‘Hilda’ Studio Mercury Filmworks Unveils ‘BloopyMerps,’ Its First In-House Original

In November, Mercury Filmworks, the Ottawa-based service studio, announced that it was expanding into original content. It said it would start developing ideas from within the studio, working with clients on their own development, and optioning IPs with built-in awareness.

A series of the first kind has been announced: BloopyMerps.

Details:

• BloopyMerps is a 2d kids’ series which “centers on a rules-loving robot and a soft-hearted alien on a mission to terraform a lifeless planet that’s not as lifeless as they thought.” The first season will consist of eight episodes.
• The show was created by three Mercury artists. Shane Plante, a 15-year veteran of the company, is an animator who’s been closely involved with Disney Channel’s Mickey Mouse. Ross Love has been at Mercury for ten years, working chiefly on location design (specifically on Netflix’s Hilda). David Laliberte is a senior animator with nine years’ experience at the studio; he supervised animation on season one of Hilda.
• The first season of BloopyMerps is being written by Evan Thaler Hickey, an experienced writer and producer of kids’ tv. His animation credits include Disney Channel’s Go Away, Unicorn!, PBS Kids’ The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and Disney XD’s Camp Lakebottom. The show bible and pilot script for BloopyMerps are complete.

• Heath Kenny, Mercury’s chief content officer, said: “With BloopyMerps, Ross, Shane, and Dave have created a concept that explores friendship, trust, loss, and, ultimately, absolution. Though the setting may be otherworldly and the characters alien, the story is rooted in our very human need for connection and growth.”
• Mercury is an Emmy-winning studio with a strong record in service work. Shows it has worked on include Hilda, Mickey Mouse, Disney Channel’s Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, and Netflix’s upcoming Kid Cosmic.
• In its initial announcement last year, Mercury unveiled one original project, Hello, My Name is Octicorn. The 2d preschool series, which is based on the book of the same name by Kevin Diller and Justin Lowe, follows a young half-octopus, half-unicorn creature who deals with the challenges of fitting in.