Former Hallmark Channel president Margaret Loesch, along with the former president of Mattel Inc., is launching a new entertainment venture targeting kids and families.
Loesch is teaming up with Bruce Stein, the ex-Mattel executive, and Dan Angel, the Emmy Award and Peabody Award-winning producer/writer, to create The Hatchery.
The Hatchery is being financed by a group of investors and companies that will play a strategic role in its operation, such as Peter Gruber, chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, and Paul Schaeffer, Mandalay vice chairman. They are also members of The Hatchery’s operating committee.
The new company will focus on producing family and kids’ entertainment and consumer products through platforms such as film, television and direct-to-home videos.
The Hatchery has a slate of original movies already in development, and it has acquired some titles for franchise development.
Right now, Loesch is producing Benji Returns: Rags to Riches,the latest in the Benji movies, with the film’s writer and producer, Joe Camp. It will be released next summer.
