Talent Television

London & Ottawa, 24th March 2004 - Following the recent announcement of a strategic alliance between the two companies, UK indie producer Talent Television has inked a development deal with Amberwood Entertainment, Canada for My Teen Genie, a major new live-action series for the international kids/tween market, it was announced today by Tony Humphreys, Managing Director of Talent TV, and Sheldon Wiseman, President and CEO of Amberwood Entertainment.

My Teen Genie, the first co-production between Talent TV and Amberwood Entertainment, is a light-hearted comedy drama series aimed at 8-14 year olds around the world. The Family Channel, Canada has funded development of the series, with production expected to start in Canada in Fall 2004.

Following the life and adventures of Jaz, a 14 year old girl, and the drop-dead gorgeous, young genie living in her mobile phone, My Teen Genie has a planned first run of 26 x half hour episodes. Based on an original idea by Martyn Day and Dominic Macdonald, the show was developed for Amberwood and Talent by Jonathan Wolfman and Barbara Slade, with writing from Canadian Alan Silberberg and Brit Grant Cathro.

Annie Miles, Director of Talent Kids, Talent TV's children's division commented, "Talent Television is excited to be working with Amberwood Entertainment and The Family Channel on this top quality, live-action, kids comedy series. In the past, this type of high-budget comedy drama has mainly been the preserve of the American Majors. Our alliance with Amberwood allows us to jointly develop and fund this kind of sought-after show more easily".

Sheldon Wiseman, President and CEO of Canadian production company Amberwood Entertainment, added "This is the first example of how our recent alliance can help to get development projects moving. And we are delighted to have Family Channel supporting us at this early stage".

For further information:

Debbie Lawrence                               Sheldon Wiseman
The Lippin Company                          CEO, Amberwood Entertainment
+44 (0)20 7745 7189                         Tel : +1 (613) 238 4567 x32
dlawrence@lippingroup.com                swiseman@amberwoodanimation.com

Notes to editors:

Talent Television (part of Talent Group plc) is a leading independent UK format creator and producer of innovative television, video and interactive programming. The Company's reputation for prime-time entertainment programming is unrivalled. The "Test the Nation" series for BBC1 is now well established as a scheduling event which combines the excitement of live network television with state-of-the-art interactive television and web technology. Subjects covered so far include "The Nation's IQ", "Relationships", "General Knowledge" and "The End of Year Test". Talent was also a pioneer in reality television with "The Villa", which was first produced in 1999 for Sky One.

Talent Television also has strong ties with major Japanese broadcasters and indie production companies, having produced several HDTV documentaries for both NHK and TV Asahi networks. And, last October, the "Test the Nation" format was successfully launched on TV Asahi, in association with Japanese indie TV Man Union.

Talent Kids, the children's division, was established in January 2003 to develop high quality, innovative programming for kids. It's first commission was for the Disney Channel, with "Inside Clyde", an original fantasy adventure game show, the first 13 x half-hours being screened this winter in the UK. This was followed by a breakthrough reality entertainment format for 6-11 year olds called "Best of Friends". Produced for CBBC, the first series of 15 x half-hours is scheduled for transmission on the CBBC digital channel in March 04.

Amberwood Entertainment is one of Canada's leading independent television production companies. Based in Ottawa, Amberwood is a producer, financier and distributor of high quality animated and live-action series, specials and features for child and family audiences.