Hackman Film

Yarto Licensing has signed an exclusive deal with Village productions to produce 52 episodes of Hackman! a dog in a bucket. The first pilot episode is in production now. .  Visit  www.hackmanthedog.com

Village Productions, which has restructured its business over the last three years to focus on the creation of original intellectual property, has signed a significant new deal with The YARTO Group.

Village will work with The YARTO Group to develop a television series based on the character “Hackman! – a dog in a Bucket”.

Director Mark Rowland said “We are very happy to have sealed this deal bringing Hackman into the Village fold. This project follows on from RocketBoy & Toro for the BBC and two other series to be announced in the next few weeks”.

Village has already signed an initial deal with Czech animation house Bonton to produce the pilot and series once fully financed.

Hackman has already attracted one of the world’s leading publishers Harper Collins who have published two hardback books that show Hackman as a new emerging character

David Brawn, Publishing Director at HarperCollins said:-  ‘ It was easy for us to see the potential for Hackman the moment we set eyes on him.  It’s a very clever blend of contemporary, slightly offbeat humour conveyed in a very clean and classic style.  He’s brand new but you immediately feel that you’ve grown up with him.  Like Peanuts and Garfield I think the books are just the  start of something really big and global’

Michael Grant from The YARTO Group said “we have been looking for the right partner for Hackman for a couple of years.  We have always felt that Hackman would make a great television series and have rejected many offers presented to us from animation companies.  We believe that we have now the right partners in place to see our vision materialise”.  

Bill Houston of YARTO Licensing and creator of the Hackman comic strips said “We always knew Hackman needed that extra ‘wow’ factor that only great animation can achieve. Village’s track record gives us the confidence that they can bring the Hackman stable of characters to life for us.

Hackman – Dog in a Bucket is a comedy adventure, featuring a canine hero with all the stress and insecurities that a paranoid New Yorker can suffer. His persistent ‘medical problem’ means continual wearing of his yellow bucket which leads to constant visits to a Manhattan pet shrink of dubious repute . There are also surreal out of space visits from Rex the Alien who comes from a planet where everyone wears yellow buckets and therefore thinks Hackman must be a world leader. 

Hackman will be produced as a 52 x 11 minute 2D animated series. Village will be structuring the entire deal from bible to completed series.

VILLAGE PRODUCTIONS is an independent UK children’s producer specialising in all aspects of sound design and co-production focusing on international projects such as RocketBoy & Toro, which it is co-producing with Imagestone Inc; in Korea and Cosgrove Hall Films for the BBC.