- MAMA DEVELOPMENT -
MAMA is a venture-funded IP development company that options award-winning book-based IP and secures the partnerships necessary to build them into screen-based brands for the international market. Projects include kids and family entertainment properties suitable for animation, live action, and games.
— Projects under development… contact Dennis Kostyk [email below] to access full website portfolios. —
GUARDIANS OF THE GREATWILDS | Nature adventure series for children ages 4 - 7
Nine-year old Lumi has always wanted to live in a truly wild place. “What could be more fun than climbing cliffs with the mountain goats, doing backflips with the dolphins, or camping out overnight in the tallest tree?”
Her big dream comes true when she’s invited to join her grandfather, Dr. Alder Wise, a biologist studying rare plants and animals in a far-off land.
Lumi jumps at the chance to leave the city and travel to where she believes is “the other side of the sky!” for some big adventures in a little-known land called the Greatwilds.
HELLO | Preschool series based on the book ‘Hello’ by Aiko Ikegami
A heartwarming pre-school comedy series that celebrates diversity, empathy, cross-cultural exchange and the power of friendship between a little girl and a curious space visitor.
It all begins while Momo is outside playing games and she thinks she just imagines that a cool red and blue spaceship flew down from space and landed in the corner of her yard. Out pops a little, round-headed alien…but it turns out Momo did not make him up! This is Izzy, and he just happened to land in Momo’s yard. “Hello,” says Momo. “Hello,” says Izzy.
Izzy’s a student from a distant planet and he’s just gotten a big assignment – Earth! He’s excited, but also feeling a bit daunted. Earth is a big planet, and there’s so much he doesn’t know about it. Momo knows a lot of Earth stuff, but she’s still learning about and adapting to her new home, too – because she’s just recently moved to the United States from Japan.
Izzy and Momo find out that they may be from very different places and spaces, but they have a lot in common on the inside. Side by side, they engage and experience their world which is fueled by their imagination and their shared desire to explore and understand the world and each other.
Awards: Junior Library Guild Selection; Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Award; Kirkus Best Picture Books of 2019; Golden Duck Notable Picture Book; 2021 Floyd’s Pick Book Award Winner/ Choose to Read Ohio Advisory Council
JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH | Animated serial based on the book by Jules Verne, adapted by Moya O’Shea
In this modern re-imaging, based on the Jules Verne classic, two young social media influencers Alex and Min, are shooting a video for the launch of new video game when they find themselves trapped with Jessica, a geology student, in an impossible world far beneath the surface of the Earth. They must use their wit, ingenuity and gaming skills to survive in a world filled with dinosaurs, giants and unimaginable creatures! The threats are incredible, the dangers are unbelievable, and they are going to need every bit of intelligence, cunning and knowledge to face these threats, level up and make it back to the surface. Is it possible they can survive a journey to the center of the Earth?
HOOT & OLIVE | A series for all ages
Hoot and Olive are more than just best friends. They are puzzle-solving, villain-stopping, world-saving superheroes. Actually, superhero isn’t quite right. They’re more like super story keepers or terrific tale protectors. In any case, they are always just one book away from amazing, out of this world adventure.
On the outside, Olive is just a simple farm girl. And Hoot, he is just Olive’s stuffed owl. But as a young and prodigious member of the International Guild of Librarians, Story Sleuths, and Tale Tenders, Olive is charged with helping to maintain a lesser-known and more unruly side of storybooks. Hoot, too, is more than meets the eye in this underground world of runaway tales, He is very much alive.
What does all this mean? Well, as some know, books occasionally take on a life of their own. And if you didn’t know, imagine what it would be like if the stories you read—all the wizards, the princesses, the aliens, the castles, the far-away lands, the spells, the magic, the amazing technologies—were all very real… AND they are!!! Hoot and Olive join them; battling the evil ones and joining forces with the good guys.
RED IN THE CITY | A series for ages 6 - 9
Hi! I’m Red and this is my blog. It’s about a plucky young chicken (me!) who moves to the big city and learns a whole new way of life. Let’s face it: Paxtonville is nothing like my old life dodging “mud pies” on a farm in Quackers Corner where I spent the last (and only!) 13 years of my life. My new life in the big city and this blog are gonna be EPIC! That’s because the city is bursting with stories. I want to write all about them. There are so many interesting animals, places, smells. Well, not so much the smells – some of the Summertime smells on crowded buses you definitely don’t want to know about – trust me!
Telling stories about the big city sure is fun but it’s also kinda tricky. Not everyone agreed with my “Fab New Art!” blog that the spray paint all over that famous old building was ‘beautiful’. And the street cats sure got hissy over my “Wonderful Dog Days” post. I guess it’s all in how you look at things. By the way, did you know that ‘classified’ is a big city word for ‘keep this a secret’? Oops. Not only am I discovering everything about the big city, I’m also figuring out what it’s like to have fans… and trolls! And did you know that only some stuff is real and other stuff is fake? How can you tell? We’ll figure it out! Plus, you should see what happens when stories go viral! Well friends, stay tuned and I promise you’ll get more than the just my Big City blog – because every post is gonna lead to a whole other story.
MONA LISA IN THE CITY | Based on the book by Yevgenia Nayberg
An experimental film based on the book Mona Lisa in New York. Classic art meets street graffiti.
LITTLE OWL IN THE BIG CITY | Based on the book by Marcia Mogelongsky / Jill Alexander - Illustrator
A Christmas Special based on the true story of the little saw-whet owl from the countryside who winds up in New York City’s most magnificent Christmas tree. Toot, our feisty little owl, makes a special ornament to decorate a very special Christmas tree and awakes to discover she’s in the giant spruce bound for New York City! A story of determination, adventure, new friendships and the warmth of family during the holidays.