UK based Kickback Media Ltd has secured its first UK commission from Channel 4 with a 26 minute animated Christmas Special, The Fourth King, currently scheduled for transmission on Christmas Day 2005.
The Fourth King is a classic tale told from a delightfully different point of view. Unlike the famous Three Kings, King Mazzel, unlike the famous Three Kings, is the fourth king who arrives in Bethlehem too late and empty handed afterbecause of an eventful and epic journey. But in sacrificing his life’s dream, King Mazzel finds true happiness and contentment. Kickback MD John Bullivant says, “It’s a beautiful story, both humorous and touching, and the perfect family film. A The story is universal story it and works for young and old alike., Wwe believe it will become a real true classic.”
The Fourth King is a Kickback Media European co-production with Ted Sieger Films (Switzerland), Alexandra Schatz FilmProductions (Germany) and Slugger Film (Sweden). Artist Ted Sieger is the designer as well as a co-director with Slugger Film MD Michael Ekbladh. The film is being animated at TrickStudio Lutterbeck in Cologne and has been financed with pre-sales to WDR Germany, Swiss Television and SVT in Sweden along with Channel 4.
Kickback Media will be handling the international sales and licensing activities of The Forth King. A worldwide publishing deal with Walker Books UK is already in place and will see an original picture book launched in Fall 2006 to tie in with the planned DVD release. Kickback is currently in discussions negotiating with several music companies regarding a tie-in record for release this Christmas. with several music comes.
Kickback Media was launched by Bullivant in September 2002 to create, manage and exploit character based I.P. across a range of mediums, such as television, publishing, greetings cards, film and fashion. The company focus on �character’ as opposed to a particular medium, such as Television, allows Kickback to develop a much broader range of content, for example its girls fashion brand MissyMiss (www.missymiss.com) which launched in Top Shop in December 2004.