WildBrain’s Family Channel joins Ireland’s RTÉ and Belgium’s Ketnet as commissioning broadcasters

Toronto, ON – January 22, 2024 – WildBrain, a global leader in kids’ and family entertainment, is set to expand its distribution slate of compelling live-action drama for tweens and teens, coming on board to handle global sales (excl. Ireland and Belgium) for the brand-new 8x24’ series Louise Lives Large, commissioned by Ireland’s RTÉ, Canada’s Family Channel and Belgium’s Ketnet. WildBrain will be launching sales of Louise Lives Large at Kidscreen Summit this February.

Aimed at 9–13-year-olds, Louise Lives Large is produced by Tailored Films (Ireland), Storyhouse (Belgium), and Vérité Films (Canada). Filmed on location in Ireland, it features a cast of emerging young stars, including Beth Fallon as Louise and Aimee Kennedy as Jess.

The series follows the inspiring journey of newly cancer-free teen Louise Edgar as she embarks on a mission to make up for lost time, completing the items on her ‘Live Large List’. With the help of her new pal and school outsider, Jess, Louise starts to tackle her list one item at a time and, whether experiencing triumphs or setbacks, she truly starts to live large.

Created and written by Carol Walsh, Louise Lives Large is produced by Tailored Films’ Julianne Forde and Mairtín de Barra, Maarten Schmidt of Storyhouse, Vérité Films’ Virginia Thompson and Jeremy Prober, and co-produced by Xavier Rombaut of Polar Bear. The series is set for delivery in March 2024.

Caroline Tyre, VP Global Sales & Rights Strategy at WildBrain, said: “As we’re seeing with shows like Malory Towers and I Woke Up a Vampire, live action tween series with strong ‘coming of age’ themes remain extremely popular with global audiences and buyers alike. A thought-provoking and heart-warming show that tackles a serious subject with an uplifting message and spirit of hope, Louise Lives Large is an ideal addition to our slate of multi-layered, character-driven live-action content. We’re looking forward to introducing buyers to Louise and friends starting at Kidscreen Summit in February.”

Julianne Forde of Tailored Films said: “Who hasn’t felt like they were on the outside at some stage? It’s part of the school experience. We wanted to create a show based around this concept of feeling left behind and counteracting that with a protagonist who wanted to take control of her life. Show creator Carol Walsh personally experienced being out of school for a prolonged period of time due to illness. From this starting point we developed this series, which has an empowering message about resilience.”

Maarten Schmidt of Storyhouse said: “Storyhouse’s focus has been on youth content for several years now and the powerful content of Louise Lives Large is totally in coherence with our mission statement: to empower and inspire future generations through stories with purpose. The series relates what could been seen as a rather delicate subject in such a refreshing way with lots of humour, creativity and witty dialogues enabling the audience to not only have a good time while watching it but also to feel genuinely touched by Louise’s strength and positive attitude to deal with life and its challenges.”

Virginia Thompson, Producer and President of Vérité Films, added: “From the first time I read Louise Lives Large, I was immediately drawn in by Louise’s journey of resilience and the authenticity of this series. It’s been incredibly rewarding to bring it to life alongside Julianne Forde, Maarten Schmidt, and the teams at Tailored Films and Storyhouse. We’re excited to share this special series with the world.”

Louise Lives Large is financed with the support of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán, Rialtas na hÉireann/the Government of Ireland, Creative Europe, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Belgian Tax Shelter, the Flanders Tax Shelter, Ontario Creates, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

Interested buyers can contact WildBrain’s distribution team at sales@wildbrain.com or visit us at Kidscreen Summit, February 4-7, to learn more.

For more information, please contact:

Aimée Norman at Liberi Consulting, external PR for WildBrain aimee@libericonsulting.com +44 (0) 7957 564 050

About WildBrain

At WildBrain we inspire imaginations through the wonder of storytelling. As a leader in 360° franchise management, we are experts in content creation, audience engagement and global licensing, cultivating and growing love for our own and partner brands with kids and families around the world. With approximately 13,000 half-hours of filmed entertainment in our library—one of the world’s most extensive—we are home to such treasured franchises as Peanuts, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Inspector Gadget and Degrassi. WildBrain’s mission is to create exceptional entertainment experiences that captivate and delight fans both young and young at heart.

Our studios produce such award-winning series as The Snoopy Show; Snoopy in Space; Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City; Sonic Prime; Chip and Potato; Teletubbies Let's Go! and many more. Enjoyed in more than 150 countries on over 500 platforms, our content is everywhere kids and families view entertainment, including YouTube, where our network has garnered over 1 trillion minutes of watch time. Our television group owns and operates some of Canada’s most-viewed family entertainment channels. WildBrain CPLG, our leading consumer-products and location-based entertainment agency, represents our owned and partner properties in every major territory worldwide.

WildBrain is headquartered in Canada with offices worldwide and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: WILD). Visit us at wildbrain.com.

About Tailored Films

Building on their successful track record of financing award winning feature films through co-production and their experience in developing and producing numerous live action drama series for Irish broadcaster RTÉ for children, Louise Lives Large is Tailored’s most ambitious drama series for YA viewers to date.

TV projects include: three seasons of high end German crime drama series Der Irland Krimi, shot on location in Ireland and distributed by Beta, as well as Spooky Stakeout distributed by MPI Media Group and Ace my Space distributed by Banijay Rights.

Feature films include The Lodgers, which premiered at TIFF, and the MUBI financed Bring Them Down, which stars Barry Keoghan, due for release in 2024. Tailored are also co-producing the upcoming film from Cannes winner Ali Abassi, starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong.

About Storyhouse

Maarten Schmidt founded Storyhouse in 2013 after working in The Netherlands. He worked in the creative and production department on 30 films. All have been broadcast, some with an international theatrical release and some were awarded at major film festivals.

Storyhouse focuses on youth content and our mission statement is: ‘to empower and inspire future generations through stories with purpose’. Read more at www.storyhousefilm.com.

About Vérité Films

Authenticity is at the core of Vérité Films, defining our television projects, films, and how we work with creative people. Our philosophy has led us to produce some of the most iconic arts and entertainment brands in Canada, including Corner Gas and InSecurity (comedy), the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (performing arts), and Louise Lives Large, Jeremy and Jazzy, Incredible Story Studio and renegadepress.com (children’s and youth). The result is over 400 episodes of award-winning film and television. For nearly 30 years we have been innovators, and remain on the cutting edge of production, branding, marketing and distribution.