Ottawa’s Mercury Filmworks has secured a French coproduction partner for its animated preschool series Octicorn & Friends.

Based in Lyon, France, Stim Studio will join the Mercury team working on the 52 x 11-minute series, which is based on a book called Hello, My Name is Octicorn by Justin Lowe and Kevin Diller that was self-published in 2016.

The series tells the story of Octi, a half-octopus/half-unicorn who is struggling to fit in and goes on a journey to develop his self-confidence.

Mercury announced Octicorn & Friends in 2020 as part of its new strategy to start developing original IPs. Other projects on its slate include Tales of the Underwear Dragon, based on Scott Rothman’s picture book Attack of the Underwear Dragon; and Once Our Land, stemming from a Peter Ricq graphic novel.

Lighthouse Studios, a joint venture between Mercury Filmworks and Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon, announced last October it’s developing its first original animated series — the crime drama Savage Town.

Stim was established in 2019 by execs Jordan Soler (Despicable Me 3) and Félix Ferrand (The Secret Life of Pets).

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen