BreakThru Films, the UK independent production company that won an Oscar for its short Peter And The Wolf, has struck a collaboration with ITV Productions.

The deal will let BreakThru and ITV collaborate creatively and commercially when 'it is mutually beneficial for both parties.'

BreakThru, founded by Hugh Welchman, hopes to devleop multi-platform content both animated and non-animated.

Welchman said: 'The beauty of this new relationship is that it enables us to retain autonomy, whilst at the same time benefiting from a creative collaboration with the one of the UK's biggest and most successful producers of original content.'

Simon Olswang consulted with BreakThru on the ITV deal.

Lee Bartlett, managing director of ITV Global Content, said: 'This deal perfectly demonstrates our strategy of backing young, highly creative talent and giving them the experience and resources of ITV Global Content to provide them with the right kind of environment and opportunities to continue developing new ideas - not only for mainstream television but for other distribution platforms and venues. We are very excited with the prospect of working closely with Hugh, whose work we admire enormously.'

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