TVOKids, Knowledge Kids, Radio-Canada and TFO have banded together to order a new 2D-animated short series (20 x two minutes) that will be coproduced by Toronto’s Milkcow Media and Ottawa’s Big Jump Entertainment.

Created by Milkcow founder and Emmy-winning showrunner Alexander Bar (Mike the Knight, Ricky Zoom), Polly Can Do centres on a resilient five-year-old girl living with cerebral palsy (CP), whose can-do approach to life inspires her friends dealing with anxiety, shyness, sharing and knowing when to ask for help.

Bar is set to direct the series and write its scripts. And to ensure authenticity in the show’s storytelling, he’ll rely on insights from kids in focus groups who have shared their first-hand experiences of growing up with CP.

Polly will also be voiced by a first-time voice actor living with CP, and Toronto’s Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and the Cerebral Palsy Canada Network are providing additional support.

Polly Can Do is set to premiere early next year on TVOKids first and will be produced at Big Jump’s studio in Ottawa. Milkcow and Big Jump are jointly managing all rights and distribution to the show. The project recently received $525,000 in production financing as one of seven projects that were selected to share $3.7 million from the CMF-Shaw Rocket Fund’s Kids Digital Animated Series Program.

This article first appeared in Kidscreen.

Image courtesy of TVOKids