{"id":620259,"date":"2026-09-10T10:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620259\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:22:11","slug":"xilam-teams-unpack-underwater-hit-comedy-series-submarine-jim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620259\/","title":{"rendered":"Xilam Teams Unpack Underwater Hit Comedy Series ‘Submarine Jim’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFrance may in general have suffered last year a sales\u2019 decline and export slow-down but \u201cSubmarine Jim<\/a>\u201c\u2018s characters don\u2019t seem to be bothered as they weather this storm with a smile on their face.<\/p>\n

\n\tXilam\u2019s latest production, in which a naive young dolphin (Jim) takes charge of an \u201cinverted\u201d submarine full of fish and sea water, is a road trip\/slapstick comedy adventure blending laugh-out-loud children jokes and subtle references aimed and at an older audience.<\/p>\n

\n\tCreated by Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Martin, the acclaimed director of \u201cOggy Oggy\u201d and a Xilam alum, \u201cSubmarine Jim\u201d is produced with Super RTL and France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions and already has licensed multiple territories and broadcasters, including the BBC (U.K. and Ireland), RTS (French-Switzerland), RTBF and VRT (Belgium), NPO (Netherlands), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway) and Noga (Israel), ABC (Australia) as well as Warner Bros. Discovery in EMEA, Latin America, Southeast Asia and South Korea.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the Unifrance Rendez-vous, where Xilam presented the series to international buyers, Variety spoke with the teams behind \u201cSubmarine Jim.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSitcoms work particularly well in contained settings, so I started looking for one\u2026 and landed on a submarine,\u201d explains Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Martin. \u201cThen came the question: what\u2019s unique about this submarine? Simple: it\u2019s obviously filled with water! One logical question led to another, until we landed on having an aquarium on wheels, where the fish experience Planet Earth as if they were exploring Mars.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tXilam developed this series with children 6-10 as its main audience in mind, adds Caterina Gonnelli-Linden, Chief Content Officer at Xilam. \u201cBut, for sure, adults can laugh out loud watching the episodes, as we\u2019ve woven within the storyline deeper themes and situations such as, \u2018What does it mean to be a good leader?\u2019 and \u2018How do you figure out an efficient work split between very different people?\u2019 If you think about it, this comedy draws a lot of ingredients from workplace comedies, but with a light touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMartin didn\u2019t set out to target adults specifically, but he wanted the show to have jokes and different levels of reading. The stories had to work for 6\u201310-year-olds first, but if the teams could add a second layer of humor through workplace-comedy situations, along with little references here and there during the writing \/ storyboard stage, he was happy with it. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tFor visual development, Xilam worked with Fran\u00e7ois Maumont, also a Xilam alum. \u201cFran\u00e7ois developed the visual style using his own brushes and inks, which we then scanned and digitized. From there, the real challenge for Cl\u00e9mence Bourson, our art director, was to preserve that handmade quality and achieve the same look on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith its distinct 2D approach, \u201cSubmarine Jim\u201d stands out from the very first minute. Although set in an easily recognizable French setting, the series feels universal both by its humor and rhythm, a feat the team at to maintain at the same level for the whole 52 x 11-minute episodes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI would say that the concept lent itself very easily to the writing of all the 52 episodes,\u201d confides Gonnelli-Linden. \u201cWriters were very inspired by the large cast of characters and by their zig-zagging quest, as this was virtually an infinite sandbox to play with. I felt that the whole production, although very demanding in terms of design assets, was smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the executive, every step felt cohesive and coherent, something she interprets as the sign of a clear creative vision, and a universal appeal.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBecause the show is so character-driven,\u201d adds Martin, \u201cwe felt that the emotions our characters go through and the crazy situations they find themselves in could resonate with kids anywhere. The French setting gives it a strong identity, while the humor and rhythm help make it universal. And of course, we wanted to put the lovely French town of Macon on the map!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom a sales point of view, \u201cSubmarine Jim\u201d feels like great material. And the wave of sales Xilam already proves that there\u2019s definite interest for a road-tripping inverted submarine and its crew. \u201cWe\u2019ve sold the series to broadcasters around the world,\u201d underlines Safaa Benazzouz, EVP Distribution at Xilam Animation<\/a>. \u201cOur goal is now to sell the series to a partner is the U.S., and start a digital strategy by securing a SVOD global window, and of course a YouTube channel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tXilam\u2019s YouTube channel are a big part of the company\u2019s strategy, with billions of views accounted on IP-dedicated channels (\u201cOggy and the Cockroaches,\u201d \u201cZig & Sharko\u201d) along with YouTube-first hits (\u201cWhere\u2019s Chicky\u201d). <\/p>\n

\n\tAs the Le Havre Unifrance Rendez-Vous rounds its final corner and teams now prepare for Cartoon Forum, Europe\u2019s biggest co-production event for animated TV series, Xilam is in the starting blocks for a second season. \u201cAs I said before, it is very easy to write hundreds of stories revolving around our characters,\u201d shares an enthusiastic and hopeful Gonnelli-Linden. \u201cThe concept can sustain multiple seasons, with situations and settings that are so \u2018topsy turvy\u2019 that they will never feel outdated. Given that the signs we\u2019re getting from the market are very positive so far, we\u2019re feeling pretty comfortable about a second season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France may in general have suffered last year a sales\u2019 decline and export slow-down but \u201cSubmarine Jim\u201c\u2018s characters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270,263288,261926,262429],"class_list":["post-620259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-submarine-jim","tag-unifrance-rendez-vous","tag-xilam-animation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}