Saturday Animation preps first original series

EXCLUSIVE: Cookbook Media is developing a CP strategy for Chase and CATCH, and new originals are on the way, says Saturday Animation's Fred Faubert.

Montreal-based Saturday Animation Studio—a subsidiary of Digital Dimension Entertainment Group—is expanding into original content for the first time with CG-animated series Chase and CATCH for ages seven and up. The 13 x 22-minute action-comedy follows along as an adventurous teen police officer and his by-the-book robot partner investigate a villainous crime syndicate. Chase and CATCH is in development now, with a bible, teaser and scripts completed. The studio is seeking co-producers, distributors and broadcasters, says Fred Faubert, series showrunner and chief creative officer at Digital Dimensions. Saturday Animation will run production on Chase and CATCH through its real-time pipeline, which uses Unreal Engine. Digital Dimension specifically launched its animation studio in 2020 to build this pipeline and produce content at a faster pace than it was able to before, says Faubert. Saturday has done animation service work on series for NBCUniversal (Zafari) and Disney Channel (Sadie Sparks), but Chase and CATCH marks its first wholly owned original IP. To help out, the studio has tapped Claudia Scott-Hansen and Rob Bencal’s Cookbook Media to develop international distribution and brand expansion strategies for Chase and CATCH. Specifically, Faubert hopes Cookbook will be able to help move the IP into video games, toys and publishing. Looking ahead, Saturday is also developing three new shows for kids ages seven and up that it plans to present at markets this year, says Faubert. “We’ve evolved from a VFX studio to one focused on animation, and now we’re taking this next step by getting into original content,” says Faubert. “We hope our IPs resonate with kids and inspire them to be better people.”