to other broadcasters spotting this overlooked investment opportunity.

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More Nick: Nickelodeon International Talks Expanding Global Production Activities, Eyeing More International Partnerships!

Originally published: Wednesday, September 02, 2020 at 17:20 BST.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Exchange4media, Variety, Animation Magazine; H/T: Special thanks to @NickSchedules and Anime Superhero Forums /@animegamer.

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