Ruffus the dog debuts on Ameba's Smart Kids TV
Ameba announces the debut of Robert Mills’
award-winning children’s series, Ruffus The Dog, the latest addition to
Ameba’s fast-growing Smart Kids TV™ content library
Winner of a Writer’s Guild Award and nominated for seven Gemini Awards, Ruffus The Dog is a charming and whimsical introduction for young audiences into the world of fairy tales and classic stories. Robert Mills, who performs the title role of Ruffus, also served as director, producer and story editor, and wrote most of the series’ 13 episodes.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Ruffus The Dog to the Ameba family and proud to share Robert Mills’ popular educational fairy tale adventure series,” says Tony Havelka, Ameba TV’s founder and CEO. “In addition to awards and accolades from his peers, Mills, more importantly, has won over the hearts of young viewers throughout Canada and the world.”
Ruffus The Dog is a stop motion-animated series starring Ruffus, a wise-cracking canine who lives in a bookstore. Ruffus loves to read stories and becomes the hero of the tale. With a wacky cast of characters in a storybook world, filled with jokes, adventure and original songs, Ruffus The Dog brings the world of reading to life.
Originally produced in 1998 for broadcast television with funding from a variety of sources including Telefilm Canada, YTV Canada, the Shaw Children’s Television Fund, and the Independent Production Fund, Robert Mills regained the rights to the series and re-released the original episodes online under a Creative Commons (CC) license. CC offers authors, artists, scientists and educators the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to enable a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach.
“Bringing Ruffus The Dog into the Ameba family under a Creative Commons license demonstrates how Ameba can work with many different types of licensing structures to generate value and revenue for a property,” said Havelka.
In addition to his success with Ruffus The Dog, Mills worked for 12 years as a puppeteer with Jim Henson’s Muppets and appeared as a variety of characters in numerous Henson productions including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Short Circuit II, Dinosaurs and as Ludo in the 80s cult classic, Labyrinth, alongside David Bowie.
His production credits also include over 70 hours of high quality, award-winning programming for young audiences under the Radical Sheep banner and he executive produced over 35 hours of content every week for Kids’ CBC in Canada from 2005 to 2006.
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