Genius Brands International Starts Production on the New Adventure Series, "Thomas Edison's Secret Lab"

New Animated Comedy Series Presented by Georgia Public Broadcasting; Developed and Produced by Genius Brands International and a Multi-Award Winning Team in Partnership With Edison Innovation Foundation

BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/19/14 -- Genius Brands International, Inc. ("GBI") (OTCQB: GNUS), a global brand management company dedicated to providing entertaining and enriching 'content with a purpose' for toddlers to tweens, announces the start of production and delivery of its pilot episode of the new animated children's series, "Thomas Edison's Secret Lab."

The pilot entitled "If the Fossil Fits" has been produced with Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Edison Innovation Foundation. Featuring adventure, comedy hijinks and inspiring fun, Thomas Edison's Secret Lab demonstrates that invention can foster creativity, imagination, can-do spirit and positive entrepreneurism.

"'Learning and innovation go hand in hand,' characteristics that are synonymous with Thomas Edison," said Andy Heyward, Chairman and CEO, GBI. "By blending real science educational experiences with fun, interactive entertainment, we hope to inspire children and encourage them in the love of science. We are especially excited to have a dynamic young lady as "Angie", our lead character as a young role model scientist."

"Thomas Edison's Secret Lab reminds kids that all they need to be an inventor is 'a good imagination and a pile of junk,' something Mr. Edison often said," added Georgia Public Broadcasting Medias's President and CEO Teya Ryan. "We're thrilled to present this fun and imaginative series that inspires kids' natural curiosity while encouraging them to push conventional scientific and technological boundaries through experimentation."

Demonstrating how much fun science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can really be, the animated series follows, Angie, a 12-year-old prodigy and her young science club who discover Thomas Edison's Secret Lab -- a scientist's ultimate dream lab equipped with everything they could ever imagine, including two of Edison's very last inventions: a hologram that brings Mr. Edison himself "to life," and a whacky robot they bring to life called Von Bolt. In each of the 52 11-minute episodes, Edison "comes to life" in the form of a hologram, to encourage and inspire the kids in all sorts of scientific and technological explorations, including physical science, live science, earth science, space science and lots of other fun and whacky, wild and engaging topics.

Thomas Edison is being voiced by American singer, songwriter, and Berklee College of Music Professor Livingston Taylor. Emmy-nominated writer Steve Banks (SpongeBob Square Pants) has written the pilot episode, and Jeffrey Scott, multi-Emmy award-winning writer, creator and story editor (Dragon Tales), and production supervisor Chris Keenan (Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs) serve as the series' story editors; Emmy Award-winning Michael Maliani (Madeline, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego) serves as co-producer and director; Kevin O'Donnell (Mask, Inspector Gadget) is the series co-creator and co-executive producer; and Emmy Award-winning Mark Young (All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, Tutenstein) serves as co-producer and writer.

An academic team led by Professor Emeritus, Don Roberts, and a team of Emmy Award winning writers developed Thomas Edison's Secret Lab, which will be E/I (Educational/Informational) compliant per FCC standards. Most importantly, Thomas Edison's Secret Lab will be a fully immersive multi-media property that encourages kids to engage themselves in the fun and exploration of science. An interactive website, digital applications, toys, games, electronics, in-school curriculum and more are all in development.

International distribution of the series outside of the U.S. and Canada is being handled by PGS Entertainment.

About Genius Brands International:

Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Genius Brands International (OTCQB: GNUS) is a publicly traded multimedia content and brand management company with the merged assets of A Squared Entertainment LLC and Genius Brands International, Inc.

Led by industry veterans, Andy Heyward and Amy Moynihan Heyward, Genius Brands International includes award-winning Baby Genius, Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club, Gisele Bündchen's Gisele & the Green Team, Martha Stewart's Martha & Friends, Thomas Edison's Secret Lab and Stan Lee Comics, featuring its first movie, Stan Lee's Mighty 7. The Company provides "content with a purpose" for kids of all ages, meaning interactive content that is as entertaining as it is enriching.

Forward Looking Statements:
Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), not limited to Risk Factors relating to its patent business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Michelle Orsi/Carol Holdsworth
Three.Sixty Marketing + Communications
Email Contact
310.418.6430
805.252.1848

INVESTORS RELATIONS CONTACT:
Victor Roberts
RedChip Companies
Email Contact
407.644.4256, ext. 111

Source: Genius Brands International

Released February 19, 2014