UK-based indie publisher Maverick Arts has just launched Maverick Pictures, which will mine its book catalogue for TV and film projects, with a focus on co-productions.

This new studio has been set up in partnership with a fledgling Welsh banner called A New Road Productions, established in October by actor Luke Bailey, who will leverage his industry experience into the venture.

Maverick Arts founder Steve Bicknell is serving as the managing director of Maverick Pictures, and he plans to attend MIP LONDON and the European Film Market next month to meet with production companies, broadcasters and distributors.  

Maverick Arts publishes kids fiction, picture books and middle-grade novels—and to support this studio launch, it will soon expand its focus to include books for the teen/young adult genre that have screen potential baked in from an early stage. In fact, there are already two potential YA books planned for release later this year.

But in terms of Maverick Pictures’ slate, the studio’s first project will be a live-action series called Dragon Girl (six x 22 minutes) for 10- to 13-year-olds. (Not to be confused with the totally unrelated Dragon Girls adaptation brewing at Scholastic and 9 Story.)

Maverick’s Dragon Girl is based on an ongoing fantasy book franchise penned by Jenny Moore that tells the tale of a young girl who realizes she has dragon blood, which is also the key to immortality.

The first book in the series (Emba Oak and the Terrible Tomorrows) was released in 2022, before a rebranding effort changed the name of the franchise to Dragon Girl last year. Hitting retail in March is the next title, Dragon Girl and the Awakened Flames (pictured). It will be published in Canada and the US by Sourcebooks.