ONE NAME. THREE COMPANIES.

We’re A GROUP OF COMPANIES THAT OFTEN WORK TOGETHER BUT CAN ALSO WORK SEPARATELY

In the same way how Saint Patrick talked about the leaves of the shamrock being three parts of one flower, we’re three sibling companies with the same name.

Sixteen South Originals - creating original ideas and formats, developing book properties for screen and partnering with other creators in co-development.
We’re the creators of Lily’s Driftwood Bay, WildWoods, Big City Park, the co-creators of Sesame Tree and devised Claude for television. Our development slate includes shows that will be delivered in 2D, 3D, hybrid animation, live action and fur.  We work with Sixteen South Rights in pre-sales and financing and often team with our sibling studio, Sixteen South Studios to produce 2D shows, but we remain studio agnostic, carefully selecting the animation studio best suited for the creative style of every individual show, wherever its location.

Sixteen South Studios - multi-award winning 2D animation studios and production company.
Our passionate and highly creative teams of designers, animators, directors and producers have many decades of network experience, many of whom have relocated from countries all over the world to make their home with us. Since 2007, we have produced 463 episodes of 11 hit kids shows and our work has been honoured with more than 50 international awards on our trophy shelf. As well as producing 2D and live action series for Sixteen South Originals, we’ve also co-produced with partners including The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop, GBH, Kindle Entertainment and the BBC. We’re open for 2D animation and live action service work, we’re a full service studio with 120 seats based in Belfast, Northern Ireland and we can bring up to 32% of the cost of production in tax credits and screen funding.

Sixteen South Rights - representing and managing the global distribution and licensing of all Sixteen South Originals shows.
We’re an independent distributor involved in the pre-selling, financing and rights management of IP, selling all of our sibling’s shows and managing the ancillary rights around the world. We will shortly also be representing other similarly high-quality shows from small boutique independent producers.

WE IMPATIENTLY BELIEVE IN MORE.

We’re restructuring how we work and operate so we can do more.
Our output has always been limited by the KIND OF WORK AND THE amount of WORK that we could produce in-house.

OUR NEW WAY OF WORKING MEANS WE CAN DO MORE OF WHAT WE LOVE.

We’re a creatively driven independent group of companies focussed on creating, producing and distributing innovative, entertaining and meaningful content for children and families throughout the world.

We’re known and respected throughout our industry for consistently producing quality work with heart. We’ve won over 50 international awards for our work including two EMMY® nominations, the BAFTA Independent Children’s Production Company of the Year, the Prix Jeunesse, three IFTAs and a host of other awards, both for our work and also for our business achievements.  We are proudly wholly owned and independent.

Founded in 2007, Sixteen South has grown from an idea in the head of our founder and Creative Director, Colin Williams to a group that currently employs over 100 brilliantly talented people and a solid management team in downtown Belfast.  We have created and produced over 460 episodes of 11 hit kids shows, over half of which are our own creations.

Our shows are among the highest rating on all the major television networks and SVODs - you can see our work on Disney, PBS, Hulu, Nickelodeon, Netflix as well as on public broadcasters in most countries across the world.

Kids love watching our shows.  Claude, our Disney Junior show airs in every country across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australia and was the channel’s #1 rating show in Australia and their #2 rating show in UK on launch.  Pinkalicious & Peteriffic, our co-production with GBH airs every day on PBS Kids, the biggest kids public broadcast channel in the US where it is currently the #3 top rating show. And when WildWoods launched on ABC in Australia, it was the #1 watched kids show across all kids in Australia.  Lily’s Driftwood Bay, our groundbreaking mixed media animated series currently airs in 125 territories across the world.

We are a creative business and we are equally focussed on both parts: the creative and the business.  While we continue to win many of the best awards for our work, we are also focussed on continuing to build an ethically and morally commercial studio with a long life.

WHERE WE CAME FROM

Sixteen South was founded in 2007 by Colin Williams, growing from a restless spirit of determination, with the belief that anything is possible and the refusal to ever take ‘no’ for an answer.  Although being repeatedly told not to try to make television for children in Belfast because it’s ‘not what we do here’, 13 years later, Sixteen South is one of the largest, busiest and most successful creators and producers of television for children in the world.

Born and bred in Belfast, Colin graduated from the University of Ulster with a first class honours degree in Design, winning the Institute of Designers overall national award for the best Irish design graduate in all disciplines, which recognises outstanding creativity and imagination.

Colin spent the first seven years of his career working in advertising and interactive media, becoming one of Ireland’s youngest Creative Directors by the age of 27.  In 2002, he formed ‘Inferno’, a commercial production company producing the highest quality animation, film and interactive content for museums, commercials and promos which grew to become the largest commercial producer in Northern Ireland, winning national awards for clients including Coca-Cola, Nokia, British Gas, Aer Lingus, Sugar Puffs, BBC and Disney.

With the recession looming, Colin grew exasperated with producing work that had little positive impact on the world around him and with a young family, wanted to use his talents for good to tell stories of hope and positivity.

Colin is a Visiting Professor at Ulster University, has attended a reception with HM The Queen in Buckingham Palace in recognition of his contribution to Design in Northern Ireland, has been a TEDx speaker and delivered a keynote at the UK Pavillion at EXPO 2020.