DQE Signs Co–Pro Deal with Moonscoop on "Tara Duncan"

DQ Entertainment International (DQE), and Moonscoop have signed a co-production deal "Tara Duncan," a 2-D animated TV series based on the best-selling book by Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian.

The storyline concerns Tara, a young girl who discovers by chance that she is a "sortcelière"—a person who can bind fates. The series has a global production budget of €6.4 million ($8.1 million). M6, the second largest private French broadcaster, and Disney are broadcast partners for this production.

This is the fourth series on which DQE and Moonscoop are to work together since the pair launched a strategic alliance last year. Other co-production deals include the animated TV series "Casper's Scare School," co-produced with Classic Media; "The Fantastic Four" animated series based on the superheroes from Marvel; and with Moonscoop's U.S. office on "Twisted Whiskers," a co-production with American Greetings, plus the animated series "ToddWorld."

"The functionality of our partnership with Moonscoop has been proven once again," says Tapaas Chakravarti, chairman and chief executive officer of DQE Group. "Together we will produce world-class animation for television productions as well as feature films. We are also jointly exploring producing Indian content in live-action as well as animation to further extend our relationship with Moonscoop."

"This deal is in logical progression of our ongoing relationship with DQE," says Nicolas Atlan, chief executive officer of Moonscoop. "We have successfully collaborated on 'Casper' and the 'Fantastic Four' TV series. We hope that 'Tara Duncan' will be yet another successful partnership. Each of our companies brings something unique to this agreement which we think will ultimately benefit not only our companies, but our broadcast and licensing partners, as well."