Australian studio Flying Bark Productions has promoted director Sarah Harper to creative director of 2D animation.

With a remit to expand the company’s slate of originals, Harper will head up the After Bark production arm that launched in March to make animated content for teens and adults.

She has been with Studio 100-owned Flying Bark since 2016, primarily focused on directing, co-producing and writing three seasons of LEGO: Monkie Kid in association with the LEGO Group, but also working in general on building up the company’s 2D animation slate.

New 2D projects in production include feature film Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Nickelodeon and Disney’s upcoming series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Flying Bark is hoping to replicate the success it’s had with CG projects such as 100% Wolf, the sequel for which, 200% Wolf, received funding from Screen Australia in May.

It has become harder for Aussie studios to produce children’s shows domestically in recent years as a result of the government scrapping its kids content quotas in 2021. The hours, budgets and spend for kids content production have since dipped significantly.

Against this backdrop, Flying Bark launched After Bark to reach older audiences, as well as teaming up with Gaumont and Black Eyed Peas member Taboo to produce an Indigenous-inspired CG series for preschoolers called KB & JJ that tracks the adventures of a young orca whale and jellyfish, while drawing on philosophies and practices of Australian First Nations communities.