Toonz Media Group (TMG) is partnering with Daytime Digital Emmy nominated actress Janet Hubert for a new animation project that focuses on representing special kids from diverse backgrounds. The project titled JG & the BC Kids is about a young lady superhero whose travels around the world nurturing special kids from multicultural communities. Hubert is a co-producer of the project. Toonz, Elijah Rock Productions, and Ericka Nicole Malone Entertainment have started preproduction on a feature length animated movie, which will be followed by a TV series.
Toonz Media Group CEO P. Jayakumar said, “The studio is very excited to partner with actor, producer and creator Janet Hubert and Ericka Nicole Malone Entertainment: “We feel it is high time that such stories were told, especially when the world is striving to move towards greater equality and justice. The targeted age group for this series is also important, as these are the formative years when children pick up and nurture values for life. We are thrilled to partner with Janet Hubert to bring to life this film and TV series.”
Conceptualised by Hubert, the project was born out of the need to represent kids from all backgrounds and cultures in mainstream children’s content. Hubert, who is an African American mom herself, says that even before her son was born she knew that she would never find the kind of toys, accessories or even story narratives that truly reflected who he was. In a world where his identity was starkly under-represented, Hubert wanted to create something to inspire him, and millions of other kids like him. And so, JG & the BC Kids was born.
Hubert emphasised that the series will reflect diversity in the real sense and will have characters from many ethnicities: “I knew that Toonz would be the perfect partners to understand and bring to life, JG who is a strong and super smart character. You can be both. It is past time to bring street smart kids and book smart kids together to create ‘life smart’ kids and do it in a fun, exciting way.”
JG & The BC Kids, targeted for five to nine year-olds, will be produced in 2D animation with an energetic, diverse and ethnic underscore. The lead character of the animated feature is Janet Granite aka JG, a super intelligent and athletic scientist and inventor who travels the world to find special kids. JG shows these special kids to be confident about who they are, no matter what they look like or what their interests are. A group of talking dinosaurs with their own superpowers helps her as she works with these kids and fights off the evil Dr. Zandor who wants to control Earth. JG & the BC Kids encourages kids to embrace differences, to find their own strengths, and to be confident and courageous in life.
Apart from Hubert, who starred in 90s hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air among others, the team of the show includes actor Raven Goodwin (voice of JG), animation director Ron Myrick (animation director) and composer Wendell Hanes.
Actor, writer, producer and director Ericka Nicole Malone (executive producer) and Philip Robinson are co-producing JG and the BC Kids along with Toonz. Malone was the inspiration for Hubert to bring JG back to the forefront. Ericka Nicole Malone Entertainment stands for principle and family values and in JG and the BC Kids, that is what she saw.