Indie banner Cantilever Media (The Amazing Maurice) has set up an exclusive joint-venture with theatrical financier and distributor Architect to better support a steady output of family movies.

The two UK companies are aiming to finance and sell two animated feature films globally each year. And their partnership is tied to a first-look co-production agreement that Cantilever signed last summer with ReDefine Originals to make two to three animated kids features annually. 

At the time, Cantilever said it would produce and oversee distribution in the UK and Ireland through its year-old Kazoo Films division. But this new joint-venture with Architect will now step in to manage rest-of-world sales for the same films.

Wasting no time, the JV’s first project is ready to dazzle buyers at the European Film Market later this month. Architect will introduce a script and early designs for a new feature called Bird Brain (pictured), based on a same-name book written by Guy Kennaway. The movie concept is about a British aristocrat who turns into a bird after a hunting accident, giving him new empathy  for the creatures that were once his prey. Cantilever, ReDefine, Kazoo and Architect are co-producing, with Axis Animation co-founder Dana Dorian attached to direct. 

This deal to bake international sales and financing into Cantilever’s animated feature pipeline is timely, given that Sky (which is involved in upcoming Cantilever films like Bollywoof and Wed Wabbit) has stopped commissioning and film development in order to focus on acquisitions. 

According to Architect co-founder Calum Gray, the joint-venture will also allow the companies to build movies for global appeal by applying insights learned from both international and domestic distribution to story development from the outset. “Technical quality, marketing materials and delivery will be first-class, and these packages will be truly tailored for modern global audiences,” he said in a release.

Meanwhile, Kazoo has been steadily earning its stripes in the regional distribution business with last year’s Grand Prix of Europe and Night of the Zoopocalypse. And this week, it’s launching Stitch Head in British and Irish theaters.