British television production company
Chapman Entertainment Limited was a British television production company founded by Keith Chapman and Greg Lynn and based in London. The company focused on producing content aimed at pre-school audiences.
History.
2001-2008.
The company was founded by Greg Lynn in London in 2001, together with Keith Chapman and Andrew Haydon, a former managing director of John Reid Entertainment, an artist management company. The company was created for the purpose of exploiting both the intellectual property rights of Chapman's creations and also those of interested third parties.
The company is structured to allow greater rewards and input to property creators. This developed from Chapman's own frustrations at his lack of involvement with his "Bob the Builder" character. He created the character in the early 1990s and struck a deal with HIT Entertainment which saw them develop the character. The project was handed over to HOT Animation, specifically Jackie Cockle and Curtis Jobling, who took the basic title and premise of the show and ran with it, developing the project in-house from a blank canvas. The resulting show was commissioned by the BBC Children's department.
The company signed an exclusive development deal with Universal Pictures Video subsidiary Vision Video Ltd. in June 2001 to produce new content that Universal would distribute. The company would produce a pilot for a girl-centric stop-motion animated series.
On 18 March 2004, Chapman announced that Channel 5 and Nick Jr. had greenlit their very first production - "Fifi and the Flowertots" for a simultaneous premiere in Spring 2005. On 1 September, the company entered into a distribution deal with Target Entertainment for "Fifi" outside of North America and the United Kingdom, which Chapman would continue to handle.
The global launch of "Fifi and the Flowertots" began on 2 May 2005 with its initial run on Five's Milkshake!, and was followed up with its launch on Nick Jr. at the end of the month. "Fifi and the Flowertots" features the voices of Jane Horrocks and more. On 17 October, the company announced the launch of their second production - "Roary the Racing Car", which would feature the voice roles of Peter Kay as Big Chris and racing driver Sir Stirling Moss as the narrator. Target Entertainment was applied as international distributor of the series, which was set for a Spring 2007 delivery. The idea for the show was suggested by Brands Hatch employee David Jenkins.
On 31 March 2006, "Fifi and the Flowertots" was renewed for a second series, of which the first thirteen episodes would air shortly after the announcement and the remainder airing between the summer to the Spring of 2007. On 5 June 2006, Five and Nick Jr. acquired free and pay-TV rights to "Roary the Racing Car".
"Roary the Racing Car" officially made its simultaneous premiere on both Five's Milkshake! and Nick Jr. in May 2007. On 19 June 2007, HIT Entertainment picked up distribution rights to "Roary" and "Fifi" in North America and Japan.
On June 5, 2008, the company announced that they would open a standalone studio in Altrincham, Cheshire, with the second series of "Roary the Racing Car" to be the first show produced within the studio. On 1 October, Nickelodeon UK and Five recommissioned "Fifi" for a third series in 2009.
2008-2013.
On 30 September 2009, the company announced the pre-sales for "Little Charley Bear" and "Raa Raa the Noisy Lion" to CBeebies in the UK, with HIT Entertainment functioning as the former show's distribution agent.
In July 2011, Chapman Entertainment announced the departure of their MD Greg Lynn ahead of massive company redundancies, "soaring costs and challenging trading conditions" were listed as the reasons for the redundancies. The following month, the company announced that they had placed itself up for sale, blaming poor toy sales as the main cause.
On 28 February 2012, Chapman's distributor Target Entertainment was placed under administration by its owners Metrodome. Chapman secured a new non-US and UK distribution deal with Cake Entertainment for its entire catalogue the following month. In November 2012, Chapman Entertainment announced the company being placed into administration, again blaming poor toy sales as the main cause.
In September 2013, DreamWorks Animation acquired Chapman Entertainment's content library. The acquisition added to DreamWorks' growing library of family entertainment brands that also included properties gained when it acquired Classic Media in 2012. The Chapman programs are now distributed through DreamWorks Distribution, DreamWorks Animation's UK-based TV distribution operation.
 The company went dormant after the library was acquired, and was fully dissolved in August 2017.
As of today, Chapman's shows in the United States are currently available on Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service.
References.
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