Bloomsbury announced a publishing partnership with Technicolor to create a series of books based on the hugely popular animated show ‘The Deep’ on March 21. In a deal brokered by licensing agent CPLG, a DHX Media company, Bloomsbury will produce a range of books for the animated show, including young fiction, official handbooks and activity-based books. The publishing programme will contain new and exciting storylines not seen on the animated series and the first titles will publish in August 2018.
Commenting on the partnership, Pam Kunick-Cohen, Head of Brand Management, Licensing and Merchandising at Technicolor said, “Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing is a global market leader, and we are excited that their passion for The Deep will provide children worldwide with a diverse range of books, featuring the vivid world and characters they have grown to love.”
The Deep airs in over 130 markets around the world and follows the Nektons, a family of daring underwater explorers. With state-of-the-art technology and an unquenchable thirst for discovery, they explore uncharted areas of the earth’s oceans to unravel the mysteries of the deep.
Season two is currently airing around with world with consistently high ratings and reached the position -1 show for Kids 6 – 11 on CBBC in the U.K. this past fall (Source BARB: Weeks of September 11 and September 18). Season three of show will also be available to Netflix members worldwide, and on DHX Media’s Family CHRGD in Canada.
Zöe Griffiths, Senior Commissioning Editor for Bloomsbury, also commented, “We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with Technicolor to further expand the exciting world of The Deep. We were immediately drawn to the high-quality storytelling and the strong characterization within the series and are looking forward to offering new fans, as well as old, a part of The Deep they have never seen before.”
The Deep was originally optioned from Nekton Productions. The television series is based on the Aurealis Award-winning graphic novel series, The Deep, which was created by comic author and screenwriter Tom Taylor and co-creator, artist James Brouwer (Justice League Beyond), and published by Wolfgang Bylsma and Skye Ogden’s Gestalt Comics. Robert Chandler serves as an Executive Producer on the television series, on behalf of Nekton Productions.
Taylor, also created X-Men: Red, Iron Man, Batman/Superman, All-New Wolverine, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Star Wars Adventures.
Tom Taylor, Co-creator, head writer of The Deep TV series said, “It’s been an absolute joy to watch the Nekton family’s underwater adventures embraced across the world in the TV series and comics. It’s incredibly exciting to have a powerhouse like Bloomsbury Publishing join us in The Deep to create even more adventures. If Jeffrey the fish could speak, he’d probably just be yelling with happiness.”
