LONDON, UK – Jellyfish Originals, the children’s animation original production division of animation and VFX studio Jellyfish Pictures, has appointed Natalie Llewellyn to managing director. Llewellyn, who joined the company in 2018 as head of IP development, will take on a broader strategic role within Jellyfish Pictures and head up the company’s Originals division.
As Managing Director, Llewellyn will lead the creative and commercial efforts of Jellyfish Originals and drive the development, distribution, rights negotiation, financing and commercial strategy of its originals slate.
The move signifies Jellyfish Pictures’ commitment to original children’s content and sees the company expand its overall offering to provide end-to-end production services as well as rights management for its in-house projects and third-party IP, under the Jellyfish Originals umbrella.
Llewellyn’s 10 years’ plus experience in the children’s production and distribution sector has enabled her to build the IP arm of Jellyfish, to extend its commercial remit, raise its international profile and grow and diversify the Original’s slate.
In the spring of 2018, Llewellyn launched an in-house creative scheme aptly named the Jellyfish Creative Bloom, encouraging Jellyfish talent to present their original ideas for a kid’s animation show. Two successful ideas were taken into active development as part of the Jellyfish Originals slate and have since been picked up by strategic commercial partners. The latest round of Creative Bloom pitches is being launched next month.
Llewellyn says, “It’s an exciting time for children’s content creation and I’m delighted to be taking the helm at Jellyfish Originals - boosting our development slate, and further strengthening our commercial efforts in both distribution and rights management. I’m incredibly proud of the projects we’ve nurtured and the industry partners we’ve collaborated with to date. The future for Jellyfish Originals promises tremendous growth and that’s incredibly exciting for all involved.”