Wish Films (formerly Tell-Tale Productions) is an animation and live-action studio, established by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan in 1994. The company first produced live shows, and later went on to produce TV shows.

History

As Tell-Tale Productions

On September 14, 2001, Tell-Tale signed a deal with Gullane Entertainment for the production on two new shows, called ''Ella'', and ''Sprogs'', with the latter company distributing the series. On July 26, 2002, the BBC picked up the UK broadcasting rights to '' Boo!'' for a broadcast in September 2003. On September 1, it was announced that Universal Pictures had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the series. On September 18, 2002, Tell-Tale announced the production of a cross 2D/3D series titled ''WARP''. On the same day, it was confirmed that the distribution rights to ''Ella'' and ''Sprogs'' reverted to Tell-Tale after the deal with Gullane fell through due to HIT Entertainment's purchase of Gullane, alongside the production on two 60-minute direct-to-video '' Tweenies'' specials. On February 1, 2003, the company signed a property management deal with LMI for ''Sprogs'', alongside a deal with BBC Music to allow music production for the series, which would air in Early 2004. On January 27, 2004,

Carlton International ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...

acquired distribution rights to ''Sprogs''. The company purchased the video rights in all regions except for the US and French-speaking territories, and worldwide TV rights excluding the UK, the US, and French and German-speaking territories. It was also confirmed that CBBC had acquired the UK broadcast rights to the series for a Fall 2004 broadcast date. On September 13, 2004, Entertainment Rights announced they would acquire Tell-Tale for £3.1 million. The buyout would include the rights to ''Sprogs'', which had by then been renamed ''BB3B'' (previously handled by Carlton) and would be broadcast during the winter of 2005, alongside the rights to a new reboot of '' Fun Song Factory'' for air on CITV. The ''Tweenies'' property was retained by

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

although Entertainment Rights would gain royalty income for the property, alongside rights to a planned feature-movie adaptation to the property. The purchase was completed on October 1, 2004. On December 20, 2005, ITV acquired the broadcast rights to ''

Jim Jam and Sunny ''Jim Jam and Sunny'' is a British children's television programme that aired on the CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcas ...

'' for broadcast on the then-new CITV Channel, and that production would start in 2006, being the largest broadcast deal made by ITV for a children's series.

Reformation as Wish Films

In 2006, Tell-Tale was purchased out in a management buyout by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan, and was re-formed as Wish Films. The company continued a partnership with Entertainment Rights for ''Jim Jam and Sunny'', which premiered on CITV later on in the year. In 2008, Wish produced their first international co-production, a TV adaptation of '' Wibbly Pig'' with Canadian-based

9 Story Entertainment 9 Story Media Group Inc. (formerly known as 9 Story Entertainment) is a Canadian children's media production company and international distributor founded by Vincent "Vince" Commisso, Steve Jarosz, and Blake Tohana on September 1, 2002, and head ...

, with the latter holding North and Latin American distribution rights, and BBC Worldwide holding all other international rights. On May 6, 2010, CBeebies announced a new show from Wish to air in the channel's summer schedule called ''Mighty-Mites'', presented by Sarah-Jane Honeywell. Other shows produced by Wish around these time frames are '' Florrie's Dragons'', a co-production with

Studio 100 Studio 100 is a Belgian production company with four television channels, four animation studios and 8 theme parks around the world. The headquarters of the group is based in Schelle, with offices in Breda, Munich, Paris, New York, Sydney and Lo ...

, and ''

Melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

''.

Filmography

As Tell-Tale Productions

* 1998: '' Fun Song Factory'' * 1999: ''Wow! That's What I Call Nursery Rhymes/Christmas!'' * 1999: '' Tweenies'' * 2003: ''WARP'' (CGI/2D animated pilot) * 2003: ''Jim Jam'' (animated pilot of ''Jim Jam and Sunny'') * 2003: '' Boo!'' * 2003: ''Tweenies - Night-Time Magic'' (direct-to-video special) * 2004: ''Tweenies - Jungle Adventure'' (direct-to-video special) * 2004: '' Fun Song Factory'' (Reboot) * 2005: '' BB3B'' (originally called "Sprogs" in 2003 pilot)

As Wish Films

* 2006: ''

'' * 2009: '' Wibbly Pig'' * 2010: ''Mighty Mites'' * 2010: '' Florrie's Dragons'' * 2013: ''

Live Shows

*Fun Song Factory (1994-1997) *CBeebies Live (2005) *Thomas & Friends: The Big Live Tour/The All Aboard Live Tour (2002-2006) *Tweenies Live (2000-2001) *Tweenies Live: The Christmas Present (2001-2002, 2003) *Tweenies Live 2: The Fab-a-Rooney Tour (2002) *Tweenies Live: No Sleep 'till Bedtime (2005)

References

{{authority control 1994 establishments in England Children's theatre DreamWorks Classics Theatre companies in the United Kingdom