A brand new mystery series The Retrievers by Northern Ireland based independent studio Sixteen South emerged as the winner of MIPJunior Pitch 2025. It is about an extraordinary girl and her adventure with her special friends.
The studio’s development producer Stephen Coulter who pitched the fun project on behalf of Sixteen South fell short of words post his victory. However, he has strong hopes for the show’s lead characters Molly and her dog Otis.
The show’s brief: The series is about an extraordinary girl and her loyal dog as they tackle the most strange crimes in the city of Paris with an unusual bunch of stray animals. On her 11th birthday, she discovered she had the ability to understand and talk to animals, and that includes her police dog, Otis. This blew her mind because it would be really useful for Otis. There have been so many crimes in the city of Paris that have been going unsolved and now the dog thinks, finally, he can communicate with a human being and this might be the key to unlocking some of them.
They are looking forward to developing The Retrievers as a 26-episode 11-minute CGI series. Along with their pitch bible, they have a 22-minute pilot script ready about Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting MonaLisa being stolen. They are looking for desirable broadcasters.
The development slate of Sixteen South includes shows that will be delivered in 2D, 3D, hybrid animation, live action and fur. They are a creatively driven independent studio focussed on creating, producing and distributing innovative, entertaining and meaningful content for children and families throughout the world. The studio has won over 50 international awards for their work including two Emmy nominations, the BAFTA Independent Children’s Production Company of the Year, the Prix Jeunesse, three IFTAs and a host of other awards, both for their work and also for their business achievements.
The jury panel for the MIPJunior Pitch included M6 / Gulli kids content acquisitions & programming for international kids channels director Maud Branly; Disney Branded Television content acquisitions and partnerships executive director Rick Clodfelter; Tencent Video producer Qing Fan and BBC children’s commissioning (seven plus) senior head Sarah Muller. It was moderated by Just B creative facilitator Justine Bannister.
The other finalists who pitched their projects were Buddha Studio animation supervisor Simin He; Birdo executive producer Luciana Eguti; Digitoonz Entertainment president Maria Bonaria Fois and Armada studio sound designer Emmanuel Koukambakana Kouka.
