ABOUT

 Founded by Andrew Baker and Andrea Martin, Cantilever Media is a Dublin based production company, focusing on kids and family projects in both film and TV, live action and animation.

Our first project, 'The Amazing Maurice' is a cgi animated theatrical film based on the award winning book 'The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents' by Sir Terry Pratchett.
 
Andrew Baker

Andrew Baker

Joint CEO

An experienced producer and media lawyer, Andrew has spent most of his career in kids and animation, and is a co-production specialist.

Andrew consults for US Media law firm SmithDehn, is an external Director on an Ingenious Media EIS fund and a Non Executive Director for a number of production companies.
Andrea Martin

Andrea Martin

Joint CEO

Andrea is one of Ireland’s best-known media lawyers, having worked exclusively in media and entertainment law for over 20 years. She was part of the in-house legal team with Ireland’s national broadcasting organisation, RTÉ before establishing her own practice, MediaLawyer Solicitors in 2003. Her experience covers IP rights acquisitions, production financing and distribution, development and co-production deals as well as pre-publication content clearance. 

With Andrew Baker, through Cantilever Media, she’s expanding her work into film and television producing. Andrea is a member of the Law Society of Ireland and is also qualified to practice in England and Wales. She is a Board Member of the Irish Theatre Institute.

David Tennant, Ariyon Bakare, Rob Brydon and Joe Sugg added to cast of The Amazing Maurice

David Tennant, Ariyon Bakare, Rob Brydon and Joe Sugg added to cast of
The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original

Coming in 2022 to Sky Cinema and streaming service NOW

Based on Terry Pratchett’s best-selling novel

Also starring Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis, Himesh Patel,

Gemma Arterton and Hugh Bonneville

Sky today confirms additional cast for The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original including David Tennant (Doctor Who), Ariyon Bakare (His Dark Materials), Rob Brydon (Roald & Beatrix: The Tale of the Curious Mouse), Julie Atherton (Avenue Q) and YouTuber Joe Sugg. They join the stellar line-up of Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis, Himesh Patel, Gemma Arterton and Hugh Bonneville for the highly anticipated adaptation of Sir Terry Pratchett’s award-winning children’s novel.


In The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original, Maurice is a streetwise ginger cat who comes up with a money-making scam by befriending a group of self-taught talking rats. When Maurice and the rodents reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, they meet a bookworm called Malicia and their little con soon goes down the drain.


The film is co-produced by Sky, Ulysses Filmproduktion and Cantilever Media in partnership with Global Screen, with animation studios Studio Rakete (Hamburg) and Red Star Animation (Sheffield). The film has the full support of the Terry Pratchett estate and is produced in association with Narrativia. Producers are Julia Stuart (Sky), Emely Christians (Ulysses), Andrew Baker and Robert Chandler (Cantilever Media) and Rob Wilkins (Narrativia). The Film is directed by Toby Genkel, co-director is Florian Westermann, from a screenplay by Terry Rossio.


The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a children’s fantasy by Sir Terry Pratchett, published by Doubleday in 2001 and has sold nearly 90 million books worldwide. It was the 28th novel in the Discworld series, but the first written for children. The Amazing Maurice is a lively and entertaining adventure inspired by the German fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and a parody of the folk tale genre. Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal for the book – children’s literature’s highest award. Despite many other awards, honorary degrees and the knighthood that followed, Sir Terry Pratchett always emphasised that this was the award of which he was most proud.


The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original will be released on Sky Cinema in 2022. The film will also be available on streaming service NOW via the Sky Cinema Membership. 


Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films, with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.


ENDS

For further information please contact:


Sky

Mark Pitchford

mark.pitchford@sky.uk

Notes to Editors


About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 23.4 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news and arts including our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love – with entertainment from Sky TV, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer, and apps like Spotify, YouTube, BBC Sounds, Highbrow, Peloton, Fiit, and more, in one place, easy. Our streaming service NOW brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service. Through our new B2B broadband provider, Sky Connect, we offer superfast broadband with business-grade 4G back-up to small businesses in the UK.


Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which will open in 2022, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years.


We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.


About NOW

NOW is the home of brilliant entertainment. We’re one of the UK’s leading streaming platforms with critically acclaimed shows, new and exclusive movies, unmissable sport and epic kids TV – all with no contract. Join in with an Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, Kids or hayu Membership to stream instantly across TV, mobile, desktop and over 60 other devices. Watch on the go and even offline with our app by downloading shows and movies.

Entertainment Members can enjoy critically acclaimed dramas, documentaries and comedies, Emmy award-winning shows, the best of HBO and exclusive Sky Originals. Cinema Members can discover over 1000 brilliant movies, from the latest blockbusters and classic favourites and a new premiere every day. Sports Members cheer on unmissable Premier League, international cricket, F1, golf and more – all live, across 11 Sky Sports channels.


Plus, members can enhance their experience with NOW Boost – that’s full 1080p HD, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and streaming on up to 3 devices at once, for an extra £3 a month.

For super-fast broadband, members can enjoy a contract-free connection with a NOW Brilliant Broadband, Fab Fibre or Super Fibre Membership.


Learn more: nowtv.com

See what’s on offer: nowtv.com/offers

Follow us: facebook.com/NOWTV

Go behind the scenes: Instagram.com/NOWTV

Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/NOW

About ULYSSES FILMPRODUKTION

Ulysses Filmproduktion, one of the most active European production companies of high-quality and commercially successful animation films, is based in Hamburg, Germany. The company developed and produced the world wide sold 3D animated films “Ooops! Noah is gone...” (aka “Two by Two”, “All Creatures Big and Small”) and “Luis & The Aliens” which was also picked up by Warner UK. The feature films sold worldwide and were huge box office successes in many territories. The sequel “Ooops!2” (aka “Two by Two – Overboard”) was released in the UK and Germany in 2020, with releases to follow in the US, Australia/New Zealand, France and Russia. More Features and a TV Series with global exploitation potential are in the development pipeline.


www.ulyssesfilms.de


About CANTILEVER MEDIA

Cantilever Media is based in Ireland and the UK and produces animated feature films and television series as well as documentary features. It produced the feature documentary “The United Way” featuring Eric Cantona, a Sky Original which will launch on Sky Documentaries and streaming service NOW on May 24th 2021, and also produced the award winning feature documentary “I am Duran”. The Amazing Maurice is the company’s first animation feature production and further animated and live action projects for film and television are currently in development.



www.cantilever.media


About NARRATIVIA

Narrativia is an independent production company, launched in 2012 by Sir Terry Pratchett. The company owns and controls the exclusive multimedia and merchandising rights to all of Sir Terry's works, including his “Discworld” characters and creations. The company is headed by Managing Director Rob Wilkins and celebrated writer Rhianna Pratchett.


About SIR TERRY PRATCHETT

Sir Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global best-selling Discworld series and during his lifetime became Britain’s best-selling adult author. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the Carnegie Medal for “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” and went on to receive multiple literary awards, ten honorary doctorates and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.graph

SKY GREELIGHTS ORIGINAL KIDS FILM

The Amazing Maurice, which the broadcaster is also co-producing, is part of a strategy to double its investment in original TV and film content by 2024.


By Jeremy DicksonNovember 9, 2020


UK broadcaster Sky has greenlit upcoming 2D/3D-animated family movie The Amazing Maurice as a Sky original film. It has also joined German prodco Ulysses Filmproduktion (Luis & The Aliens) and Dublin-based Cantilever Media as a co-production partner on the project.


Based on the best-selling children’s fantasy book The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by the late English Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice is scheduled to premiere in 2022.


The Amazing Maurice is a comedic retelling of the story of the Pied Piper, and follows a streetwise cat who embarks on a money-making scam with a kid and a horde of talking rats. The feature is being produced in association with indie prodco Narrativia, which Pratchett launched three years before his death in 2015. Hamburg-based animation house Studio Rakete and Sheffield’s Red Star Animation are additional animation partners.


The Amazing Maurice is directed by Toby Genkel (The Ogglies) and co-directed by Florian Westermann (Luis & The Aliens). Julia Stuart is producing for Sky with co-producers Emely Christians (Ulysses), Andrew Baker and Robert Chandler (Cantilever Media) and Rob Wilkins (Narrativia).


The voice cast includes Hugh Laurie as the titular feline, as well as Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Gemma Arterton (The King’s Man) and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey).


German distributor Global Screen—the sales arm of Telepool—scooped up worldwide distribution rights (excluding North America and the UK) to the English-language film last October. Telepool has also recently taken over German-speaking territory rights from Tobis Film.


Sky’s co-pro deal is part of the broadcaster’s strategy to double its investment on original TV and film content by 2024 through its Sky Studios shingle, which opened in June 2019. Alongside Sky Studio’s new Elstree studio, set to open in 2022, the prodco is expected to generate US$3.9 billion in production investment in the UK and create more than 2,000 new jobs in its first five years, according to a release.


Sky launched its Sky Cinema Originals initiative in 2018, following the broadcaster’s investment in original kids TV shows including Aliens Love Underpants and Morph. It chose Timeless Films’ animated adventure-comedy Monster Family as its first original film, and premiered the movie simultaneously on Sky Cinema and in theaters across the UK and Ireland in March 2018.


Original Article Here

ULYSSES FILMPRODUKTION AND CANTILEVER MEDIA ANNOUNCE NEW ANIMATED MOVIE, THE AMAZING MAURICE, BASED ON SIR TERRY PRATCHETT’S BEST-SELLING NOVEL. 

THE AMAZING MAURICE WILL BE THE FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM ADAPTATION OF A SIR TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK.

The new family animated film is based on Sir Terry Pratchett’s 28th “Discworld” Novel, and the first “Discworld” novel written for children, “The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents”.

LONDON – 7th June 2019 – On the heels of the launch of the new hit Amazon Prime series ‘Good Omens’ ULYSSES FILMPRODUKTION and CANTILEVER MEDIA announced today the development of a new animated family film, “The Amazing Maurice” based on one of Sir Terry Pratchett’s wildly popular “Discworld” novels, which have sold more than 90 million books worldwide. The screenplay is written by award winning writer Terry Rossio (Shrek, Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean), with the character designs by Carter Goodrich (Ratatouille, The Croods, Brave). 

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a children’s fantasy by Sir Terry Pratchett, published by Doubleday in 2001. It was the 28th novel in the Discworld series but the first written for children. The Amazing Maurice is a lively and entertaining adventure inspired by the German fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and a parody of the folk tale genre. Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal for the book – children’s literature’s highest award. Despite many other awards, honorary degrees and the knighthood that followed, Sir Terry Pratchett always emphasized that this was the award of which he was most proud.

Maurice, a streetwise cat, has the perfect money-making scam. He’s found a dumb-looking kid who plays a pipe, and his very own horde of rats – rats who are strangely educated, and literate, so Maurice can no longer think of them as “lunch”. And everyone knows the stories about rats and pipers... However, when Maurice and the rodents reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, their little con goes down the drain. For someone there is playing a different tune. A dark, shadowy tune. Something very, very bad is waiting in the cellars. It’s not a game anymore. It’s a rat-eat-rat world down there and the educated rats must learn a new word...EVIL.

Emely Christians, Producer and CEO of Ulysses Filmproduktion commented: “’If you don’t turn your life into a story, you become part of someone else’s story,’ says Melissa, the young female lead in The Amazing Maurice. I loved the way Melissa presented her attitude to life in this one sentence. When I read it, I knew we had to turn this amazing novel into an amazing film. The Amazing Maurice will be the first animated feature film ever made from a Terry Pratchett novel. It will get Ulysses’ complete focus and attention to detail to fulfil our promise: to make a wonderful movie from this very funny, unique, strong and awesome story.”

Andrew Baker, Producer and CEO of Cantilever Media, said: “As a lifelong Pratchett fan, bringing to the screen one of his most cherished novels is going to be immensely exciting. Terry Rossio’s screenplay twists and turns and produces an unexpected yet heart-warming ending, with Carter Goodrich’s designs bringing these characters to life in their own unique style, which I’m sure audiences will love”. 

Rob Wilkins, Executive Producer and Managing Director of Narrativia, said: “At some point in the late nineties I sat at the polished bar in the Palace Hotel San Francisco enjoying a bottle of local beer with Terry Pratchett. It had been a long day and neither of us had yet eaten and we were less than interested in the baseball game playing loudly on the TV hanging above us. However, we were both very interested in the sixteen foot wide Maxfield Parrish painting of the Pied Piper of Hamelin hanging proudly behind the bar, where it had been on display since 1909. “He does beautiful skies,” said Terry. And, yes, he really did and I agreed, but Terry seemed lost in the painting and so I finished my beer and ordered another. By the time it arrived Terry had sketched out the plot for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents and had played it directly into my brain like a mini movie. They were indeed broad strokes, but the story was there and he had already named Maicia, Peaches, Sardines and – to his great delight – Darktan. That was the genius of Terry Pratchett; he could see stories everywhere. And now he would be delighted with the character designs of Carter Goodrich. Bringing this story to life was so important to Terry and it upsets me that he won’t get to see the finished film, but the teams at Ulysses Filmproduktion and Cantilever Media are honouring his vision and I am absolutely delighted”. 

Roddy McManus and Robert Chandler are attached as Executive Producers. The Amazing Maurice is produced by Ulysses Filmproduktion and Cantilever Media, with animation studios Studio Rakete and Squeeze Animation. The Amazing Maurice is produced by Emely Christians and Andrew Baker, and directed by Toby Genkle.  

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT ULYSSES FILMPRODUKTION
Voted animation “Producer of the Year” at Cartoon Movie 2016 and nominated as “Producer of the Year” 2017. Ulysses Filmproduktion, one of the most active European production companies of high-quality and commercially successful animation films, is based in Hamburg, Germany. The company developed and produced the world wide sold 3D animated films “Luis & The Aliens” (released 2018), which was also picked up by Warner UK and “Ooops! Noah is gone...” (aka “Two by Two”, “All Creatures Big and Small”), which was a huge box office success in many territories such as UK, France, Poland and South America. Ulysses is currently in production with “bayala – The Movie” for worldwide release in 2019 and produced several other animated family movies for the international market. More features and a TV Series with global exploitation potential are in the development pipeline.
www.ulyssesfilms.de 

ABOUT CANTILEVER MEDIA 
Cantilever Media is based in Dublin, Ireland and is founded by Andrew Baker, previously co-founder of Kidscave Entertainment, producer of the Netflix Original / ITV animated cgi kids series “Robozuna”, distributed by ITV Global and with Bandai as UK master toy licensee. Founded in 2018, The Amazing Maurice is the company’s first feature production and further animated and live action projects for film and television are currently in development. 
www.cantilevermedia.ie

ABOUT NARRATIVIA
Narrativia is an independent production company, launched in 2012 by Sir Terry Pratchett. The company owns and controls the exclusive multimedia and merchandising rights to all of Sir Terry's works, including his “Discworld” characters and creations. The company is headed by Managing Director Rob Wilkins and celebrated writer Rhianna Pratchett.

ABOUT EMELY CHRISTIANS
CEO and Executive Producer for Ulysses Films and producer of award-winning films
including “Richard the Stork” (Bayerischer Filmpreis “Best Children’s Film 2018”) and “Ooops! Noah is gone...” (“Goldener Spatz 2015”, Germany’s most important prize dedicated to Children’s films). Currently she is in production with her tenth theatrical feature film, “Bayala – The Movie”, based on the extremely successful, global bayala brand of German toy producer Schleich. Among others she produced the worldwide success “Niko & The Way to the Stars” together with co-producers from Finland, Denmark and Ireland, as well as the sequel “Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble”. In 2016 Emely Christians was awarded with the European Producer of the Year Award by Cartoon Media association for “Ooops! Noah is gone...”.

ABOUT ANDREW BAKER
CEO and founder of Cantilever Media, Andrew Baker is a producer and executive producer across film and television and was a co-producer on the documentary feature ‘I Am Duran” (2019, Universal) and Executive Producer on ‘Robozuna’ – a Netflix Original / ITV cgi animated series. Andrew was Executive Producer on ‘Buena Vista Social Club – Adios’ (2017, Broad Green) and is currently in production on a new CBBC series.  

Andrew was founder and MD of Rights TV, the UK’s largest business affairs consultancy, representing over 400 production companies, rights owners and producers which was acquired by Compact Media in 2011 and was previously Head of Business Affairs at ITV Kids, Cosgrove Hall Films and Granada Film and SVP for Legal and Business Affairs at Granada Entertainment, based in LA. Andrew is an external director for Ingenious Media, consults for US media law firm SmithDehn LLP and is a Non-Executive Director for a number of UK factual production and distribution companies. Andrew is a huge Terry Pratchett fan.

ABOUT TOBY GENKLE
Toby is an experienced animation director who has worked with Ulysses Films on several projects and directed their recent award-winning films “Richard, the Stork” (released 2017) and “Ooops! Noah is gone...” (released 2015). Originally a storyboard artist and designer for numerous animated films, Toby has directed several successful animated features and has a clear vision of how The Amazing Maurice can be realised.

ABOUT TERRY ROSSIO
Terry Rossio is an award-winning writer and producer whose credits include Aladdin, Shrek, and all five Pirates of the Caribbean films. Terry’s adaptation is ingenious; he has created a screenplay that retains the essential spirit and tone of the original book, but which is also a lively and entertaining adventure, keeping the high quality and humour of Pratchett’s characters and dialogue.

ABOUT CARTER GOODRICH
Carter Goodrich’s career as an award-winning freelance illustrator began in 1983, when he
shared studio space with longtime friend and fellow illustrator, Buck Lewis, in New York
City. His book and editorial work eventually led to the publication of seventeen New
Yorker covers, and counting. Carter’s first role in film work came as lead character designer for DreamWorks’ first feature animated film, “Prince of Egypt”, in 1995. He then went on to work on such films as “Finding Nemo”, “Monsters Inc.”, “Shrek”, “Spirit”, “Sinbad”, “Open Season”, on which he worked as art director/character design, “Despicable Me” as lead character designer, “Hotel Transylvania”, and most recently “The Croods” and “Brave”, both as lead character designer. His work on these films resulted in six ASIFA Annie Award nominations for best character design in a feature animated film, winning the ANNIE in 2007 for “Ratatouille” and again in 2014 for “The Croods”.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015), was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. Pratchett, with more than 90 million books sold worldwide in 37 languages, was the UK’s best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the
British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in 2009. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010. Sir Terry Pratchett died on 12 March 2015 aged 66.

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