07/02/2024 - The Irish-Canadian-Belgian show follows the inspiring journey of a newly cancer-free teen as she embarks on a mission to make up for lost time

A new 8x24-minute series, titled Louise Lives Large and commissioned by Ireland’s RTÉ, Canada’s Family Channel and Belgium’s Ketnet, has launched sales at this year’s Kidscreen Summit, running from 4-7 February in San Diego.

Aimed at 9- to 13-year-olds, Louise Lives Large follows the inspiring journey of a newly cancer-free teen, called Louise Edgar, as she embarks on a mission to make up for lost time, ticking off the items on her “Live Large List”. With the help of her new pal and school outsider, Jess, Louise starts to tackle her list one item at a time and, whether experiencing triumphs or setbacks, she truly starts to live large.

Filmed on location in Ireland, it features a cast of emerging young stars, including Beth Fallon as Louise and Aimee Kennedy as Jess. Toronto-based WildBrain is in charge of its global sales (excluding Ireland and Belgium), selling the project as part of its distribution slate of live-action drama for tweens and teens.

The show is directed by Ruth Treacy and Laura Van Haecke, and was penned and created by Carol Walsh (the series Fia’s Fairies and Fair City). Louise Lives Large is produced by Julianne Forde and Mairtín de Barra for Tailored Films (Ireland), Maarten Schmidt for Storyhouse (Belgium), and Virginia Thompson and Jeremy Prober for Vérité Films (Canada). Xavier Rombaut, of Polar Bear (Belgium), is co-producing. It was financed with the support of Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán, the Government of Ireland, Creative Europe, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Belgian Tax Shelter, the Flanders Tax Shelter, Ontario Creates, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

Commenting on the project, Forde says: “Who hasn’t felt like they were on the outside at some stage? It’s part of the school experience. We wanted to create a show based around this concept of feeling left behind and counteracting that with a protagonist who wanted to take control of her life. Show creator Carol Walsh personally experienced being out of school for a prolonged period of time due to illness. From this starting point, we developed this series, which has an empowering message about resilience.”

The series is set for delivery in March 2024.