- 22nd August 2010
CNN Coverage : By Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa - 17th August 2010
The 99 after season 2 and 3 - 20th may 2010
"US network acquires The 99" - Press release by Endemol - 27th April 2010
CNN Coverage on The 99 - 27th April 2010
President Obama Applauds The 99 - 31st March 2010
India Launch of The 99 Animation Trailer in Chennai - 6th October 2009
Morrocco's Ibn Battuta brings India and Malaysia toghether - 14th July 2009
THE HINDU - 26th June 2009
Dinakaran - 25th June 2009
THE HINDU - 27th January 2009
Times Of India - 27th January 2009
THE HINDU
SERENDIPITY: From under the bed, a television series arose!
In early February of 2008, Teshkeel’s Vice President, Frankie Shum, received an email from Subniv Babuta, a freelance producer for Endemol UK, the company that produced Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, Star Academy, Fear Factor and a host of other successful television shows.
Subniv had found copies of THE 99 under a bed at the home of a friend he was visiting in Cairo, Egypt. He thought they were wonderful. On his return to London, he enlisted Andy Ward, a former colleague at BBC and then and now a senior executive at Endemol, to begin a dialog with Teshkeel that would lead to the production of an animated television series for THE 99.
TV animation and theatrical films were always the objectives for THE 99 for both its social message and commercial success. But when Endemol called, we were such novices that we had to Google them to know that our future was about to become much closer than we thought.
In late February, with the blessing of Lucas Church, Endemol UK’s Chief Operating Officer, Babuta and Ward journeyed to Kuwait with a proposal to produce 13 animated episodes of THE 99. The world’s largest syndicator of television programs had come to THE 99 to help bring its new role models into every home on Planet Earth. A month later, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, THE 99’s creator and Teshkeel’s CEO met with Endemol at Oxford to sign a Memo of Understanding for the development of THE 99 animated series.
By 2008, nearly twenty issues of THE 99 comic books had been published. We had the advantage of a brilliant back-story and mature character guide. Endemol signed on Subniv Babuta to be our executive producer with Andy Ward becoming our resident mentor and advocate within Endemol. A creative team was established led by Dr. Naif and Subniv with Andy providing the business leadership.
Over the next two and a half years, Endemol taught all of us at Teshkeel to be television producers. And in turn, we gave them lessons in humility and patience, which they endured with legendary British stoicism.
In December of 2008, Endemol brought Sanraa Media to the project to provide the actual animation for THE 99. Based in Chennai, India, Sanraa was already a place to turn to for the highest quality digital animation. The addition of THE 99 assignment made them one of the largest. Continued industry interest and worldwide press support of THE 99 soon led to expanding Sanraa’s assignment.
By early 2009, an animated trailer of THE 99 was completed along with its initial Character Guide. In November, a decision was taken to upgrade the series to HD, one of the first animated television series ever to do so.
In late March of 2010, the management team from Teshkeel and Endemol visited Sanraa’s production facility in Chennai for the company’s internal premiere of THE 99. It was the fulfillment of a dream, a truly WOW! experience for everyone. A few weeks later President Barack Obama made a speech at his Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship citing THE 99 and Dr. Naif as the best examples of "capturing the imaginations of young people through the message of tolerance ".
Once again, the attention of the world’s press was drawn to the concept of THE 99 and once again they wrote positive reviews. Our web traffic and broadcast inquiries grew with each story.
THE 99 has made Dr. Naif a major player on the world stage offering a message of peace, tolerance and understanding through the stories of THE 99. Speeches at the World Economic Forum, TEDGlobal, Skoll World Forum, and prestigious universities from the US to the UK to KSA and beyond became weekly events. Awards followed from the UN Alliance of Civilizations, a Social Entrepreneur Award from the Schwab Foundation, and dozens of others including New York’s Intersector of Business and Religion award, Malaysia’s World Halal Forum Award and the honor of being named one of The 500 Most Influential Muslims in The World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center at Georgetown University – all heady accolades made possible by the many great people who have made THE 99 possible.
Last month, a new agreement was reached between Teshkeel and Endemol for a second and third season of THE 99 with Sanraa continuing as the animation provider and again expanding their Chennai facility.
Today, our future lies in the hands of Endemol Worldwide Distribution and eventually, the families of the world. EWD will distribute THE 99. They became our distributor of choice when in 2009, Endemol acquired its long-term distributor, Southern Star and its feisty Australian chief executive, Cathy Payne, another early supporter of THE 99. While the actual ‘signing’ season for new family and children’s television programs does not occur until MIPjunior, an annual industry event held in Cannes, France in early October, EWD has already signed a number of broadcast partners including a major connection in the United States.
The uphill part of our serendipitous journey is almost over. A January worldwide launch is planned.
SERENDIPITY: (noun) The accidental discovery of something pleasant, valuable, or useful; (2) a gift for discovery.
Endemol Worldwide Distribution today announced that US cable network ‘The Hub’ has acquired the 26 x half hour animated children’s series THE 99 which is produced by Endemol UK. The Hub is is a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro, Inc.
Based on the popular superhero comic books, The 99 centres around a group of youngsters from across the globe, who come into possession of 99 mystical and ancient Noor Stones (Stones of Light) which endow each of them with a superhuman power. They're gathered into teams by the benevolent Dr. Ramzi Razem, to fight injustice and evil around the world. Their goal: to realise Dr. Ramzi's vision of a world of peace, harmony, enlightenment and diversity. But Dr. Ramzi is not the only one searching for the stones. He's in a race against time with the sinister and charismatic Rughal, a mysterious traveller through Time, who also knows the power of the stones and wants to use them for his own dark ends. Aided by a team of villains with super-powers of their own, Rughal will stop at nothing to beat Ramzi, and acquire the ancient stones - with or without their young owners.
The animated series has been produced in full 3D CGI by Endemol UK in association with Teshkeel Media, with the animation work being completed in India by Sanraa Media.
Executive producer Andy Ward said "The 99 is the first great superhero series to come out of Middle Eastern culture and has production values to rival anything from the West. We think it's going to be a massive hit globally." Executive producer Subniv Babuta commented "The 99 will bring to global audiences a new breed of superheroes - young, funny, immensely engaging, multicultural and with astonishing superpowers. The world of superheroes will never be the same again."
The comics are read widely through the Middle East and South Asia and later in 2010 characters from the 99 will appear in special episodes of DC Comics' Justice League alongside Batman and Superman.
Speaking at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in April, US President Barak Obama applauded The 99 as "innovative" and paid tribute to the way they had "captured the imagination of so many young people".
YOU TUBE VideoDr Naif Al-Mutawa, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Teshkeel Media Group stated:
"THE 99 was several years brewing. The animation you see this fall will empower all children to see in themselves and each other the brave hearts of the 99 young heroes of our captivating stories and art. We are very pleased that the The Hub will be amongst the first broadcasters to air the series."
From the Left to the Right
- Mr. A Venkatramani, Founder, Sanraa Media Limited
- Mr. Aboo Backer, Vice Chairman, Hajj Committe of India
- Mr. R Thyagarajan, Chairman, Shriram group of Companies
- Dr. (Mrs.) Poongothai, Honourable IT Minister, State of Tamilnadu, India
- Dr. Naif Al Mutawa, Creator of The 99 and CEO Teshkeel Media Inc, Kuwait
- Mr. Andy Ward, Director, Endemol, UK
- Mr. Subniv Babuta, Executive Producer, Endemol, UK
- Mr. Andrew Simkin, Consulate General of USA, Chennai, India
- Mr. Robert Kelly, Head - UK Trade and Investment, Chennai, India
Photo: In-Fusion Solutions' Mohamad Salmi Mohd Sohod (left) and Aznin Nur Ameran with Sanraa Media's Sukumar Subramanian.
India and Malaysia announced their first ever co production at MIPCOM today.
Kuala Lumpur's In-Fusion Solutions is in development with Chennai- and Bangalore-based Sanraa Media.
Ibn Battuta: The Animated Series (13 x 22 Mins) follows the adventures of the eponymous 14th century Moroccan traveller.
"Ibn Battuta travelled for nearly 30 years through Morocco, Turkey and even in our own country, Malaysia," said In-Fusion executive producer Mohamad Salmi Mohd Sohod. "That allows us to introduce our viewers to a new country in each episode."
Co-executive producer Aznin Nur Ameran added: "In fact, Ibn Battuta travelled further than his near-contemporary Marco Polo. Our series is based on his account of his journey.
Ibn Battuta: The Animated Series goes into production in January 2010 and a movie will follow.
Programming : MIPCOM - 06.10.2009
