Ingrid Selberg and Tim Collins appointed to manage mounting interest for toys and publishing.

Paper Owl Films, the Belfast based company which owns and produces Pablo, has appointed Ingrid Selberg, MD of Ingrid Selberg Consulting, and Tim Collins, of The Brand Director, to advise and manage the mounting interest from publishers, toy makers and other companies keen to add the pre-school series’ diversity-championing protagonist to their portfolios.

Pablo follows the colourful adventures of a five-year-old boy with autism who uses magic crayons to create an imaginary Art World populated by animal characters which help him turn life’s little challenges into great big adventures.

Launched in the UK and Ireland on CBeebies and RTEJr. last autumn, the show has gone on to headline children’s TV schedules on international networks such as US broadcast giant Universal Kids, Canada’s CBC, Australia’s ABC, and Discovery Latin America.

Pablo has also been sold to China, Korea, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden, the Middle East and Africa, and worldwide on Netflix. Series two is currently in production, with 104 all-new episodes due to air from autumn 2019.

Grainne McGuinness, Pablo creator and director of Paper Owl Films, commented: “The unprecedented audience feedback and viewing figures have confirmed that Pablo has enormous universal appeal. Pablo’s tremendous popularity has already been driving enquiries from within the licensing sector and so we have appointed Ingrid and Tim to advise on who to work with, and to manage the right strategic partnerships for Pablo.”

Tim Collins and Ingrid Selberg added: “It was love at first sight when we saw Pablo, which we believe has huge potential to appeal to all children as well as offering something unique for children who think differently. Our initial focus is with toys and publishing to establish the merchandising programme for launch later in 2020.”

Pablo has also caught the eye of the awards industry, named Best Children’s Programme in the recent Celtic Media Festival Awards, nominated by the global Prix Jeunesse Foundation for Excellence in Children’s TV, and by the British Broadcast Digital Awards for Best Children’s Content.