Triggerfish Animation Studios has selected four features and four TV series for development from the inaugural Triggerfish Story Lab, established with the support of South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry and The Walt Disney Company.

“From misfit Zambian girls who become low-budget superhero-super-spies to a stubborn 12-year-old Kenyan girl who defies tradition by racing camels, from a young South African scientist who accidentally turns her annoying little sister into a new source of electricity to a timid lemming who must defy his nature, these are characters we fell in love with,” says Anthony Silverston, head of development at Triggerfish. “We’re excited by the range of stories, that explore everything from contemporary urban to Afro-futuristic worlds. We’re looking forward to bringing something fresh to the screen.”

The feature films selected into the Story Lab are: The Camel Racer (Wanuri Kahiu and Nnedi Okorafor – Kenya/Nigeria), Dropped (Ian Tucker – South Africa ), Lights (Kay Carmichael – South Africa) and The Wild Waste (Naseem Hoosen – South Africa).

The TV series selected into the Story Lab are: Bru and Boegie (Mike Scott – South Africa), KC’s Super 4 (Malenga Mulendema – Zambia), Ninja Princess (Marc Dey and Kelly Dillon – South Arica) and Wormholes (Lucy Heavens – South Africa).

Multi-award winning Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu

The selected storytellers include Nnedi Okorafor, a Nigerian-American World Fantasy Award winning novelist; multi-award-winning Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu; South African YouTube phenomenon Mike Scott, whose music videos for Goldfish have over 12m views; and Lucy Heavens, one of the writers on the breakout South African animation hit Supa Strikas, which is broadcast in 120 countries around the world.

The Story Lab received a whopping 1 378 entries from 30 countries across Africa. 23 features and 14 TV series were shortlisted and developed over a two-week intensive workshop in Cape Town in November 2015 with Orion Ross, Vice President of Content – Animation, Digital and Acquisitions Disney Channels EMEA, and leading Hollywood script consultant Pilar Alessandra, author of The Coffee Break Screenwriter.

“It was impressive to see how much all the projects had improved after the workshop,” says Orion. “Clearly the Story Lab was doing something right, and it must have been incredibly difficult to pick just a few projects to move forward.”

The shortlist was then evaluated by an expert panel that included Peter Lord, the British director of international blockbusters like Chicken Run and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists; Hollywood writers Kiel Murray (Cars) and Jonathan Roberts (The Lion King); and a panel of development executives from both the London and Los Angeles offices of The Walt Disney Company, as well as South African comedian David Kau, screenwriter Paul Ian Johnson, and Triggerfish’s development team ofAnthony Silverston, Wayne Thornley and Raffaella Delle Donne.

South African Youtube phenomenon Mike Scott

“I loved the opportunity to review this material,” says Gary French, Senior Vice-president/Co-head, Production: ABC Studios. “There’s a lot of great talent here.”

Triggerfish had planned to select three projects for film and TV respectively, but increased this to four for each due to the quality of the projects. 

“Story Lab exceeded our expectations at every turn, from the number of entries to the quality of the projects to the way they improved dramatically during the two-week intensive with Pilar and Orion,” says Triggerfish CEO Stuart Forrest. “Narrowing it down to eight projects was difficult enough; narrowing it down to six would have been almost impossible.”

The selected storytellers will start the new year with a two-week immersion trip to Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, California, where they will receive mentoring from key studio and television executives.

Triggerfish will be investing up to R44m ($2.8m) over the next three years in The Story Lab. The development process can take a number of years. For each phase of development, Triggerfish will provide financial support, workspace, and expert guidance by internal and international consultants and mentors, as well as a route to market through top-tier relationships with leading Hollywood agency William Morris Endeavor.

Nnedi Okarafor, Nigerian-American award winning novelist

Animation has proven to be a successful medium for South African films to travel internationally, with Triggerfish’s films Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba being distributed in over 150 countries and dubbed into over 27 languages.

About Triggerfish Animation Studios:

Established in 1996, Triggerfish Animation Studios is a Cape Town-based film and entertainment company. The studio has produced two feature films: Adventures in Zambezia (2012), starring Jeremy Suarez, Abigail Breslin and Samuel L. Jackson, and Khumba (2013), starring Jake T. Austin, AnnaSophia Robb and Liam Neeson. The two movies are among the top five highest-grossing South African films of all time. Triggerfish recently collaborated with Magic Light Pictures to animate Stick Man, the BBC One Christmas Day special based on the much-loved children’s picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. They are currently collaborating with Magic Light Pictures in Berlin on the production of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes Christmas special.

About The Walt Disney Company in Europe, Middle East and Africa:
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of $52.5 billion in its last fiscal year, the highest in the Company’s history (FY15). The Walt Disney Company has been at the forefront of family entertainment in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for over 80 years and is dedicated to creating innovative, entertainment experiences for children and families. The Company has offices in 25 countries and employs more than 5,300 people (and 14,500 employees in Disneyland Paris) and London, UK is the regional headquarters. The Disney brand is experienced in a number of ways across the region including in cinemas, on TV screens with Disney-branded channels as well as non-branded content, through a wide range of consumer products that are sold at mass market retailers and in Disney Stores across the region. The Disney brand is also experienced at Europe’s #1 tourist destination, Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992.