Former Paramount Global co-CEO Brian Robbins is teaming up with a popular YouTube family to develop a short-form series that blends animation with real-life footage of their globe-trotting adventures.

Meet The Bucket List Family (1.5 million subscribers), three kids and their parents who sold their company and most of their belongings to travel the world and make videos of their escapades. Their videos feature them surfing in Hawaii, biking in the Maldives and doing a polar plunge in Lake Tahoe. Their most popular video is titled “5 YR OLD Scuba Dives with GREAT WHITE SHARKS in Mexico!!”, which was posted in 2019 and has 26 million views.

The family has more than seven million followers across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. They’ve already expanded beyond videos to publish two National Geographic titles: a travel book and the children’s book The Bucket List Family and the Big Adventure. 

Now, Robbins’ new prodco Big Shot Pictures is developing their adventures into a kids & family-skewing animated series. The prodco doesn’t have specifics to share yet about the series’ format, or whether it’s seeking co-producers, broadcasters or distributors, according to a spokesperson. But the deal includes consumer products, and Big Shot says there’s potential to collaborate with the YouTubers on an animated feature film based on their experiences.

“The Bucket List Family has built a global audience of millions who don’t just follow along, they show up for everything Garrett, Jessica and the kids do,” said Robbins. “That kind of real, earned connection is exactly what great franchise IP is built on.”

Robbins unveiled his kids & family animation studio in January, after departing from his post as Nickelodeon’s chief. Its overall strategy is to test IPs on YouTube before expanding to long-form content. The company has a first-look theatrical distribution deal with Sony Pictures, and is also developing an adaptation of the book franchise Eloise.

Big Shot’s latest deal fits squarely into its digital-first model for building family-friendly fare. It previously teamed up with popular YouTuber IShowSpeed (53.3 million YouTube subscribers) to develop an anime series starring an animated version of the streamer (real name Darren Jason Watkins Jr.).

Image courtesy of Big Shot Pictures and The Bucket List Family.