

Coane stated that there was never any consideration of trying to shop the program to a commercial broadcast network and that PBS was, in his mind, the only destination for the program. The grant proposal was written by Wesley Eure.

Kalins helped him and Columbia TriStar Television obtain an $8.5 million grant from the Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Kalins, who loved the idea, brought the series to Children's Television Workshop, who agreed to a partnership with the Columbia TriStar Television Group. In October 1995, Jim Coane met Marjorie Kalins, senior VP of programming and production at Children's Television Workshop, and showed her the idea for the series. The series was immediately shipped to PBS member stations at the suggestion of PBS, but all originally passed at the time. The project was considered something of a risky venture, because it was not based on a well-known franchise like many children's television programs, such as Arthur or Paddington Bear. In 1995, Jim Coane, then a producer at Columbia TriStar Television, found the artwork and developed it into a television series with several writers.

Rodecker was recovering from a coronary artery bypass graft when he began sketching dragons as a means of symbolizing forces in life that were too big to control. Department of Education, Kellogg's, and greeting card manufacturer, American Greetings were responsible for the funding.ĭragon Tales is based on characters created in 1978 by Laguna Beach, California artist and retired educator Ron Rodecker.

Yearim Productions was responsible for the animation for all seasons ( Sunwoo Entertainment and Wang Film Productions only did animation for season 1), with the exception of Koko Enterprises, which recorded the show, and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The U.S. The series began broadcasting on PBS on their PBS Kids block on September 6, 1999, and aired its final episode on November 25, 2005. The story focuses on the adventures of two ordinary kids, Emmy and Max, and their dragon friends Ord, Cassie, Zak, Wheezie, and Quetzal. Dragon Tales is an animated educational fantasy children's television series created by Jim Coane and Ron Rodecker and developed by Coane, Wesley Eure, Jeffrey Scott, Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser and produced by Sony Pictures Television, Sesame Workshop, Columbia TriStar Television, and Adelaide Productions.
