Australia’s POP Family Entertainment will work with Germany’s Studio 100 Film and Ireland’s Telegael on the animated comedy film Being Betty Flood, with the project announced in Cannes overnight.
Based on the 13-book series The Floods from Australian author Colin Thompson, the 87-minute feature film introduces Betty, a headstrong, smart 12-year-old girl torn between her over-protective mother and her desire to prove her magical and musical abilities. As she navigates the challenges of growing up and finding her place in the world, her relationships with her family and friends echo the experiences of young girls all over the world.
Harry Cripps and Cleon Prineas adapted the story for the production, which will be the first to utilise Amazon Nimble Studio, a tool that allows creative studios to produce visual effects, animation, and interactive content entirely in the cloud.
The film is an Official Treaty Co-Production between Australia and Ireland, meaning it can be marketed with full European status. Studio 100 Film will handle global distribution.
POP Family Entertainment CEO Carmel Travers said the company was pleased to be able to bring fantastical world of 12-year-old Betty Flood and her “very ‘different” family of witches, wizards and ghouls to life on screen.
“In a thrilling adaptation of Colin Thompson’s books, and working with great international partners, Studio 100 Film Germany and Telegael Ireland, Being Betty Flood, is truly a universal story of a young girl’s passage from child to teenager, determined to pursue her love of magic and music, despite her hilariously challenging family circumstances,” she said.
“Ultimately this is a funny, warm-hearted film about a young girl finding out who she really is.”
Telegael producer Cathy Ní Fhlaithearta said it was excited to partner with POP Entertainment and Studio 100 on “such a wonderful and important story that not only follows Betty on her quest to uncover the family’s secret past but understands a teenager’s journey of self-discovery”.
Being Betty Flood is set to be released in Autumn 2023.