Telescope is producing both the film and game with Unreal Engine. As the company says, “Both the film and the game are being developed using real-time game engines, allowing for flexibility through real-time editing and the sharing of assets between mediums.”

The slate also includes two as-yet-unannounced projects. One is a feature with a tie-in game and the other is a “potential episodic series,” also with an accompanying game. As with The Last Whale Singer, the releases will be original, standalone stories, but together they will build narrative universes.

Memari founded the company in 2018, having worked in screenwriting, directing, editing, marketing, and game development. He was joined by Maite Woköck, his co-founder and co-CEO, and a veteran producer. From the start, the company’s ambition was to conceive stories as transmedia projects, as Memari explained in a statement:

The tools and methods being used to create films, games, and a lot of interactive content are growing closer and closer together, but there aren’t a lot of production companies that are willing or able to take advantage of that. Telescope Animation was founded in part to allow us to experiment with what can be done through modern narrative design across mediums. With a close-knit team, our strong focus on storytelling, and advanced tools, we can allow ourselves to dream big and take chances.

Woköck added:

Our team shares a common vision for Telescope Animation as a transmedia hub, and we are telling stories that are important to us and reflect our values. Having that freedom to tell the types of stories we believe in, without limiting ourselves to one platform or medium, has changed how we look at creating content for increasingly sophisticated audiences who demand more.

The Last Whale Singer — the film — is being developed with Big Bad Boo (Canada), L’Atelier (Canada), and PFX (Czech Republic). Its first trailer will be unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival in May.