Emilia – Emy per tutte le sue amiche, è la migliore amica di Zoe. È abbastanza timida ma è un grande talento vocale. Vorremmo tutti che Gigio ed Emy cantassero insieme! Lei ha una gattina, Meowie, che diventa amica di Gigio.

Twyla – Una vero fashionista. La tendenza indiscussa è il suo mantra. Gigio è sempre entusiasta dei “nuovi oggetti di moda chic” che indossa sempre! E’ spesso competitiva con Zoe, ma è anche una delle sue migliori amiche. Lei ama il suo cane “carino” ed estremamente spaventoso: Dogzilla.

Tatum – Il bullo della scuola. Tutti hanno paura di lui, anche Gigio! Ha una nonna che lui ama, e che non ha la minima idea che lui è un bullo e conta sempre su di lui… il suo amato nipotino! Ma alla fine, fa ancora parte del gruppo.

Jo – È il tipo di ragazzo “so tutto io” e ama la scienza esattamente come Zoe. In realtà… ha una cotta per Zoe! Ogni volta che la vede, dice “ciao Zoe” (può salutarla più di una dozzina di volte al giorno). A scuola le offre sempre il pranzo estremamente sano e biologico che sua madre gli prepara, sperando di avvicinarlo alla sua fantasia.

Laura – Al lavoro, la mamma di Zoe è una scienziata laboriosa e preparata, ma a casa è una mamma dolce e premurosa anche se un po’ seriosa. La mamma è ovviamente il genitore pragmatico della famiglia, e pensiamo: ecco da dove Zoe ha ottenuto le sue capacità organizzative e di gestione del tempo.
La mamma è spesso impegnata al lavoro, quindi quando torna a casa è una grande forza calma… come un condizionatore d’aria che raffredda l’intera situazione. Cosa che fa pensare a tutti perché la vita non può essere sempre così.

Gregory – Il contrappeso artistico allo scienziato. È emotivo e sensibile, il che aiuta perché è un fotografo di riviste professionali. Da quando Gregory lavora a casa con molte situazioni di alto livello – scadenze, celebrità, delicati germogli di cibo – finisce spesso per essere vittima delle situazioni. È incline a reazioni emotive quando sbaglia, a volte in un modo shakespeariano e teatrale, dove tutto è perduto.

“TOPO GIGIO” ANIMATED SERIES

AUTHORS

MARIA PEREGO

Creator of the worldwide beloved character Topo Gigio.

She created the concept of the “Topo Gigio” cartoon series, she supervised the whole series production process and she was also co-writer of all episodes of the series.

MIKE DE SEVE

Co-author, headwriter and show developer of the concept series auditor for “Topo Gigio” series.

Mike de Seve is an Emmy-nominated animation writer and director, working in both feature films and television, and the creative director for the long-running New York writer-director collective Baboon Animation. As a director-writer at DreamWorks Feature Animation, Mike co-wrote the original storyline for “Monsters Vs. Aliens”, served as a sequence director and story consultant on “Madagascar” and as a story consultant on “Shrek 2” “Shrek the Third” “Over the Hedge” and other films.In the world of international kids’ TV, Mike has served as Head Writer/Story Editor on several series, including “Angry Birds Toons” the global preschool sensation “Pocoyo” and other international series and features. His own series, “Taffy” is currently airing on Cartoon Network/Boomerang channels around the world.He’s written and directed for Cartoon Network, Dreamworks Television, NBC, Nick, Disney, THE CW, WB. and FOX TV and for many major broadcasters globally, from China to Chile and dozens of countries in between.Mike’s earlier work includes writing and/or directing multiple “Sesame Street” and “Saturday Night Live” segments, directing the full 7 seasons of the original “Beavis and Butt-Head” series, for which he earned that show its Emmy nomination; and sequence writing/directing on the “Beavis and Butt-Head” feature film.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0221133/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-de-seve-4090246/

KEVIN P STRADER

 Co-author and show developer of “Topo Gigio” series bible.

He served as headwriter for Becca’s Bunch, a Jam Media and Nick Jr. production which premiered September 2018 in the U.S. “Becca’s Bunch” has been nominated for Kidscreen’s 2019 Best New Series and Best Non-Animated and Mixed Series. He began writing for kids as the Associate Editor of “Sesame Street” Magazine. After a stint on the Nick, Jr. pioneering interactive series “Blue’s Clues”, he wrote and co-produced the long-running Playhouse Disney series “Jim Henson’s Bear in the Big Blue House”. There he earned four Emmy nominations for outstanding children’s series and outstanding writing. He has always associated himself with shows that set standards in storytelling and content, like “The Upside Down Show”, “Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures”, “Wonder Pets” and “Arthur” for which he earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in Animation. His headwriting credits include the Nick Jr. hit math show “Team Umizoomi” and the international animated series “Jelly Jamm”. This sitcom for young children, set on the planet where music was created, appeared in a 150 countries. He was also the headwriter for season 2 of “Tickety Toc”, a production of Zodiak Media for Nick Jr.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0833100/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/p-kevin-strader-10301a10/

 

JOHN REYNOLDS

 Consultant for “Topo Gigio” series, John Reynolds is the headwriter for many successful international animation series, editorial manager at Jim Media Production.

STEPHEN LEVINSON and JESSE NICHOLAS

Co-author for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series. Leading writers for Baboon Animation.

JOE VITALE

Show developer for “Topo Gigio” series.

Joe Vitale, Baboon’s Project Director, has written for such iconic properties as “Angry Birds Toons” and “Sylvester and Tweety” and the global preschool mega-hit “Pocoyo”.  His recent TV credits also include Disney Jr.’s P. “King Duckling” and “Sprout’s” award-winning “Super Wings”. Internationally, his work appears in many series for Boomerang, TF1, Cartoon Network and others.

A veteran of Dreamworks Feature Animation Joe project-directs the writing teams for virtually all of Baboon’s feature film work, while being a team writer on these as well. He co-wrote the forthcoming undersea odyssey “Deep”, starring Phil LaMarr from UMedia/ThinkLab, served as a script doctor and comedy rewriter on “Khumba”, starring Liam Neeson and Steve Buscemi and “Sheep & Wolves” starring Tom Felton and Ruby Rose. He’s written and/or led writing teams on nearly a dozen independent animated features in the last five years alone from top European distributors from Luxembourg to Ukraine, including “Walking the Dog”, “Ulysses” films and “Wizart”.
Joe is the creator of the stop-motion animated adult web series “The Shell Show” (theshellshow.com), and the iOS app “Knockout Names” (knockoutnames.com), and he once shook hands with Adam West.

PIERDOMENICO BACCALARIO

Born in 1974. He published his first novel in 1999 with Tommaso Percivale and, in the 2000s, he became one of the most prolific Italian authors of children’s novels, publishing numerous best sellers for the main Italian publishing groups. Some of his works have been translated into over 20 languages. Among his numerous series of novels, often fantasy novels, some of which written in collaboration with other authors, the best known is the one written under the pseudonym of “Ulysses Moore”, published by Piemme in the “Il Battello a Vapore” series starting from 2004.

Baccalario won the “Battello a Vapore” Award in 1998 with the novel “La Strada del Guerriero”.

In addition to his activity as a writer and journalist, he has worked as a screenwriter for animated series that have been broadcast in more than 100 countries.

From 2005 to 2008 he was part of the jury of “The Best of Show”, the playful prize awarded every year by “Lucca Comics & Games”, of which he was also president. In May 2011 he won the XII edition of the “Terre del Magnifico” literary prize with the novel “Cyboria”. “The Awakening of Galen”, chosen by a jury of 12-14 year olds from the Comprehensive Institute of Cortemaggiore (PC).

He collaborates with the Italian national newspaper “La Repubblica”, in the pages of culture, and with the “Corriere della Sera”, writing in the periodical “La Lettura”. In 2014 he settled with his family in the UK.

Since 2016 he has been one of the managers of the program of the new publishing fair in Milan, “Tempo di Libri”.

DAVIDE MOROSINOTTO

Writers room member in “Topo Gigio” series.

Born in Camposampiero in 1980, Morosinotto grew up in the nearby town of Este. He graduated in Communication Sciences with a thesis in semiotics on the American writer Philip Kindred Dick, at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna.

In 1997 he was one of the five finalists of the “Campiello Giovani” prize with the short story “The Friend of the Son”, while in 2004 he reached the final of the Urania prize for science fiction works. In 2007 he was awarded the “Mondadori Junior Award” for the novel “La Corsa della Scala”, published by Mondadori.

In his career he used various pseudonyms, collaborating with other Italian writers including Pierdomenico Baccalario and Alessandro Gatti. He has published about thirty novels with leading Italian publishers (such as Mondadori, Piemme, Fanucci and Edizioni EL), and many of his works have been translated into over 14 languages.

Together with Teo Benedetti, in 2016, he published “Cyberbulli” knocked down, a manual on the correct use of social networks to prevent the negative phenomenon of cyberbullying.

His novel “The Renowned Walker & Dawn Catalog”, published in Italy by Mondadori, received the “Frignano Ragazzi” 2016 prize, the “Giant delle Langhe” 2017 prize and the “Andersen” 2017 prize as “Best Book Over 12 Years” and was sold in several countries, including Germany.

ALESSANDRO GATTI

Writers room member in “Topo Gigio” series and writer for some episodes.

Alessandro Gatti was born in Alessandria in 1975. He spent most of his childhood in the small village of Calamandrana, in Monferrato. He then moved to Turin, where he studied, obtaining a degree and a PhD in Philosophy.

Between 1996 and 2005 he was editor of the “Maltese” fiction magazine “Narrazioni”, in which several stories of him have appeared.

Since 2005, with his friend Pierdomenico Baccalario, he has published the series of children’s books “Candy Circle” (Mondadori) and the series “I Yellows of Vicolo Voltaire” (Piemme).

He is the author of the ten novels starring Klincus Corteccia (Mondadori) and of the series “Sherlock, Lupine e Io” (Piemme), signed under the pseudonym of Irene Adler, which has been published in several countries, including the United States (Capstone Publishers ).

Since 2013, together with Davide Morosinotto, he has started publishing the series “Mysteries with Mustaches” (Piemme).

Among his most recent works are the novel “Ossian and Grace” (Mondadori, 2015) and the series I Faccioni (Edizioni EL, 2015).

For some years now he has lived dividing himself between Italy and the United States. He is married to the philosopher Carlotta Pavese, a professor at Cornell University.

CHRISTIAN HILL

Writers room member in “Topo Gigio” series and writer for some episodes.

Born in 1967  from U.S. parents. Nowadays he lives in Italy. He is a well known writer for children tales and stories.

He is an aeronautical engineer who, immediately after graduating, decided he didn’t want to be an engineer. So he turned to journalism, writing and role-playing games. After a story of him won a competition organized by the literary magazine “Inibro”, he decided to give more space to his great passion: writing, and in particular fiction for children.

TEA ORSI

Writer for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series.

Born in 1975, writer and author for many successful stories and tale for children. In Italy she is one of the main Disney’s “pens”.

PAOLO RUSSO

Writer for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series.

Born in 1970, he is a well know and valued writer and he is also Lecturer at the Oxford Brookes University.

MANLIO CASTAGNA

Writer for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series and also general consultant for some points. 

He was born in Salerno in 1974 and made his directorial debut in 1997 with the award-winning short film “Index of Frequency”, with Alessandro Haber. For twenty years he has collaborated in organizing the “Giffoni Film Festival” and in 2007 he became deputy artistic director, a role he will keep until 2018. He is creative advisor for the Doha Film Institute in Qatar and film critic for Virgin Radio. He is screenwriter and director of video clips, documentaries, short films, web series episodes. He deals with photography, neurocommunication and audiovisual semiology. After having published essays on cinema and dogs, with “Petrademone, The book of the Doors” he makes his debut in fiction.

 

PAOLA LUCIANI and IGOR DE AMICIS

 Writers for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series. 

Paola Luciani was born in Pescara in 1980. Support teacher in primary schools, she invents, imagines and writes her stories together with her husband Igor De Amicis. For the “Carta Bianca” series by Einaudi Ragazzi they wrote “Giù nella Miniera”, selected for the reading project of the “Bancarellino Prize” 2017 and winner of the Special Prize for Boys at the “Parco Majella Prize” 2017. And then “Roberto Mancini in the Land of Fires”, “Igor Trocchia”, “A kick to Racism”, “The Invention of Writing”, “The Gladiators in Rome”, “Tutankhamun”, “The Child Pharaoh”, “Malala”, “A Voice against Ignorance”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, “Maradona, el Pibe de Oro” and “Fugees Football Club”. For her each new story is an adventurous journey into the imagination, which leads her to imagine and dream of ever new worlds.

 

ALESSANDRO FERRARI 

Born in 1980, writer for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series.

 Alessandro Q. Ferrari is the author of successful novels. “Le Ragazze non Hanno Paura” (“Girls are not afraid”), her debut published in 2019 by DeA Planeta Libri, won the “Bancarellino Selection” Award in the same year, becoming a literary case. He is also a writer of comics, cartoons and TV series, also for Disney company.

ELEONORA FORNASARI

Born in 1984, writer for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series.

Eleonora Fornasari holds an MA in International Screenwriting and Production and a Ph.D. from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy. She works as a scriptwriter both for animated TV series (“Igam Ogam”, “Julio Bunny”, “YoYo”, “Topo Gigio”), and for live action shows with RAI (“Social King 2.0”, “La TV Ribelle”, “La Posta di Yoyo”). Furthermore, she is a children’s writer, and she is among the authors of the annual cinema publication “Scegliere un Film” (“To Choose a Movie”, San Paolo, Milan).

As adjunct professor, she teaches “Literature, Cinema and TV Series for children and young Audiences”, within the course of “Writing Production for Animation” (LM Language Sciences and Foreign Literature) and “Digital Journalism and Digital Media in Italy”, and “The Female Character in Italian literature and Culture”, within the UCSC International Curriculum. She is also assistant professor of the academic courses “History and Industry of International Cinema”, “Italian Contemporary Literature” and “Italian Grammar”.

ILENIA PROVENZI

Born in 1980, writer for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series.

She is the author of stories and scripts for children and teenagers. She specializes in dramaturgy, she leads a creative writing workshop for students of the Catholic University and translates for film and publishing, currently work as a story mentor, writer and translator (English/Italian).
Besides, she teaches creative writing to international students in Italy.

ANDREA FILARDI

Born in 1992, writer for some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series.

He is the youngest writer of our team.

He  collaborated with the artistic direction of the “Autonomous Body of the International Children’s Film Festival” (“Giffoni Film Festival”) and he is also writer for the international production company Lux Vide.

CARLOTTA MASTRANGELO

She is a veteran in the industry, she wrote some episodes of “Topo Gigio” series.

In 1993 she began her training as an author / screenwriter of animated works at the CFP-CTC in Milan and subsequently at the Ecole des Métiers de l’Image CFT Gobelins in Paris. The first work produced and broadcast on Italian channels dates back to 1996, the year in which he wrote the first series of 26 episodes of “The Stories of Anna” produced by RAI and Audiovisivi DeMas in 2003, followed by the second series written in 2002 and produced in 2007. Since 1997 he has worked for various Italian production companies in the drafting of bibles for various cartoon series projects. In 1998-1999 you collaborated as author-screenwriter on the television program “The Blue Tree” produced by RAI. She later collaborated in 1999 with Gertie for the bible  and writing of some episodes episodes of the animated series “Geronimo Stilton”, with Graphilm as the literary author of the series “Camelia” (literary bible and series pilot), and with Alphanim in 2005 for the script of four episodes of the series “Matt et les Monstres” (“Matt’s Monsters”). As an author of children’s books, she has published several titles in e-book format since 2011. In 2012 she is the editor of the book “Il Libro del Cuore” published by Cardiopulsafety, a text for the general public on heart health.

From 1999 to 2012 you held the Screenwriting Course for Animation annually as part of the Illustration and Animation Course at the European Design Institute in Milan.