By Richard Scrivener

As we near the end of ‘25 and get ready to don our sparkly outfits for the festive season, now seems like a good time to review the media landscape for the year just gone.

2025 will be remembered as a year of immense upheaval in the media world with children’s animation particularly affected. Many of Bright’s incredibly talented stable of clients work at this younger end of the age spectrum, and so as a result, more than ever we have to be creative about everything we do in this sector.

All change

So what’s been happening? In short, a huge amount. It’s very much been a year of change, with many of the larger media companies particularly in the US – to use their phrase ‘laying people off’, and that’s been across the board, from vice presidents to executives. People I have got to know over the years. Alongside this, there have been strategy changes with releases delayed, decisions for sequels put on hold and an increased focus on established brands and properties with global appeal.

This has meant there are fewer people generally commissioning projects and writing cheques – to be old school for a moment. Yes, there is an element of AI being the spectre at the feast, which is causing turbulence, but in truth no-one truly knows what its impact will be – rather like the internet in early days. Encouragingly there is now a coalition of powerful forces to match the AI companies on the question of copyright – something of critical importance to us all in the creative community. Meanwhile we have to get on with the world as it is. And so for me and Bright it’s been a really busy and productive year.

In Production

We finished 2024 on a high with The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland (Carys Bexington) featuring Gerard Butler and all star Hollywood cast lighting up Sky’s Christmas Schedule and for 2025 has just been released on all the major streaming platforms to rent or buy.

Following on from a deal we originally negotiated back in 2017, Supertato (Hendra/Linnett) was commissioned for a third and fourth series on the BBC and is establishing itself as a major property alongside the likes of Hey Duggee and Bluey. Mini heroes of the Forest (Taylor) was released as a series in France and Italy, with other sales pending throughout the rest of Europe.

With new deals, sadly we are contractually limited in what we can say – with social media, news can leak very quickly. But I can give some specific examples of the deals I’ve worked on this year – very much reflecting not just the breadth our contacts, but also I like to think demonstrating the entrepreneurial approach we bring along with a strategic mindset.

On Tour

Following on from Bologna, we agreed terms with a major Hollywood studio for one of our artist/authors books to be made into an animated feature film. Having attended the Annecy Animation Festival (as the only UK-based agent to do so, we note), we agreed terms with a new LA based studio, for a client to produce a web-comic whose publication will be promoted via social media.

Meanwhile, our favourite piano-playing bear is set to make his appearance on stage via a production company of world renown in 2026 in a deal we set up during early ‘25. Move over, Warhorse! We also continue to have conversations with the Oscar-winning studio Mackinnon and Saunders about how we can make this into a feature length film – something they are very keen to do – and something I was progressing at the recent Manchester Animation Festival.

For another client, we have set up a partnership model to enable them to work with an animation studio of their choice – the idea being to create a trailer to attract investment and a commission.

New Business

There is of course the traditional model – whereby we negotiate an option in return for the rights. And we have negotiated a number of these with independent studios in Canada, Ireland and the UK – all normally including a strong element of consultation whilst the world is being built. In fact, we have a live project going through at the moment for a pre-school series of 60 episodes, which will be pitched at Kidscreen in 2026 and our client is very much involved in the initial development work.

And finally, we are at the early stages of a conversation with a major Scandinavian museum about a film installation they’d like one of our clients to create. They are keen. So is our client. Our job is to make it happen!

Looking Ahead

The above then gives a flavour of the diverse media market in which we work to the benefit of our clients: Hollywood studios, streamers, broadcasters both in the UK and internationally, production companies, animation studios, theatre companies and museums – it’s all in a day’s work at Bright!