The new book revolution
By Jason White -- Playthings, 1/1/2005
The brother and sister team of Edgar & Ellen are a pair of goth siblings who like to terrorize the quiet town of Nod's Limbs. Usually by the end of the story the duo gets a taste of its own medicine and a little lesson to boot.
To keep kids from inevitably returning to the constant stream of interactive games at their Internet-ready disposal, Star Farm Productions of Chicago took a completely different approach when it came to developing the Edgar & Ellen book property. Star Farm books have been developing Edgar & Ellen in multi-media format since day one.
The new marketing“We based this company on story telling in every media,” says Trish Lindsay, CEO of Star Farm Productions. Unlike the Harry Potter books, which were later made into movies, Edgar & Ellen already have motion pictures on the fast track.
For them, Lindsay adds, the future is working with the retailer and making items for them rather than flooding the market with product hoping something will stick.
The toys, video games and feature films are designed to be stand-alone items so even if consumers don't know the property the item is still appealing. The stories are being developed so that they are completed in one sitting, but have open threads that can be followed from story to story.
Visit www.playthings.com/edgarandellen for more information and a grid of the release schedule for all the Edgar & Ellen products.
