Sleepy Kids (TV Production Company)

Entertainment Rights PLC (formally known as Sleepy Kids) was a British multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that specialized in TV-shows and cartoons, children’s media, films, and distribution. In May 2009, the company was acquired by Boomerang Media and merged into its own subsidiary Classic Media.

History

Early history

In 1989, "Sleepy Kids" was founded by Martin and Vivien Schrager-Powell. It was created in order to produce '' Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone'' (''Potsworth and Co.'' in the UK), a children's animated series. Schrager-Powell's business partner was Hanna-Barbera. Within months of its founding, Sleepy Kids became a public company. It produced '' Dr. Zitbag's Transylvania Pet Shop'' and '' Budgie the Little Helicopter''.

In December 1998, the company merged with The Richard Digance Card Company, Clipper Films and Ridgeway Films, and after these mergers, the company was renamed SKD Media PLC.

In 1999, the company acquired Siriol Productions. In July, SKD purchased the Southampton-based Boom! Boom!, the property owners of the Basil Brush character.

Rebranding and expansion as Entertainment Rights

In October, SKD Media announced that they would acquire fellow independent business Carrington Productions International. In November, SKD announced to change their name to Entertainment Rights.

Under their new name, Entertainment Rights continued on with their expansion. Their first acquisition after the name change came in April, with the worldwide pre-sale rights to then-upcoming GMTV series ''Cubeez''. In August, the company signed a co-production deal with Disney-owned Buena Vista Home Entertainment for their ''Magical Mystical Merlin'' series, later renamed as ''Merlin the Magical Puppy'', where BVHE would distribute the series on home media worldwide except in the US and Japan.

In February 2001, the company acquired all international TV and home video rights to '' Barbie in the Nutcracker'' from Mattel, which was set for a Winter 2001 release. In March, The company purchased UK-based children's distributor Link Entertainment, which also included its licensing subsidiary Link Licensing. In August, the company formed a home video division named Right Entertainment and signed a $500,000 advance UK distribution deal with Universal Pictures Video. The company also announced an international expansion for their properties but ruled out if Universal would distribute them outside the UK as well. Another purchase came in November, when stop-motion animation company Woodland Animations, well-known for producing '' Postman Pat'' was acquired.

After the success of ''Barbie in the Nutcracker'', Mattel and Entertainment Rights agreed for a worldwide deal to distribute the second movie - '' Barbie as Rapunzel'', in April 2002, excluding the United States.

In 2004, Entertainment Rights acquired Tell-Tale Productions and rights to most of the in-house Filmation library from Hallmark Entertainment.

At the end of 2004, Entertainment Rights employed 95 people. In the 2005 financial year, Entertainment Rights' revenue was £12.4 million. The company bid for Chorion but the offer was rejected.

In 2005, Siriol Productions came under new management. The company was renamed " Calon". Most of the rights to completed productions were kept by Entertainment Rights. In October 2005, the company expanded their ''Barbie'' licensed deal with Mattel to include three more movies.

On 11 January 2007, Entertainment Rights acquired Classic Media for (£106.9 million). Before completion, both companies announced distribution and production agreements with Genius Products.

In December 2008, the company appointed Deborah Dugan, former president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, as its CEO in North America. There had been financial instability within the company.

By January 2009, the company had dismissed one third of its employees. The company's market value decreased from £267 million in March 2007 to £5.5 million. By February 2009, six companies had requested to purchase Entertainment Rights. Also in February 2009, Entertainment Rights was fined £245,000 by the Financial Services Authority for failing to inform shareholders of "a potential $14 million earnings hit in a timely manner".

On 1 April 2009, Entertainment Rights went into voluntary administration. On the same day, Boomerang Media announced it had acquired all of Entertainment Rights' subsidiaries including Entertainment Rights itself, Big Idea and Classic Media. On 11 May 2009, Boomerang Media announced that the former UK and US subsidiaries of Entertainment Rights would operate as a unified business under the name "Classic Media", while Big Idea would operate under its own name. Boomerang Media was created by former owners of Classic Media until it was sold to Entertainment Rights in 2006.

In 2012, Classic Media was acquired by DreamWorks Animation. DreamWorks Animation was then acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016, thus Universal Pictures gaining the rights to most of Entertainment Rights' catalogue of works.

List of licensed programmes and acquisitions

Original programmes

* '' Potsworth & Co.'' (1989-1990, as Sleepy Kids, co-produced with Hanna-Barbera and BBC)
* '' Dr. Zitbag's Transylvania Pet Shop'' (As Sleepy Kids, co-produced with Fairwater Films, PMMP Productions and Watch It!)
* '' Budgie the Little Helicopter'' (As Sleepy Kids, co-produced with HTV and Fred Wolf Films)
* ''Cubeez'' (2000-2001, co-produced with Cubeez Ltd. and Optical Image Broadcast for GMTV)
* ''Merlin the Magical Puppy'' (2002, produced by The Little Entertainment Company)
* '' The Basil Brush Show'' (2002–2007; produced by The Foundation)
* '' Postman Pat'' (Revival series, 2003-2006, produced by Cosgrove Hall Films)
** ''Postman Pat and the Greendale Rocket''
** ''Postman Pat and the Pirate Treasure''
** ''Postman Pat Clowns Around''
** ''Postman Pat's Magic Christmas''
* '' Little Red Tractor'' (2004-2005, Series 1-2 only, produced by The Little Entertainment Company)
* '' Rupert Bear, Follow the Magic...'' (2006-2008, produced by Cosgrove Hall Films)
* '' Fun Song Factory'' (Revival series, 2004, produced by Tell-Tale Productions)
* '' Boo!'' (2005-2006, Series 2 only, produced by Tell-Tale Productions, co-funded and distributed by Universal Pictures)
* '' BB3B'' (2005, produced by Tell-Tale Productions)

Archive programmes

Banksia Productions

* '' The Curiosity Show''
* ''Hot Science''
* ''Kids Down Under''
* ''The Music Shop''

Carrington Productions International

* '' Discworld'' (co-produced with Channel 4, Cosgrove Hall Films, Egmont Imagination and ITEL)
* '' Lavender Castle'' (1999-2000, co-produced with Cosgrove Hall Films)

Filmation

* ''For a full list of shows, films, shorts and specials, see List of works produced by Filmation.''

Hibbert Ralph Entertainment

* '' The First Snow of Winter'' (co-produced with Link Entertainment and BBC)
* '' The Forgotten Toys'' (both the TV series and the special; co-produced with United Productions, Meridian Broadcasting and Link Entertainment)
* ''The Second Star to the Left: A Christmas Tale'' (co-produced with BBC)
* '' Spider!'' (later sold to Evergreen Entertainment)

Link Entertainment

* ''Animal Antics''
* '' Barney'' (co-produced with Barney Entertainments Ltd)
* '' Bill the Minder'' (produced by Bevanfield Films)
* '' Bug Alert''
* ''Chatterhappy Ponies''
* '' Christopher Crocodile'' (co-produced with Mixpix and BBC)
* '' Deep Sea Dick''
* ''Fairy Tales'' (produced by Bevanfield Films)
* ''Ethelbert the Tiger'' (co-produced with Millimages)
* '' Eye of the Storm'' (produced by Childsplay Productions and Meridian Broadcasting)
* ''Grabbit the Rabbit''
* ''Hamilton Mattress''
* ''Jack and Marcel''
* ''Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories'' (produced by Bevanfield Films)
* '' Monster TV'' (co-produced with BBC)
* '' The Morph Files'' (co-produced with Aardman Animations)
* '' Orm and Cheep''
* ''Pirates'' (produced by Childsplay Productions and BBC)
* '' Preston Pig'' (co-produced with Varga London)
* ''Siyabonga''
* ''Tales of a Wise King''
* '' The Slow Norris'' (co-produced with HTV)
* '' The Spooks of Bottle Bay'' (co-produced with Fugitive/Playboard Puppets and Carlton Television)
* ''The Treacle People'' (co-produced with Fire Mountain Productions)
* '' Teddybears'' (co-produced with United Productions)
* ''There's A Viking in My Bed'' (co-produced with BBC)
* ''Tiny'' (co-produced with Martin Gates Productions)
* ''Jane Speakman's Tiny Tales''

Martin Gates Productions

* ''Molly's Gang''

Maddocks Animation

* ''Caribou Kitchen''
* '' The Family-Ness''
* '' Jimbo and the Jet Set''
* '' Penny Crayon''

Siriol Productions Ltd

*'' The Blobs''
*'' Hilltop Hospital''
*'' Romuald the Reindeer''

Queensgate Productions

* ''Stoppit and Tidyup'' (co-produced with CMTB Animation)
* '' The Trap Door'' (co-produced with CMTB Animation)

Carrington Productions International

* '' The Snow Queen''
* '' The Snow Queen's Revenge''
* ''Friendly Monsters''
* '' Jack and the Beanstalk''
* '' The Ugly Duckling''

Transformers

* '' Transformers: Animated'' (co-produced with Hasbro, Takara Tomy, The Answer Studio, MOOK DLE, Studio 4 Â°C and Cartoon Network Studios)
* '' Transformers: Armada'' (co-produced with Hasbro, Takara Tomy, Æon