Cannes - March 29, 2004
FOOTHILL FINDS FERTILE FIELDS FOR PHEW!! AND PHUUZ OFFERINGS AT MIP04

Foothill lands in Cannes with a fresh new relationship with Los Angeles-based creative house phuuz entertainment inc. and a first-look deal with UK-based creative house Phew!!. This transcontinental Phew!! and phuuz linkage gives Foothill a strong international base from which to approach the marketplace at MIP 2004.

MIP 2004 will mark the first offering of phuuz projects worldwide. In the futuristic series Vessels, in the year 2050, the world is filled with happy consumers; people are defined by what they wear, what they watch, and what they buy. Behind this new Utopian consumerism is conglomerate, THE VSL FAMILY, which markets everything from entertainment, clothing and snack food to politics and spirituality. Researcher Lilah Turner discovers the real truth isn't found in the corporate literature. It's found in the blood...inside her and thousands of others is the destructive "seed" of an alien invasion launched by THE VSL FAMILY. Within this organization are an elite group of carriers - the VESSELS, human in appearance but alien to the core, single-mindedly dedicated to spreading an "infection" that will ultimately enslave the human race.
 
A second phuuz offering is Boxing Betties and Boy, a stylized animated series about four infants, escaping a collapsing alternate dimension, that are hurled to a new life on earth. A retired boxing star, Raheem, adopts and raises them as his own. The cosmic quadruplets, Betty Jo, Betty Ann, Betty Sue and Frank grow up and soon become boxing prodigies possessing strength and power beyond anything known on Earth. Raheem teaches the kids to use their powers to serve and protect the inhabitants of Earth from an evil power, LAVOS the Wicked, who seeks to destroy it just like he destroyed the one our cosmic kids escaped from. Not if the Boxing Betties have anything to say about it!!

On the other side of the ocean, U.K.-based Phew!! has two unique series of its own that are making their first appearance at an international market. Kiz & Tel is a non-stop action, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants animation series starring 12-year old Kiz and her friend, Tel. Kiz desperately wants to be a TV star, but soon realizes that she is going to have to break into show business on her own! So she takes over the front room of the house, gets the pizza boy, Tel, to be her co-host, and starts her own TV show. Even her Dad tries to get on the show with his puppet, Spanky. Not even crazy Gran in the upstairs attic, who always calls in to complain, will stand in this young performer’s way!

For the pre-school audience, Phew!! has also created Snapper, a delightful new animation series about a little alligator who thinks he’s half-monkey, half-parrot. Snapper was raised by Akimbo the monkey and McCaw the old parrot in the tree-tops above the Maricombo River in the Amazon. They’re now trying to help Snapper to find his true identity. This unlikely trio run the Snappy Delivery service from an old paddleboat, the ‘Maricombo Princess’. They supply and help the many fascinating characters who live in and around the river. The pre-school show will be pure entertainment, but will also embody these values: the virtues of friendship, the rewards of honesty, care of the environment, the importance of the community, the expression of emotions thereby encouraging a sense of adventure and exciting the imagination.

Phuuz was formed by Emmy Award-winning producer/director, Eric Radomski, former production vp at Warner Bros. Animation, Ken Duer, and former vp/gm for LEVEL13.NET (Film Roman’s Internet entertainment site), Jay Francis. Its mission is to develop original properties for new media (video and computer games, wireless technologies, DVD, internet), traditional media (television, film, comic books/graphic novels), and other ancillary markets (toys, fashion, advertising, music) as well as utilize new media platforms to maximize franchising and distribution opportunities on a worldwide basis.

Phew!! is the team of Guy Halifax, Ian Ellery and Mick Wells. Based in London, Phew!! have provided creative muscle to the BBC, ITV and numerous independent producers in the UK and throughout Europe. Working under the banner of “Tomorrow’s Classic Cartoons, Today!”, they seek to bring the fun, smiles and laughter back to children’s programs; the kind of cartoons that begin with strong characters, ride the wave with great stories and end up with a laugh. In other words, creating cartoons that are intended to be evergreen.

Founded in September 2000 by former DIC Entertainment executive vice president of business and legal affairs, Gregory Payne and Jo Kavanagh-Payne, former Link Television Entertainment, Inc senior vice president of U.S. operations, Foothill acts as executive producers of children’s and family entertainment as well as global distributors. Their company is based in Santa Barbara, California.

Contact:
Jo Kavanagh Payne
Gregory B Payne
Tel: +1 805 965 4488
Email: info@foothillentertainment.com

Contact details at MIP:
Staying at Grand Hotel Tel: [33] (04) 9 33 81 54 5
Jo Kavanagh Payne Cel: +1 805 637 6054
Gregory B Payne Cel: +1 805 637 3280

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