Monty & Co is an original puppet series for pre-school children with high quality original stories that pack drama and comedy into 11 action packed minutes with cute characters that children will love.  The episodes focus on friendships, family, feelings and are educational too.

Written and performed by the creative team responsible for PIPKINS, the ITV programme for under fives which ran for ten successful series, the team has gone on to work for THE MUPPETS, DISNEY, THE BBC, SESAME STREET, SPITTING IMAGE, CAMERON MACKINTOSH and many others.

The internationally renowned team behind Monty & Co are Nigel Plaskitt, Susan Pleat, Gail Renard, Paul Jomain and Robert Taylor, who between them have created, written and produced countless hit TV series and films.  Their work has won BAFTAS, Emmy Awards and a Bronze medal at The Montreux TV Festival.

They plan to produce 250 programmes over the next 5 years with the first 50 episodes being produced during December 2017 and January 2018.

We are looking to raise a minimum of £80,000 and a maximum of £90,000 under SEIS to fund the balance of the production cost. The total budget for production cost is £557,000 of which £477,630 has been financed by deferred payments and / or the issue of a convertible loan to the production team.

This is a vote of confidence by the team, consisting of multi award winning talent, is prepared to back us not only with their time and professional abilities but to join us as investors in the success of Monty & Co.  

The objective of the business is to deliver a top quality, unique form of comedy/drama for under 5s.

We will create the first 50 episodes which we can sell in the UK and on the international market.  As a guide, the average 12-month license to a UK broadcaster is £10,000 per episode.  There are over 100 countries worldwide buying children programming so the potential market is huge.  Netflix and Amazon Prime have created the vast streaming/subscription audience and both are hungry for original material.   We have already had interest from a Japanese company who are very attracted to the characters demonstrating their international appeal.

Peppa Pig (a children's TV show) has attracted 34 billion views in China over a two year period and 18 million books have been sold particularly as parents have a desire for their children to learn English.  General merchandising sales there have blossomed.

To further strengthen our arm Ofcom has criticised broadcasters in the UK for their lack of original children's programming.

The structure of each episode of Monty & Co has been inspired by the Sesame Street model allowing us to replace elements of each script to easily create a foreign language version with a local appeal.

We intend to exploit the series and characters in merchandising and publishing at the earliest opportunity.

Ultimately we see Monty & Co being available through the Monty & Co App through a monthly subscription.  The team’s aim is to make sure Monty & Co becomes the programme of choice, first in the UK and then globally.

Monty & Co App will be a unique concept featuring the TV series together with supporting educational games and up to the minute distribution exclusively via our app. 

We aim to raise further funds to carry this forward.   

The appeal of Monty & Co as a business proposition

The pedigree of the Monty & Co performers and team is unrivalled. The show will be produced by a team with a huge amount of industry experience. The creators have worked on world famous programmes such as; Pipkins, The Muppets, Avenue Q, Sesame Street, Spitting Image and many more. Alongside this, Monty & Co will be educational and deal with real life issues. 

Monty & Co features live action puppets and so our production costs are significantly lower than the conventional animated series, our budget for producing 50 x 11 minute episodes is one sixth of a standard animated series.  This means that Monty & Co can generate profits faster.

An additional advantage our beautifully produced puppets are already in the form of ‘cuddly toys’ generating huge appeal amongst children and huge potential in merchandising.

Monty & Co will also benefit from the Children’s Television Production tax credit – which amounts to 25% of 80% of the production budget an amount of approximately £100,000.  

Marketing to our Audience

Our marketing strategy is based upon a simple premise. We have identified our audiences, we understand their motivation and purchasing pattern and we know how to create a ‘call to action’ via multiple channels.

We have a premium product offering and we intend to build a brand that has resonance, relevance and integrity. We intend to ‘tease’ the media and the consumer with audio and video snippets. We intend to use public and media relations alongside social media initiatives to engage and retain our audiences. We intend to use online advertising to create ‘spikes’ of intense interest around key events and launches. 

• Peppa Pig, the pre school children's TV programme, delivers over £1 billion annually and this is growing. In the USA subscription based start-ups raised $1.4 billion last year alone.

• In 2015 Ofcom, in its Public Service Review, noted a “market failure” in the provision of UK focused children’s content in the UK.
  
  
• There is no ‘like for like’ competitor and Monty & Co comes from a legacy of proven success in this space, combined with unparalleled, up to date digital know how and creative expertise.
  
  
• There are already 50 scripts written for the show by the award-winning team.
  
  
• There is SEIS Advance Assurance.
  
  
• Research amongst media contacts has revealed an enthusiasm for the project.

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