Vancouver - Nerd Corps Entertainment is working on a pair of new animated series - Storm Hawks and Teem Awethum!!!! - for YTV.

According to Asaph Fipke, the prodco's founder/CEO and creator of both shows, Storm Hawks is currently in preproduction on its 52 x 30 first season. He hopes the comedy-action series - about a group of teens who keep the skies safe from an assortment of nasties - will stir interest at MIPTV.

"Generally from the broadcaster standpoint, the more episodes, the more options they have to get the show viewed and make it successful," says Fipke. "There is no doubt - at least in the kids business - that momentum creates success."

Storm Hawks' budget is in the "standard to upper range," says Fipke, because Nerd wants to maintain a very high quality of animation, one of the reasons for keeping production in-house with its approximately 80 artists and staffers.

"Not to say there aren't great studios out there, but the type of quality we're looking for is something I can honestly say I haven't seen in kids television to date," says Fipke.

Fipke says chances are good that the 52 x 11 Teem Awethum!!!!, currently in development with YTV, will also stay in-house. The kids comedy, about a group of nerds with a taste for adventure, will combine matte painting with computer and traditional animation styles.