‘Hilda’ Studio Mercury Filmworks Puts New Focus On Original Content

Ottawa, Canada’s Mercury Filmworks, the animation studio behind Netflix’s Hilda and Disney’s Tangled: The Series, is looking beyond its robust slate of service work and making a push into developing original content.

The studio currently has 15 original series concepts in its pipeline, with development led by a team that includes chief content officer Heath Kenny, director of development Travis Williams, and vp of original series Chantal Ling. The studio’s goal is to place at least three of those ideas into active development each year, and produce one original series annually.

Mercury has named only one of its new original projects to date – Hello, My Name is Octicorn — based on a book of the same name by Kevin Diller and Justin Lowe. The preschool series follows a young half-octopus, half-unicorn creature who deals with the challenges of fitting in. Joshua Fisher (Rusty Rivets) is an executive producer on the project, and an animatic and trailer have been completed.

According to Kidscreen, which first reported the story, the studio will implement a broad development strategy focusing on three areas: supporting ideas from within the studio, working with clients on their own development, and optioning IPs with built-in awareness (like the Octicorn project).