Looking to deliver all the feels to tweens, WildBrain and pubcasters RTÉ (Ireland) and Ketnet (Belgium) have co-commissioned a new live-action series called Louise Lives Large. 

This comedy-drama (eight x 24 minutes) for kids ages nine to 13 is about a teen cancer survivor working her way through a bucket list of all the things she has always wanted to do. It was created by Irish writer Carol Walsh (Fia’s Fairies, X Marks the Spot), who was inspired by her own experience of missing a lot of school when she was young because of an illness. 

Filmed in Ireland, Louise Lives Large is co-produced by Dublin’s Tailored Films, Storyhouse (Belgium) and Vérité Films (Canada), with financing from Screen Ireland, Creative Europe, the Canadian Film or Video production Tax Credit,  Coimisiún na Meán, Rialtas na hÉireann/the Government of Ireland Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Belgian Tax Shelter, the Flanders Tax Shelter and Ontario Creates. 

WildBrain is planning to air the series on Family Channel in Canada this spring after it delivers in March. The Toronto-based company will also distribute Louise Lives Large worldwide, kicking its sales effort off at Kidscreen Summit in San Diego next month. “As we’re seeing with shows like Malory Towers and I Woke Up a Vampire, live-action tween series with strong coming-of-age themes remain extremely popular with global audiences and buyers alike,” says Caroline Tyre, VP of global sales and rights strategy. 

RTÉ plans to put Louise Lives Large at the center of a wider fall campaign promoting its kids drama programming, says Suzanne Kelly, head of children’s and young people’s content. “The original premise, coupled with the talent of both Tailored and Carol Walsh, is what drew me to the series,” Kelly tells Kidscreen. “I loved the approach—that it’s about a regular kid doing regular things who refuses to be defined by her diagnosis. It’s a series about grabbing life with both hands, and it’s so heartfelt.”