Early risers in Australia were treated to a preview of Weird & Wonderful Hotels, when we featured on Channel 9’s morning show, Kerri-Anne.

The segment included clips from our visits to the Null Stern Hotel, Marqués de Riscal, The Tea Factory, Hostel Celica and Tongabezi Lodge.

For those of you not from Down Under, you can watch the clip from Kerri-Anne’s show here.

Weird & Wonderful Hotels is being broadcast throughout April and May on the Nat Geo Adventure channel.

National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) has today announced the acquisition of Sleepydog’s first television series, Weird & Wonderful Hotels!

The series will air in April 2010 on NGCI’s Nat Geo Adventure channel, which is available in more than 40 countries around the world including: Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Israel, Africa and the Middle East.

Each episode showcases the world’s most unique and peculiar lodging experiences, and uncovers the inspiration behind these one-of-a-kind destinations. Accommodations range from the delightfully rustic to the outright bizarre!

“Weird and Wonderful Hotels is full of quirky charm as it offers an exclusive tour of the world’s most unusual spots to rest your head along with luxurious retreats and eco-friendly lodges. The series is a natural fit for the Nat Geo Adventure audience,” said Carlyn Staudt, Senior Vice President of Global Acquisitions for National Geographic Channel.

Be sure to take a look at our video preview for a first look at the show.

Sleepydog’s forthcoming television series, Slingers has been featured in the latest issue of SFX magazine.

Talking about how we developed the Slingers concept, writer Mike Atherton said:

“Our approach was always that Slingers would be a ’60s-style heist show that just happened to be set in space. I’m not trying to dismiss the SF element because I live and breathe this stuff myself, but our initial take was to try and focus on something different from just the tech and the ships.”

The coverage also includes some fantastic concept art by the Brownlee Brothers, so grab a copy of this month’s SFX magazine to read the full article.

Become a fan of Slingers and keep up-to-date with all the latest news by joining our Facebook group!

Season one of Weird & Wonderful Hotels is now complete, and we couldn’t wait to share this video preview with you!

Later this month, The Fremantle Corporation will be promoting the show at NATPE, an industry event which attracts TV execs from more than 70 countries worldwide.

We’ll be posting more details of where and when you’ll be able to watch the full series in the near future, so watch this space!

On the set of the Slingers sizzle, Sean Pertwee talks to writer, Mike Atherton about his thoughts on our TV project and their shared love of 2000AD.

It’s been an exciting time for the Slingers team, as interest in the TV project was ignited across the web after award-winning comic book author, Warren Ellis posted a link to our sizzle reel over on director Steve Barron’s website.

Referring to it as “your new favourite TV show”, Warren’s post sparked a flurry of comments, blog posts and tweets around the world.

John Rogers, creator and writer of hit US TV show, Leverage tweeted:

We’d already noticed that some Leverage fans had taken a shine to Slingers by interacting with Mike on Twitter. It’s been great to see what these very early supporters of the show had to say once they’d seen the characters come to life – if only for a few minutes.

We’re still compiling all the feedback almost a full week later, but we did a get a massive kick out of Duncan Jones, director of the critically acclaimed movie, Moon describing the show as: “Where you need to be”.

So far Slingers has been mentioned on:

• Paste Magazine
• Sci Fi Wire
• Twitch Film
• io9
• Topless Robot
• Slash Film
• The Huffington Post

The conversation around the show has continued on countless blogs and forums and Slingers has had some very interesting people in Los Angeles reaching for the phone. With well over 50,000 views of the sizzle reel on Vimeo and counting, the positive reaction to Slingers has been overwhelming to say the least!

We’ve also been lucky enough to have been mentioned in the same breath as shows that we’re huge fans of here in the Sleepydog office.

A massive thank you to everyone for their fantastic encouragement and support.

We’ll be posting more news on Slingers in the coming months, and have also setup a Facebook page to share updates on the project. Watch this space!

Sleepydog were Silver sponsors at today’s Social TV Forum.

You can see the conversation on the #STVF hashtag on Twitter.

AudioBoo’s on the day from @BenjaminEllis:

Angel Gambino, Chair

http://audioboo.fm/boos/66469-social-tv-talking-with-angel-gambino.mp3

Dan Cryan from Screen Digest

http://audioboo.fm/boos/66472-dan-cryan-tv-and-social-media-where-s-the-money.mp3

And from @RadioKate:

Rachael Antony of Lonely Planet

http://audioboo.fm/boos/66503-rachael-antony-of-lonely-planet-tv-at-stvf.mp3

Triona Campbell talks Sofia’s Diary

http://audioboo.fm/boos/66520-triona-campbell-talks-sofia-s-diary-at-stvf.mp3

Photos of the event are up on Flickr, thanks to Benjamin Ellis, under a creative commons license:

More to come on our thoughts and outtakes from the event.

Sleepydog’s television series, Slingers and Weird & Wonderful Hotels are set to feature at MIPCOM, the world’s biggest trade event in the entertainment industry.

MIPCOM is being held in Cannes and runs from October 5-9 2009. It’s here that broadcasters, distributors and production companies from all over the world, converge to buy and sell many of the shows we see on TV.

Our distributor, The Fremantle Corporation will be at booth R 35.14 in the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. So if you’re attending, be sure to drop by to find out more about our shows.

For more information about MIPCOM and details of how you can attend, visit www.mipcom.com.

Sleepydog’s forthcoming television series, Slingers and Weird & Wonderful Hotels have been featured in the latest issue of Broadcast Magazine.

Aimed at UK TV industry insiders, the article looks at the various online and social networking techniques we use to generate interest in our TV projects.

To read the full article, please visit the Broadcast website.

Haruka Abe as Marti

After two days of intense shooting and many weeks of preparation, filming of the Slingers sizzle reel is now complete! A massive thank you to all the cast and crew who worked tirelessly to produce some fantastic work.

The footage is now in the hands of the digital effects wizards who are adding the extra bells and whistles that will really give Slingers some punch. We can’t wait to see the finished result!

In the meantime, work continues on the Slingers pilot episode, so keep an eye on these pages for more info in the coming weeks.

Click thumbnail to launch gallery