TML Studios pitches animated series ‘Bimey’ at the 2015 Kidcreen Summit’s BIG Pitch! event.
Miami, FL -- TML Studios and its founder Ian Johnston won the 2015 BIG Pitch! competition at Kidscreen Summit in Miami.
The highlight of the yearly Kidscreen Summit children’s TV conference is the BIG Pitch! event. Two finalist series are chosen to pitch and redevelop their concepts live on stage in front of a standing-room-only audience based on notes from a panel of industry experts.
TML Studios, led by founder Ian Johnston and joined by salesman Kehoe Floyd, brought their animated series, Bimey to the stage. They competed against The Flying Circus and their concept Inside Job.
Bimey was created by Tim and Ben Rowberry, who worked with TML Studios to develop their show. Bimey feels like most of us felt growing up, left out. He wants to belong so bad that he’ll do anything, despite the fact he has bombs for eyes. No obstacle too tall or danger too great, Bimey will get through if it means he has a shot at belonging to the group of creatures in Woodland.
Pitching a show starring a character who has bombs for eyes may be nerve-wracking for some people, but not Johnston. “I was a little nervous about an hour before -- at first. But I was personally living it up. The energy was electric. The audience was receptive.”
The panel of judges was receptive as well. On stage providing development notes and voting on the winner included Peter Gal, Head of Television Development at DreamWorks Animation, Sebastian Debertin, Head of Fiction, Acquisitions and Co-Productions for KIKA, Rich Maryyanek, CMO of Big Tent Entertainment, Orion Ross, Vice President Content, Animation and Digital at Disney Channels EMEA and Dave Skwarczek, Creative Director of Eat Your Lunch.
“If you are thinking about entering next years’ The BIG Pitch!, Do it, but plan way ahead. If you haven’t gone before, look into Mark and Jeanne Simon’s SellYourTvConceptNow.com approach to perfect your pitch. We couldn’t have done it without them,” says Johnston. “We had been to Kidscreen Summit the year before with Mark and Jeanne, so we knew how to make the most of the conference. But Mark worked with us before The BIG Pitch! to make sure we were doing it right,” he adds.

L to R: TML Studios’ Kehoe Floyd and Ian Johnston at the podium at the BIG Pitch! competition at the 2015 Kidscreen Summit.
Source: TML Studios