‘Nate Is Late’: France Télévisions & Super RTL Greenlight Third Season With Production Fully Relocating To Europe

Jesse Whittock
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: European toon Nate is Late is returning to class.

France Télévisions and Germany’s Super RTL have put a third 52-episode season into production with a budget of €7M ($7.6m). COFIMAGE 34, SOFITVCINE 11 and CNC are co-financiers.

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Edouard Kuchiman and Gaultier Buiret will co-direct and Philippe Alessandri’s Watch Next Media is again attached to make the show.

The Sylvain Huchet and Peter Saisselin-created series follows two friends, Nate and Malika, who are always late to school as they get sidetracked on adventures, which their teacher never believes when they arrive.

Production on season three is underway in Europe, relocating to Watch Next’s La Factorie facilities in Paris and Lille in France and Animato in Turin, Italy. Season 1, which launched in 2018, was a co-production with 20% made in Australia 20% and 80% in France, while season two was partly made in Asia.

The European production shift has been made possibly by Sherlock, an asset bank Watch Next managers to reuse models, animations and special effects from previous episodes.

“In a matter of days, we can index a bank containing several seasons with thousands of files, without altering the server’s sources. Sherlock generates the display of static or animated thumbnails immediately accessible and reusable by teams at all stages of production. This is a crucial factor in avoiding production relocation.”

“This new season showcases the narrative potential of the concept, the universe, and the series’ characters. It demonstrates the synergy we have been able to create between the different studios within the group in France and Italy,” said Alessandri, CEO and founder of Watch Next.

Alessandri launched Watch Next in 2015 after exiting his role as CEO of Banijay predecessor Zodiak Media’s subsidiaries Marathon and Télé Images.

Watch Next’s distribution arm, First Kids, has sold previous seasons to the likes of Pop in the UK; Netflix in France, Belgium and the UK; Clan in Spain, SVT in Sweden, RTS in Switzerland, Cartoon Network in India, VRT in Belgium, MBC and E-Junior in the Middle East, Gloob in Brazil, RTP in Portugal, TV5 in Canada, Channel 9 in Australia, Tencent in China and TVB in Hong Kong.

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