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The List—Everything on our radar this month, from lawsuits to the future of kids content. screen How Canadian kids prodcos are using a unique digital strategy to get IPs off the ground. consumer products Why timing a toy drop is more complicated than ever, and what companies are doing about it.
our sold cover sports an ad for Droners from Cyber Group Studios, while our editorial cover features Bertie’s Brainwaves, a new action-adventure series from Spanish studio In Efecto Atlantis.
CONTENTS
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Baby animals take the stage in preschool series Mittens & Pants, which uses cuteness to help kids understand that differences are good.
kid insight New research shows a global merging of Gen Alpha’s values, making it easi er to make kids content that travels. tech How to succeed on Roblox? That’s the big question companies are asking, and we have some answers.
How some top animation schools are giving students a leg up on jobs. The race is on to give kids what they need—the next Mr. Rogers. Cool new shows to be unveiled at this year’s Cartoon Forum.52
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52x11’ | 4-8 YEARS OLD | 3D CGI ANIMATIONMETHOD–2022© SALES : Erick erouille@mediawan.euRouillé+33(0)607028271 RACING TO SAVE THE REALM
family and I live in the heart of downtown Toronto and my neighborhood is as diverse as it gets. My six year-old son’s BFF (his word) is Punjabi on one side—his grandparents own land in the region, travel back and forth seasonally, and remain deeply tied to their Indian heritage.
Thanks to this friendship, my son can count in Punjabi, likes Punjabi music, and is convinced that Doritos are Punjabi food because they’re “spicy.”
From pilot to finale, showrunner Bisha K. Ali deftly wove South Asian culture, history and family dynamics into nearly every aspect of the narrative. Because it was approached so organically, it never felt forced. But it was the episode on Partition that had an enormous impact on me. Kamala Khan (a.k.a. Ms. Marvel) travels back in time to solve a mystery in her family’s history and find the source of her powers. The episode is bookended with newsreel content and Kamala is catapulted to the night of Partition, when millions of Muslims are fleeing India in one of the largest mass migrations in history. It’s poignant, sad and beautiful, and my son was gripped by the scene in which a toddler (Kamala’s grandmother) is separated from her dad as the train is set to leave the station. We talk so much about authenticity and representation in these pages, in meetings and at conferences. But this episode really drove home its importance as I watched my son react viscerally to the terror of a child lost in a frenzied crowd. I hope it provides a foundation for us to speak about conflict and culture, borders and migration, and other complex topics that benefit from the accessi bility of being woven into a superhero story. I promise I won’t write exclusively about Marvel on this page. But it’s such a gigantic cultural platform, and I have always been of the mindset that real change happens when the biggest companies take up the challenge, whether it’s Walmart, Disney or McDonald’s. The change becomes normalized, and thus easier and more advantageous for everyone to pursue.Thistheme was prevalent at Kidscreen Summit this summer, where we hosted a panel called “Diversity is Good Business,” discussing how financial reward and respon sible consumerism don’t have to be mutually exclusive. GreenGold Animation’s Srinivas Chilkalapudi used as an example the prodco’s successful non-verbal preschool series, Mighty Little Bheem, as an example of cultur ally rooted storytelling with global appeal. It was a meaningful conversation and one we plan to continue at Kidscreen Summit 2023, which returns to its regularly scheduled time slot in February. I hope you’ll join us with stories of your own.
The power of great stories
So you can imagine my delight when the Ms. Marvel series dropped on Disney+— partially for my son’s benefit (more girl superhero stars, please!), but also for his BFF’s mom, who has become a good friend of mine. How often has she gotten to see a kick-ass South Asian girl as the lead in a major American action-adventure series (and one she can also watch with her son)? However, it wasn’t the girl-power, special effects or Marvelness of it all that ultimately impressed me; it was the authenticity of the storytelling. I will confess with no small amount of embarrassment that I knew next to noth ing about the 1947 Partition of India, which marked its 75th anniverary in August. My historical knowledge of the region extended to its longtime occupation by the British and its textiles history. (I acquired an unexpect ed depth of knowledge in the latter while working at the Royal Ontario Museum.)
Katie Bailey
Watch for the next issue October/November 2022 • Street Date: October 13 SVP & PUBLISHER Jocelyn Christie jchristie@brunico.com EDITORIAL EDITOR & CONTENT DIRECTOR Katie Bailey kbailey@brunico.com INTERIM ASSOCIATE EDITOR Janet Lees FEATURES & SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR Jeremy Dickson jdickson@brunico.com NEWS EDITOR Ryan Tuchow rtuchow@brunico.com STAFF WRITERS Sadhana Bharanidharan sbharanidharan@brunico.com Cole Watson cwatson@brunico.com Andrea Hernandez ahernandez@brunico.com, CONTRIBUTORS Christopher Byrne (New York), George Carey (New York), Maryam Siddiqi (Toronto), Alexandra Whyte (Toronto) BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & ADVERTISING SALES (416) 408-2300 or 1-800-KID-4512 ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Nelson Huynh nhuynh@brunico.com ACCOUNT MANAGER Lia Minquini lminquini@brunico.com ARTCREATIVEDIRECTOR Taylee Buttigieg tbuttigieg@brunico.com AUDIENCE SERVICES DATA INTEGRITY & CUSTOMER SUPPORT SUPERVISOR Christine McNalley cmcnalley@brunico.com PRESIDENTCORPORATE&CEO Russell Goldstein rgoldstein@brunico.com EVP & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mary Maddever mmaddever@brunico.com SVP & REALSCREEN PUBLISHER Claire Macdonald cmacdonald@brunico.com CUSTOMER CARE To order a subscription visit www.kidscreen.com/subscribe. To make a change to an existing subscription, please contact us by e-mail: support@kidscreen.com Fax: 416.408.0249 Tel: 416.408.2448. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Kidscreen is published 7 times per year by Brunico Communications Ltd. In the US: One year US$89.00 Two years US$159.00. Single copy price in the US is US$7.95. Please allow four weeks for new subscriptions and address changes. POSTMASTER NOTIFICATION U.S. Postmaster, send undeliverables and address changes to: Kidscreen PO BOX 1103, Niagara Falls, NY, 14304. Canadian Postmaster, send undeliverables and address changes to: Kidscreen, 8799 Highway 89, Alliston ON, L9R 1V1 Printed in Canada. Canada Post Agreement No. 40050265. ISSN number 1205-7746. Opinion columns appearing in Kidscreen do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine or its parent company Brunico Communications Ltd. All letters sent to Kidscreen or its editors are assumed intended for publication. Kidscreen invites editorial comment, but accepts no responsibility for its loss, damage or destruction, howsoever arising, while in its offices, in transit or elsewhere. All material to be returned must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher. © Brunico Communications Ltd. 2018. ® Kidscreen is a registered trademark of Brunico Communications Ltd. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022 • VOLUME 26 • ISSUE 3 12 KIDSCREEN | August/September 2022
Kids content, where are you?
The industry is stepping back from day-anddate releases for major films, with Warner Bros. Discovery leading the charge. Key questions raised: Will streamers suffer without exclusivity? Will they focus on original IPs instead? What is the new window? And most importantly: WWDD (What Will Disney Do)?
14 MOVES | August/September 2022
Ten things on our radar this month THE LIST
Former Wiggle Emma Watkins is moving into new projects, landing a gig on ABC’s Reef School and developing, producing and starring in Emma Memma: Sing. Dance. Sign. Watkins’ decision to devote her energy to working with the deaf community is an industry win.
Back to the big screen
Going her own way
In the wake of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) pivoting away from live-action kids and family programming on HBO Max for the immediate future, and cancelling a pair of high-profile animated kids projects, the biz has been abuzz about the future of younger-skewing content at the media conglom post-merger. WBD recently axed live-action feature Batgirl, which was already in post-production. Other cuts include Sony Pictures Television’s live-action comedy series Gordita Chronicles; animated kids series Little Ellen ahead of its season three premiere; and nearly completed CG-animated feature Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, the sequel to 2020’s Scoob!. But is it all doom and gloom? CEO David Zaslav hasn’t announced additional cuts to animation yet and did name Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and Warner Animation as important pieces for future growth in WBD’s latest quarterly earnings call. However, the company plans to spend less where it isn’t seeing effective returns. It won’t release features theatrically if they don’t meet a specific quality threshold or simply “aren’t ready” (this after shifting to theatrical-first releases), but kids and animation remains a key piece of its “course correction” strategy.
AVOD your kids content
Animals assemble!
A novel idea?
The first metaverse lawsuit Roblox is suing My Avastars doll maker WowWee for allegedly using its IP without permission. The landmark case could influence how copyright laws apply to toycos and entertainment companies seeking to use the wildly popular game platform as a launchpad for nascent brands.
A new chapter for the publishing industry could be on the way. As Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster eye a US$2-billion merger, booksellers and authors are concerned that competition could be suffocated. As it is, there are only five major publishers in the US, and reducing the competition further could mean more writers and their stories getting shelved.
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The new news Content companies are looking to help kids become more media-savvy. AT&T and Warner Bros. Discovery recently launched an online platform featuring literacy tools, and prodcos Guru and TIME Studios are prepping a series that teaches kids to judge the credibility of information.
Candle Media is all ears for NFTs Believing in the latent potential of NFT-backed franchises, Candle Media has extended its buying spree outside of prod cos, and is diving headfirst into the NFT market with the Lil’ Heroes collection. Following the release of an animated Lil’ Heroes show, the company plans to rapidly expand it into toys, publishing, digital games and other categories.
A new study released in August reveals that advertisers are increasingly interested in kids content, a category many once shunned. Thanks to COPPA regulations, children’s programming on AVODs is closely vetted, and advertisers are told where their spots will run—unlike regular AVODS with blind inventory. This gives advertisers more control…and kid-focused AVODs a better shot at success.
Powered-up pets seem to be the go-to trend right now for aging down the omnipresent superhero genre. From Disney’s Hamster & Gretel (pictured) to Nickelodeon’s upcoming Super Duper Bunny League , it’s hard to argue that “superhero fa tigue” is an issue when these caped critters are as cute and cuddly as they are brave.
BRON’s beyond Multifaceted Canadian entertainment company BRON Studios is always noteworthy for its biz-savvy moves. Most recently, BRON inked a deal with theme park operator Falcon’s Beyond that will move it into Falcon’s live experience zone and see Falcon fly into BRON’s considerable studio orbit.
Warner Bros. Discovery Kids & Family
16 MOVES | August/September 2022
Format: Open to a variety of formats ranging from shorts to half hours.
Upcoming series: We’re excited about our recent slate of European projects. Wereworld with UK studio Jellyfish is one we’re eager to share. We’re also thrilled to be starting work on a new take on Ghostbusters with Sony Pictures Animation. Kidscreen checks in on buyers known for investing in action-adventure content. For more of this type of intel, check out our Global Pitch Guide at kidscreen.com.
Style: We are open to all styles of animation, hybrid shows and live action.
Buying strategy: Straight acquisitions, pre-buys and co-productions. We work directly with production and distribution companies. Email intros are welcome.
Style: 2D/3D animation and live action.
New acquisitions: Gloob—Miraculous (new seasons), Superpigs and Bionic Max Gloobinho—Alice & Lewis (new season), Ana Pumpkin and Petit
Format: We’re format-agnostic. We love serialized storytelling in action or adven ture series. Episode length is flexible; it can even vary within a series.
Format: Mainly 26-minute or 11-minute episodes for TV.
Looking for: We are focused on several demos: preschool—first steps to fandom; kids—shows that will complement our originals; family— shared fandom that unites families. We look for modernity in the execution of ideas, diverse and global voices, and IP with broad appeal.
Style: The majority of our series are CGI animation, with visually striking design that inspires curiosity.
Demographic: Kids of all ages, teens and adults. My team is currently focused on six- to 12-year-olds.
New acquisitions: Iyanu: Child of Wonder and American Girl specials. For pre school, Silly Sundays
Netflix Dominique Bazay Director of Animation Series
Acquisitions—programs with brand extension potential that would appeal to a family audience.
Demographic: Preschool, kids and family.
Strategy: Work with a diverse set of cre ators and studios to ensure great variety in storytelling. We take pitches from stu dios around the world at any time of year. We want to collaborate in development to help steer projects toward success, so come to us early!
Buying strategy: Co-productions—character-driven adventure series we can get involved with at an early stage to help finance and co-develop into a new international blockbuster, with potential for consumer products.
Looking for: Brand-oriented series that resonate with kids ages two to five (Gloobinho) and six to 11 (Gloob), and that enhance our 360 strategy across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Spotify. We intend to bring together international partners on projects with broad global appeal.
Looking for: Because we don’t have a house style or brand, we look for ideas that have potential for strong identity and appeal— either established IP (The Cuphead Show; Arcane) or original catchy concepts (Maya and the Three; Daniel Spellbound).
Adina Pitt VP, Content Acquisitions, Partnerships and Co-Productions, the Americas Gloob & Gloobinho Luiz Filipe Figueira Head of Content & Negotiations
Demographic: All ages, including preschool and families.
The distinctive-looking characters, created by two seven-year-old girls in her class (pictured, Vega Kostova, left and Rowen Chandler), had taken the students by storm. Everyone was drawing them, and some even formed a Cuties Club for all things...cute.
Bek to drawingtheboard
In an example of art imitating life, the protagonist, Bek, is a young girl who creates a trio of bunnies named Bini, Bam and Bort to be her perfect playmates.
Such was the bunnies’ popularity that de Seve soon heard from his niece that the Cuties Club had spread to a different elementary school in New Jersey. “We came to understand that these were toys they wished they had,” he says, noting that the bunnies were not only adorable but also simple enough for anyone to draw. The drawings would go on to serve as the foundation for character designs in Bek and the Bunnies, a new animated comedy series from Baboon and Germany’s Toon2Tango.
BY: SADHANA BHARANIDHARAN Baboon Animation reveals how its new series with Toon2Tango, Bek and the Bunnies, hopped over from the best source of creative inspiration—a kid’s imagination.
Though the bunnies have super-powered abilities, they were designed by a kid, so their programming is slightly flawed—albeit hilariously so.
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ike de Seve, president of New York’s Baboon Animation, first saw drawings of the bunnies known as “Cuties” when his daughter brought them home from school four years ago.
“All we did was clean up the bunny drawing and build it as a 3D model,” says de Seve. Bek and the Bunnies (78 x seven minutes) was presented at Annecy earlier this year, and now has a bible, a pilot script and 3D modeling prepared.
“It’s the same spirit of creation,” says de Seve. “[Bek] is lonely because she grew up out in the middle of the woods, and her parents are ignoring her. So she invents these squishy, bouncy robot bunnies to be her friends and play with her.”
For instance, Bini is loving to a fault, unable to play hide-and-seek because all she wants is a hug. Meanwhile, Bort is the ultimate prankster, ready to slam a pie into someone’s face rather than follow the rules. The series follows Bek as she tries to get her adorable but wonky new pals to behave. While there are many facets to making a successful kids TV show, one aspect stands out to de Seve. “For me, the secret ingre dient is: are you making a show that makes kids feel like there’s a group of friends there that they can play with?”
Another series called Cup Cats was born from a concept origi nated by a six-year-old girl and her grandmother, he adds.
“Nothing gets these bunnies down,” he says. “Fun prevails.”
“The grandmother was babysitting the little girl and they just started fantasizing about a tea party world where cats live in cups,” he says. “Picture this world where life is a tea party!”
Bek and the Bunnies will also break into consumer products with plans for a “mix-and-match” plush range, which de Seve says ties back into the kid-created angle of the Cuties. “We’re devel oping toy concepts that are about encouraging kids to make and do,” he says, adding that the toys will come with swappable eyes, tails and other parts, similar to Mr. Potato Head.
LICENSING agency@ferlyco.comENQUIRIESstarstableentertainment.comSTARSTABLEENTERTAINMENTPRESENTS26x22minutesTvrightsfromFerlyinfo@ferlyco.com
Baboon has at least five other kid-created projects in its pipeline, including MerMonsters, a series de Seve conceptualized with six-year-old Hazel Murphy featuring fluffy monsters in an underwater setting.
That same appeal is also the spirit of Bek and the Bunnies.
Baboon and Toon2Tango took an original “Cuties” drawing (inset) and turned it into a 3D image as the starting point for Bek and the Bunnies
In the series, the Cup Cats’ home is a multicultural neigh borhood made of tea sets. “There are whole cultures around Japanese tea, African tea, Indian tea, English tea,” says de Seve.
With Bek and the Bunnies, Toon2Tango and Baboon have landed on a winning equation for developing IPs—one that includes kids from the outset. Through their new development program, called Monkey Bars, they are taking more kid-generated ideas into “a brainstorm room with top writers and showrunners in the industry to develop them into working shows.”
“You have to know who your protagonist is, and why kids would like them and care about them,” he says, drawing on the classic example of SpongeBob SquarePants. “SpongeBob sees fun as so important—and that, to me, is why the show is so appealing.”
With projects like these, the Monkey Bars program gives the production and development teams an avenue to listen to kids and find out what they love about their own ideas—which in turn gives the adults in the room more clarity around how a concept could appeal to young audiences.
AnimationintoHoppingmusicCafé’sspinoff Sunny Bunnies Sing-Along aims to expand the burgeoning franchise into a new musical universe.
On one hand, the dialogue-free style of the original series has been a huge factor in its success, creating overseas sales oppor tunities and increasing its global appeal. On the other, buyers are clamoring for more verbal and educational content. The spinoff meets this demand while capitalizing on the evergreen popularity of musical kids content, saysIt’sUfland.abusy category on YouTube, which is not easy to break into with a new IP, she notes. But considering the headstart the series will have with its established audience, Ufland isn’t worried. “Kids can’t seem to get enough of musicals,” she says. “And in general, there’s a big demand right now for bright and cheerful programs that put a smile on kids’ faces.”
BY: ANDREA HERNANDEZ
The CGI-animated spinoff (26 x 2.5 minutes) is a departure from the original Sunny Bunnies series, which is non-verbal. It launched on YouTube in 2015 with 26 3.5-minute episodes, and was picked up in 2016 by Disney Channel, Disney Junior and DisneyNOW for US audiences. The shorts are currently airing in more than 160 countries on platforms such as Sky Kids, Kidoodle.TV and Amazon Prime Video.
Poland’s Animation Café and AVOD network WildBrain Spark are releasing Sunny Bunnies Sing-Along this summer. The show (pictured) features the bunnies belting out reimagined versions of popular children’s songs, complete with on-screen lyrics to prompt participation from kids and their caregivers. The series will air on the Sunny Bunnies YouTube channel, which has almost three million subscribers.
The move to a verbal format is a dou ble-edged sword, says Maria Ufland, co-founder of Sunny Bunnies distributor Media I.M. Incorporated.
Media I.M. is banking on the spinoff to expand the buyer base for the series, which already has several extensions—such as Sunny Bunnies Get Busy!, a live-action arts and crafts series—but Sunny Bunnies SingAlong is the first with music.
“Music works universally and unites peo ple; it works across cultural and age groups,” she says.
Animation Café director Andrei Ledzianeu is overseeing the project as creative director and producer.
Sunny Bunnies Sing-Along seeks to build on that foundation, airing first in English, then in other languages based on demand. Music is by Animation Café and award-winning American music and animation producer Michael Mennies (The Fixies).
Another spinoff, Sunny Bunnies ABC, is also in the works. It has been developing for some time and will focus on teaching children the alphabet, numbers and shapes through music. Like Sing-Along, Ufland sees ABC as a series with global appeal.
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an Sunny Bunnies be the next Baby Shark? The popular alien rabbits could soon give the not-so-predatory sea creature a run for its money in the sing-along category with a new spinoff of the growing franchise.
Katie ContentBaileyDirector & Editor
Features & Special Projects Editor
Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming Netflixbacked adaptation of Pinocchio (the director’s first stop-motion film) has me intrigued, and that’s no lie! We can’t get enough
NEW STRATEGIES
Before she gets to work on planning campaigns for SpongeBob SquarePants’ 25th anniversary next year and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ next movie in 2024, Chambers is hyper-focused on executing programs for the iconic Star Trek franchise and Netflix’s live-action comedy series That Girl Lay Lay (17 x 23 minutes).
RENEWED PURPOSE While she faces a lot of pressure to maintain the iconic status of Paramount’s brands, Chambers says she takes pride in working on the kind of franchises that bring joy to fans across multiple generations.
Andrea Hernandez Staff Writer Watching Matilda as a child, I wanted her power to move things with her mind. I still do, but I’ll settle for the new Netflix movie, Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical
For Star Trek, it will mean global product launches and social media campaigns that increase and amplify the engagement of the franchise’s dedicated fan base. For That Girl Lay Lay, which launched its second season on Netflix in July, Chambers is building promotions tied to key seasonal windows—including back-to-school, product launches and experiences—that allow the show’s fanbase to interact directly with lead actor Alaya High.
“I’ve always strived to live a purpose-driven life,” she says. “And part of the purpose I find so rewarding in my work is helping bring happiness to others, which I’ve always been able to do in the roles that I work in.”—Cole
ChambersPrimaWatson
Spin Master’s deal to stream full seasons of Bakugan on Roblox is a total gamechanger (pun very much intended). It’s the seamlessness kids are seeking!
of... 20 MOVES | August/September 2022
Jeremy Dickson
NEW START Prima Chambers fell in love with consumer products during her internship at Procter and Gamble in 1998. Since then, she has built up nearly two decades of experience in the field working at companies such as Reckitt and Hershey. Since joining Paramount in May 2022, Chambers has led strategy and growth for key Paramount properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender. She’s focusing on one-of-a-kind customer experiences and unique product opportunities that bring fans closer to the brands they love.
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Will the next Mister Rogers please stand up?
Sensical and Kartoon Channel! are reaching out with Mister Rogers-inspired series that tackle timely topics and help kids feel seen and respected.
Evan Margolis, the mastermind behind The Smack-Dab in the Middle of the Day Show, is on a mission to help four- to eight-year-olds build social-emotional skills
BY: RYAN TUCHOW
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood did it well, and shows created in its likeness are needed more than ever, says Jon Ollwerther, presi dent of Genius Brands International’s AVOD Kartoon Channel!. Kids today are living in a frightening time with war and instability in the headlines, reminiscent of the reality when Fred Rogers first spoke to his young viewers in 1968. Now as then, children are looking for someone who can help them deal with fear and pain, says Ollwerther.
“All of our content has to enhance kids’ well-being, and they want someone who will speak to them frankly and like a human; these types of shows do both,” he says. “Mister Rogers also didn’t shy away from big topics, and we want to do the same thing in our future projects.”
Kids streamer Sensical is gearing up to launch its third season of Danny Joe’s Tree House with creator, educator and host Danny LaBrecque
These shows typically start out on YouTube as they work to build an audience, but now AVODs are getting on board to provide a home for this type of content.
LaBrecque has been trying to get the show picked up for 20 years, but often finds its conversational focus at odds with buyers and distributors seeking to hook kids with ener getic, exciting action. Traditional buyers also want projects with sizable audiences already established, and indie creators with dreams of teaching kids don’t typically pull in those numbers, he says.
a beautiful day in the neighborhood for prodcos and platforms serving up series that aim to fill the void left by the iconic Mister Rogers. With kids, parents and caregivers still struggling to regain a sense of safety on the heels of the pandemic, there’s a need in the marketplace for programming that tackles tough topics in a positive and calming way.
It’s a space he’s looking to fill with The Smack-Dab in the Middle of the Day Show, a new series Kartoon acquired in June that features humans and a puppet teaching kids social-emotional skills. LA-based GBI is now developing another project in the same vein, with the goal of giving kids content that not only entertains but also makes them feel seen. With its low barrier to entry, the host-driv en format is an attractive category for indie creators looking to help kids better under stand the world. Some recent examples include Lindz Amer’s Queer Kid Stuff, which tackles LGBTQ+ topics; and Stan Tucker’s Very Airy Library, which has a literacy focus.
AVODs, however, can be much more niche, and they’re interested in the deep well of indie creatives who are cooking up ideas in topical corners kids care about. The resur gence in demand is a game-changer for those who specialize in communicating directly with kids through the screen.
For buyers, the shows fill a few key audi ence needs. The pandemic created gaps in learning, opening up opportunities for shows that play the role of teacher, emotional coach and friend to children.
Theseways.shows offer a blend of education and entertainment that is pleasing to both audiences and advertisers, says Bethany Boles, head of programming at Common Sense Networks, which owns the AVOD Sensical. They’re also less expensive to pick up because the hosts and minimal sets don’t require huge budgets (compared to animated shows that cost millions of dollars to produce). Common Sense’s data indicates that these shows can easily hold preschoolers’ attention for 22 minutes; their calm format doesn’t overstimulate kids with flashy or loud content; and they offer a great co-viewing opportunity for parents. Older kids are also drawn in by a one-onone approach. “For eight- to 10-year-olds, some of our most popular shows are gam ing-focused series where kids feel like they’re friends with the host who’s playing a game,” saysWhileBoles.buyers are increasingly interested in this kind of content, the creatives behind it are typically educators as opposed to trained performers or experienced producers. In some cases, it can be hard for them to sell their projects, says Danny LaBrecque, host of kids talk show Danny Joe’s Tree House, which is set to launch its third season on Sensical in September. Treehouse uses music, puppets and guests (like David Newell, Mr. McFeely from Mister Rogers) to teach kids how to understand and express their feelings.
The success of niche titles like Danny Joe’s Tree House has helped broadcasters and dis tributors see that this content isn’t just good for kids—it’s also good for business. And the possibilities are endless.
The content also meets the growing demand for social-emotional learning (SEL) by giving kids focused, one-on-one conver sations about how to manage anxiety, deal with emotions and express themselves in healthy
“There are so many problems kids face, we need an army of people like Mister Rogers, all with their different perspectives and voices,” says LaBrecque. “It may seem like that sort of voice has faded, but really, we are everywhere.”
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A distributionshowsaHowCanconleg-updigitalforkidsprodcosareleveragingdomesticfinancingtooltogetoffthegroundusingcreativestrategies.
The Solutioneers has sold to ABC Australia (photo by Danielle Blancher)
One useful tool, particularly for kids content, is government-certified YouTube channels that al low producers to access tax credits for digital-first productions. Other jurisdictions, such as the UK and Australia, already allow digital series to qualify for tax credits. But Canadians remain restricted by regulations that prioritize traditional TV broad casters over other media outlets.
Lady Ada’s Secret Society launched on the marbleKids YouTube channel in April and is now being repackaged as an 80-minute movie
24 SCREEN | August/September 2022
BY: ALEXANDRA WHYTE in many countries, producers in Canada are struggling with a declining volume of greenlights both domestically and internationally as a result of consolidation, strained media reve nues and hyper-competition for eyeballs. Mix in the fickle tastes of today’s kids, and companies need a well-stocked toolbox of creativity to stay in the game. Luckily, that’s a specialty for Canadian producers, who have long had to be scrappy to compete on the big stage.
Since premiering on YouTube, Shaftesbury’s scripted live-actioner
Gisele’s is set to premiere on Shaftesbury Kids in October 2022 and has a deal with Canadian pubcaster CBC for international distribution. After rolling out in December 2020 on Canadian SVOD Crave, global rights for hit se ries Denis and Me were picked up by Canada’s WildBrain, which sold seasons one and two to its Family Channel TV network. Last September, the channel ordered four new 11-minute Denis and Me specials. WildBrain’s AVOD division, WildBrain Spark, also manages the Denis and Me YouTube channel, including direct advertising sales. “We’re growing, and it’s all [through] non-exclusives because we are holding out for other deals,” says Headspinner CEO Michelle Melanson. “Like our first two shows, the goal is to sell Gisele’s Mashup Adventures tradi tionally, and look at all sorts of channels and platforms worldwide.”
Toronto studio Headspinner is particularly bullish on the CAVCO-certified digital strate gy, having used qualified channels to generate about US$30,000 each in tax credit financ ing for three of its shows—Happy House of Frightenstein, Gisele’s Mashup Adventures and Denis and Me Happy House of Frightenstein debuted on marbleKids last year, and D360 subsequently sold it to WildBrain’s Canadian kidsnet Family Jr., which packaged the episodes as Halloween specials for its linear and YouTube channels.
Adds marblemedia’s Bishop, “I hope this can serve as a beacon—an example of a dif ferent way a production company and a dis tributor can work—so people international ly can look at it and see how well this has worked in Canada. It’s helping to build up an industry that is navigating how to go from a linear to a digital world.”
“CommissioningIPs. of Canadian content is on a decline, and commissioning of kids content, in particular, has been on a historic decline,” says Mark Bishop, co-CEO of Toronto-based mar blemedia and its subsidiary, Distribution360 (D360). “We had to find a different way to un lock these funds and tax credits.”
Likewise, Toronto-based Shaftesbury’s chan nel, Shaftesbury Kids, offers a mix of propri etary and third-party shows—a requirement of CAVCO certification. The company’s EVP of legal and business affairs, Scott Gavie, says the channel is working as intended so far.
Bishop was instrumental in efforts to get Canada’s tax credit office, CAVCO, to accredit qualified YouTube channels as broadcast out lets in order to unlock their content for credit eligibility. For the handful that meet the re quirements, the tax credits provide an oppor tunity to make shows that broadcasters might never commission, and find global audiences with creative approaches to distribution.
Every Body Curious puts a healthy spin on sex-ed for kids (photo by The Double Jay Collective)
On the other hand, Shaftesbury’s in-house production The Solutioneers is a more tradi tional scripted live-action series aimed at kids ages eight to 10. Since premiering on YouTube, both of its seasons have sold to ABC Australia’s linear and streaming platforms.
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“We are really hoping to build an audience, and if that audience grows, we can use that to take it to another platform,” he says. “We just need to find the right content that makes theRecently,transition.”this content has included Every Body Curious, a 21 x 22-minute sex-ed series from producer Louise Pollard that launched in 2019. It puts a healthy, positive spin on sex education for nine- to 12-year-olds, with the newest five-episode season spotlighting the topic as it relates to kids with disabilities.
Marble’s YouTube channel, marbleKids, be came CAVCO-certified in 2018 and focuses its efforts on kids ages nine to 15. There re ally aren’t any buyers for that age category in Canada, limiting producers’ ability to develop content outside the in-demand preschool demo, says Bishop. “The channel allows us to take big swings and to really think about how we can tell interesting stories,” he says.
The certified YouTube channels, launched in 2017, haven’t changed the world, but are proving a useful launchpad for fledgling, harder-to-sell
Production was funded by Ontario Creates, Shaw Rocket Fund and the tax credits un locked by the CAVCO channel. Without those tools, Bishop doubts the series’ quirky concept would have been able to get its start with a Canadian greenlight. “In Canada, who would pick Lady Ada up? It’s too old for a lot of broadcasters, and it’s got this educational piece and zany comedy element…it would fall between the cracks.”
One of those big swings for marbleKids is a new tween-focused comedy called Lady Ada’s Secret Society (nine x nine minutes) from Toronto’s LASS Productions. Launched in mid-April, the live-actioner is about four girls who are planning a rebellion at their boarding school using their STEM skills. D360 is repack aging the show as an 80-minute movie and already has interest from international buyers.
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Kids also voice “moments of internal re flection” that describe the baby animals’ feelings, which brings authentic emotion to the scenes, says McCordic, adding that sad puppy dog eyes are also very effective.
Just another day in Kibble Corners, where producers try to encourage Pants the dog to act out a scene
“We wrote and approved scripts knowing full well that they could change entirely,” McCordic says. Dialogues were written after filming and editing, and typically shaped around how the animals behaved in the foot age. “We just used what [the animals] did, rather than what we wanted them to do.” This approach helped inject impromptu comedy highlights into the story. In one scene, for example, a piglet is being interviewed by a guinea pig reporter. The only problem? During
BY: SADHANA BHARANIDHARAN
uinea pigs delivering the mail? A tor toise driving a fire truck? A rabbit who manages his own carrot farm? Welcome to Kibble Corners, a colorful and tight-knit town where animals live just like us.
The friendship between the characters and the strength of the Kibble Corners com munity forms the heart of the series. And although storylines were prepared for every episode, the crew embraced the spontaneity of animals too young to be trained. The pro tagonists, for example, are played by puppies and kittens that are only eight weeks old.
Kidscreen goes behind the scenes on new preschool series Mittens & Pants to see how hard it really is to herd cats… along with puppies and a host of other baby animals.
Pick of the litter
Debuting this fall in Canada (CBC and CBC Gem) and the UK (Sky Kids), new live-action preschool series Mittens & Pants (39 x seven minutes) is built on an overarching theme that can be boiled down to three words: different is good.Creator Phil McCordic says the idea for the series was a natural progression from two live-action series he previously creat ed: Tumbletown Tales (2004-2011), featuring hamsters; and Zerby Derby (2013-2017), starring remote-controlled cars. Working on these projects honed McCordic’s knack for improvisation and adaptability on set, and got him thinking about what it would be like to produce an entire series featuring live baby animals.
The answer is “magnitudes harder” than you think, says CommissionedMcCordic.asaCBC original, Mittens & Pants pre-sold to Sky Kids in July. The series is being produced by McCordic’s Windy Isle Entertainment prodco (which he co-owns with producer Shereen Ali), with financial support from the Canada Media Fund, Ontario Creates, federal tax credits and the Shaw Rocket Fund. It’s not just the baby animals performing regular tasks that make the show cute and relatable. Its adorable leads—Mittens, a shy and curious kitten; and Pants, a playful and energetic puppy—are brought to life by child voice actors. In fact, all the residents of Kibble Corners are voiced by kids, which McCordic says was a natural decision made to amplify the cuteness factor and evoke empathy at crucial moments.
“ There’s nothing else quite like it out there,” adds Lucy Murphy, director of kids content at Sky UK and Ireland. “The show really does reflect the life of a preschooler who, just like these animals, is exploring their world where everything they encounter is new. They’re really learning about helping their friends and living together as a community.”
shooting, the piglet kept shying away from the reporter’s camera, constantly turning her back on it. But instead of changing the scene, McCordic’s team decided to use the footage to create a deliberately funny moment. In the final cut, the piglet keeps talking while looking away and ignoring the requests from the reporter to turn around.
Drew Mullin, executive in charge of pro duction for children’s content at CBC, agrees and says that the show achieves relatability through the abstraction of animals.
“The show checked every box to set a play pattern for kids to re-enact the series in their homes or in their backyards,” he says, noting the animals can be easily translated to toys, while the buildings and vehicles in Kibble Corners would make perfect playsets.
“We are never directly saying that this species of animals represents this group of people.”
While the happy-go-lucky pup is aware and accepting of his situation, he also has moments where he reflects on the nuances of his identity. For instance, Pants attends a puppy party where he confronts his selfdoubt about whether he is “puppy enough,” given that his large extended family—parents, uncles, aunts and 35 cousins—are all bunnies.
Vancouver-based Thunderbird Distribution came on board in July to distribute the series and manage global consumer products rights.
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“Even though on the surface it’s baby animals running around, we’re always making sure there is relevant storytelling that would be meaningful to our audience and have a bit of wisdom,” says Mullin. However, the animals are not intended to evoke human equivalents, says McCordic.
Toronto Animal Wranglers handled the animals on set, with production overseen by Movie Animals Protected (MAP), a Canadian non-profit org. The puppies and kittens were switched out as they grew during production, and all were adopted after filming wrapped.
Sky Kids’ Murphy adds that the best shows incorporate curriculum content seamlessly and invisibly. “Children are learning about life and about celebrating differences, but in a really authentic and endearing way.”
Richard Goldsmith, president of global distri bution and consumer products at parentco Thunderbird Entertainment, says he was attracted by the show’s unique and endearing appeal, as well as the golden retail opportunity it represented.
In one of the more complex aspects of the series’ narrative, viewers learn that Pants the puppy is the adopted child of two bunnies.
Co-stars Pants (top) and Mittens Mittens and DJ Swim Fins Monsieur LaFleur on the farm
Showrunner Phil McCordic tweaks a building’s position on the set of Mittens & Pants
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Good Karma
BY: MARYAM SIDDIQI
How 9 Story and Mattel created a Karma's World CP line that reflects the series' themes of authentic self-expression, representation and a love of hip hop.
Achieving authenticity in Karma’s natural hair was critical to successfully transforming her from an animated series star to a doll and styling head (pictured)
“We sent out boxes featuring products from Black-owned businesses, snacks and some branded goodies,” says Halperin. “Chris Bridges came and spoke about his passion and why he created the show, our production team walked through the details of the show, and then we walked attendees through our consumer products plan.”
A number of major toy compa nies attended, but it was Mattel’s pitch that blew 9 Story away, Halperin says. The feeling was mutual.
“Our team immediately fell in love with the property,” says Katie Buford, Mattel’s VP of dolls global marketing. “Karma’s World is unique from other doll properties. We love Karma Grant. She’s an aspirational and relatable Black girl lead, and we love how the property brings hip hop culture to kids; this idea of music and dance as an outlet for self-expression.”Mattel’spitch included a full vision for the product line, adds Buford. “At the time, we had what we call a 3D—an initial sample of what a doll could look like. And then lots of ideation around product concepts and through lines for the range,” she says.
The toy line reflects the series’ central themes of music and dance through articulated dolls and accessories that can move and groove
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Key for 9 Story was ensuring that the products represented the series’ pillars— music, dance and creative self-expression— which are often reflected in Karma's fashion.
aunching a toy line was always part of the plan for the team behind Karma’s World, the hit animated series from 9 Story Media Group about an energetic 10-year-old who uses her love of hip hop to find her voice and navigate the world. But with Karma’s big personality and the socially conscious themes of the series, the company knew a one-size-fits-all approach to CP wasn't going to work—nor should it.
“We really felt like we had an opportunity to show the market something that hadn’t been done before: to create a line that ze roes in on authentic representation and gives kids products they can interact with that represent them,” says Kyra Halperin, co-head of consumer products at 9 Story.
The original series, created by rapper/actor/ producer Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and inspired by his oldest daughter, launched on Netflix in October 2021. But the toy line was in the works long before the premiere. With Licensing Expo cancelled in late 2020, the 9 Story team created its own virtual pitch event for potential licensing partners, sending invitations and goodies to toy companies showing the direction the company wanted to take the brand.
Included in Mattel’s line are collectible records and a karaoke-inspired microphone that lets kids rap along with Karma or create their own lyrics to beats. The dolls’ limbs are moveable so kids can recreate dance moves, and every doll has a unique fun and color ful outfit, letting fans build a closet full of Karma’s clothes.
One doll immediately resonated with the 9 Story team: Singing Star Karma. "Music is the central element to the series. Her being a music creator—that just felt like such a natural fit,” says Kristin Lecour, co-head of consumer products for 9 Story. Development of the line was very much a collaborative effort, and focused on support ing the goal of the series.
Mattel’s pitch also addressed systems of play and key elements that would weave the lineTheretogether.arenine SKUs in the initial collection, split into two global launch dates—July 17 (to coincide with the show’s third season, which debuted on Netflix July 7) and October 22, with toys available at major retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target. The product line ranges from a music journal with a hidden record player and a marker so kids can write lyrics, to a doll set of Karma and her friends Switch, Winston and pet pup Major.
“A couple times, [9 Story] shared sneakpeeks of episodes during the animation process, giving our designers insight so we could be as lockstep as possible,” says Buford. “Then our design team would take that inspi ration, craft toy designs, and 9 Story provided feedback on them as those toys came to life.”
One of the things Mattel loved about Karma's World, says Buford, was the show’s focus on purpose. “It’s so important to today’s customer,” she says. For produc tion companies considering a toy rollout, she adds it’s essential to bring a unique perspective to the market.
The result is a toy line that is beloved by both contributors and fans. Halcyon Person, Karma’s World head writer and co-executive producer, attended the Essence Festival of Culture in early July, where the team previewed some of the toys and fans got to interact with the Styling Head.
For this particular aspect, Mattel consulted with 9 Story and Perception Institute, as well as internal resources.
Aya Tavares, PI’s director of story and representation, says the institute’s work with the toy line included how characters were presented, focusing not on potential “cancellation,” but on opportunities for authentic representation. “We were called in at inflection points where decisions [were being made] about how to present really pivotal pieces…that I think are most inextricably linked to potential pitfall moments,” she says. One of these pivotal pieces is Karma’s hair, whether in a coloring book im age—“Should it be an open space that kids could color in themselves? Or does that create some potential harm in what could be understood as appropriation of choices made by people who don't share affinity with Karma?”—or the Karma’s World Styling Head, a bust of Karma flow ing with soft curls that kids can style.
“We tapped into our employee re source group here at Mattel called Black at Mattel. We leveraged focus groups with kids, over-indexing with girls who identify as Black. And then, of course, our consum er insights team always has their ear to the ground when it comes to trends and consumer perception,” says Buford.
“If there is a smaller company or a found er who’s really passionate about a certain topic, make sure that comes through in the content pitch.”
“As the content company, you know what is special about the series, what makes it unique, and what the key DNA is.”
“Achieving authenticity in Karma’s natu ral hair was extremely critical for us,” says Buford. “The process to ensure that we had the right elevated hair play in the dolls was a major focus throughout the devel opment process. Our team used the most premium doll hair fiber, and we made sure that the fiber was rooted properly.”
9 Story was already working on the series development with the Perception Institute (PI), a consultancy that helps companies make decisions that reduce race, gender and other types of identity discrimination. And it was an easy decision to extend the institute's counsel for the toy“Oneline. of the things [PI] mentioned was that Black girls—and Black dolls—can sometimes be over-sexualized in terms of the types of dress that they’re put in,” says Lecour. “So that’s one we’ve been really careful about, making sure that Karma’s midriff is not showing—all the characters, quite frankly—and making sure that the shorts pass the 'sit test,' like, how short are they?”
Both Mattel and 9 Story were mindful of representing Karma in an age-appropri ate way, particularly because the typical age for kids playing with these dolls can be as young as five.
The clothing line was designed through a partnership with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. “We worked with a bunch of diverse up-and-coming student designers to create a collection that reflected what Karma’s closet might look like if you were able to step inside of it,” says Halperin. “Mattel then took that and turned it into clothes for the doll.”
And 9 Story’s Lecour urges content creators to remember that they know the content best. “We've been lucky with Mattel that we haven’t had to push [back against] trying to get us to do things that make it an easy sell,” she says. “But that would be my advice—stay true to what the brand is and what makes the brand special and unique, versus falling into just doing what is maybe more cost-effective.
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Karma’s outfits were developed in partnership with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and then downsized to doll proportions
“We had grown women spending an hour on her hair, which I thought was the most amazing thing,” she says. “Every single person who touches her head is in awe of the quality of the hair, from the thickness to the fibers. It’s unlike anything you have ever felt before on a toy.”
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Timing
BY: COLE WATSON
It’severythingisneverbeenmorecomplicatedtogetatoytoland in the right place at the right time—especially when it’s based on a series or film. Here’s how three companies are adapting.
nce upon a time, toy-focused CP programs for kids shows and movies followed the predictable cycle dictated by big networks and major studios. Summertime blockbusters and fall TV laid the framework for toycos to plan well-organized rollouts timed around key retail moments.
Today, unpredictability reigns, with chaotic supply chains affecting timing, and stream ing content rolling out in six-packs rather than full seasons. Meanwhile, disappearing theatrical windows have drastically changed movie launches and the CP programs that accompany them. But in business, challenges often bring opportunities. That’s the lens through which Marianne James, Hasbro’s VP of EMEA and Asia, sees the current landscape.
“Tried and tested models still have their place, especially when you’ve got a [CP] program that leans on core pillars like toys and games,” says James. “What is interesting now is that we can test and learn. Instead of dropping products based on seasons, we’re now looking to where a rollout could be more relevant to a culture in one of our specific markets.”
One way Hasbro has shifted its strategy to accommodate the “highly unpredictable” nature of the market is to space out product releases in smaller waves instead of releas ing the entire range in one large launch, she says. This provides the ability to establish contingencies if logistical issues occur in the company’s supply line.
“If content is pushed back and we experi ence a delay at retail, or there are problems getting product on the water, it’s better to be flexible and have a softer, more phasedout launch instead of using a big, all-encom passing 360 strategy,” says James.
This is especially important for Hasbro’s “vault” brands such as Transformers, Peppa Pig and My Little Pony, which exist in highly competitive toy categories, most notably preschool. To have a major rollout fall flat due to timing problems is not an option, so the company is expanding its arsenal of mar keting and engagement tools, she says.
“Location-based entertainment, promo tions, publishing—we’re trying to make sure we’ve got something that can connect with the emotional side of consumers, as opposed to something that’s quite transactional. This can help ensure that we’re building long-term loyalty for our brands at market and remain ing relevant to our consumers.”
For some companies, consumer habits are not as much of an issue as the ongoing effects of the pandemic in China. Josue Rosenzweig, founder of Hong Kong-based United Smile, says the unpredictability of manufacturing dates means ultra-specific timing is nearly impossible for indie toycos, which don’t have the scale to demand guar antees. His company is now focusing less on exact timing and more on agility and speed to “Wemarket.have to develop our toy line without thinking of any specific release window to start,” he says. “As soon as we sign a deal with a company for its IP, we immediately start developing our product lines so we can hit the market as soon as possible.”
Despite those issues, United Smile’s first wave of True and the Rainbow Kingdom plush, dolls and playsets rolled out last September in the US, UK, Canada, Spain and Hasbro is shifting its strategy for “vault” brands like My Little Pony and relationshipscreateTransformers(topright)todeeperwithconsumers
United Smile opened its doors in 2020 and quickly landed a deal to be the first exclu sive master toy partner for Guru Studio’s CG-animated preschool series True and the Rainbow Kingdom. But Rosenzweig, a former Hasbro exec and a seasoned entrepreneur, says the unpredictability of COVID protocols in China has made launching the company doubly hard. “We try to prepare the ‘full package’ for our distributors at launch, but we are never able to predict if the ports are going to be open or if our factories will be able to run,” he says. “If one person gets COVID within a block of factories in China, the whole block will close down for at least 10 days.”
Australia. To date, the line has shipped to more than 25 countries. The toyco has since signed master toy deals with Finnish anima tion studio Ferly for its Momolu & Friends brand and France’s Cyber Group Studios for its flagship preschool series Gigantosaurus United Smile’s screen-based brand strat egy is to pick up licenses for properties that have been in the market for four years, to lessen the urgency of screen-to-retail timing. But the challenges of the moment have made even that well-considered strategy less effective.
“There are so many elements that can affect a CP release, from your platform to your audience and product categories,” she says. “We have to change up our strategies constantly because you’re never going to be able to use the same formula you used before to achieve success.” Boat Rocker’s Dino Ranch toy line rode onto US retail shelves this summer, targeting series fans and kid paleontologists
“In [normal times], I would go to China and sit with my facto ries and negotiate to ensure that they understand 100% what they are doing,” says Rosenzweig. “Now there’s no direct communication with them, and I have to rely on calls between my product development team and my Hong Kong office to make the product line.”
The company has also been working its YouTube and social media strategy to keep fans engaged between seasons and in advance of the CP line. The Dino Ranch YouTube channel launched in January 2022 and has since racked up more than 144 million views. Boat Rocker releases three content drops a week, including new custom bonus content, feeding fans to YouTube with influ encer and social media marketing.
“We premiered [Dino Ranch] on Disney Junior in the US in January 2021, which gave us enough time and brand awareness to launch on e-commerce first that fall,” says Denise Gomez, head of licensing. “This gave us an opportunity to reach those engaged fans who were eager for the product leading into the holiday season, and begin building the case to retailers for our mass launch a yearThelater.”second season of the show dropped on Disney Junior July 22, and the Dino Ranch toys from master toy partner Jazwares are set to hit US shelves, including Walmart and Target, this August. While an online soft launch might not work for every brand, Boat Rocker had iden tified a lack of compelling dinosaur-themed products at retail and felt confident that kids would be interested in the toys even if they weren’t yet familiar with the brand, says“AudiencesGomez. don’t necessarily need to be fully invested in the show to purchase a product, because dinos are trending in a massive way,” she says. “Just having this toy line out at retail can be an impulse buy for a two- to five-year-old.”
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For companies bringing a new IP to market, the rollout matrix has more variables than ever. In launching its preschool series Dino Ranch last year, Boat Rocker Media folded in CP and mapped out a linear to-retail strategy that included social media, YouTube and an Amazon soft launch.
In short, Gomez says the new timing land scape boils down to one thing: adaptability.
For Pinguim to build a strong foundation in the region, the “right context” involved hiring Brazilian licensing agency Redibra to help develop its first CP program, and partnering with Paramount Pictures Brazil to handle home video production for the series.
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“It was the number-one channel for pre schoolers at that time. And when Fishtronaut became the top-ranked show, kids, parents and companies began calling us, hungry for consumer products,” says Celia Catunda, Pinguim’s creative director. “It was hard for us to handle, being our first property. But it was a great opportunity to learn about the market and retailers in Brazil, and to give us the right context in order to succeed.”
“Schools in Brazil had a very tough chal lenge adjusting to online classrooms and teaching children core subjects like science,” says Camila Garcia, Pinguim’s L&M director. “Eventually, they started asking to borrow our content because Luna’s core values res onated with children, and parents supported our show.” Pinguim Content’s Fishtronaut helped fill an educational gap in Brazil during the pandemic, expanding into toys, publishing and apparel
BY: COLE WATSON the effects of the pandemic loosen their grip on some parts of the world, LatAm is beginning to experience a long-awaited period of recovery and growth.
LatAm achieved the second-highest licens ing sales bump last year, growing by 9.7% year over year to US$13 billion, according to the 2022 Global Licensing Industry Study released by Licensing International in July. Toy giants Mattel and Hasbro are both doing well in the region, highlighted in their most recent finan cial reports. Mattel reported that its overall gross billings in LatAm were up 33% in Q2 over the same quarter last year, while Hasbro’s net revenue from consumer products sales in the region increased by 36% year over year. With kidcos eyeing up the territory for ex pansion opportunities, Kidscreen reached out to three companies experiencing success in LatAm for insight on what’s working and why.
Marketwatch: LatAm
While toys, publishing and apparel were Pinguim’s core pillars at launch in 2012, the company began moving Fishtronaut into new categories including software, backto-school and party goods in pursuit of a full-range licensing program. Taking what it learned from its partners, Pinguim brought its licensing and market ing teams in house in 2019, right before the pandemic struck. And luckily, the company had Earth to Luna! (156 x 15 minutes) in its pocket. This 2D-animated educational comedy series premiered on Discovery Kids in 2014. It follows the adventures of a young girl with a passion for science who treats the world like it’s a giant laboratory for her ambitious experiments.
Brazil’s Pinguim Content has been deeply rooted in the region since launching in 2009, quickly making waves there with the debut of 2D-animated adventure series Fishtronaut on Discovery Kids Latin America.
Companies are succeeding in the region by employing savvy insights over a one-size-fits-all approach.
The two Moonbug executives agree that while the region is full of unique challenges, the toughest ones they need to overcome as a young studio are building their programs from scratch, and finding a niche to effective ly compete with LatAm’s giants.
Targeting the region’s population of 44 mil lion children ages of zero to 14, the company now has close to 100 licensees working across LatAm to cover every product category possible, from toys and apparel, to back-toschool and party goods.
While ZAG expanded into the region swift ly with its strongest-performing property and successful consumer products lineup, UK-based Moonbug Entertainment is taking its Moonbugtime. is working toward a full multi-category CP program for LatAm’s preschool audience after researching how its core properties CocoMelon and Blippi are performing with Spanish- and Portuguesespeaking audiences online.
Marisela Escobedo, Moonbug’s senior terri tory manager in LatAm, says she believes the company can be competitive in the market by hiring local agencies to help promote its portfolio of brands.
Meanwhile, LA-based ZAG Entertainment expanded into the LatAm region in 2017 to build on the global footprint of its flagship CG-animated show Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
“In 2021, ZAG decided to change its strategy in LatAm,” says Angela Cortez, VP of consumer products. “Instead of working with licensing agencies, we set up a direct opera tion for the consumer products business so that dedicated local teams could be closer to partners, retailers and distributors, and build a strong and lasting evergreen strategy.”
Eighteen additional ZAG stores operate through online retailers including Amazon, with 26 more expected to go live in 17 coun tries by the end of the year. Collectively, they offer more than 10,000 products.
ZAG has also launched collaborations with several brands—such as fast-food giant Burger King, beauty product manufacturer Revlon and Italian collectibles company Panini—to expand the reach of Miraculous and give the show’s audience reasons to remain engaged between content drops.
This move was key to ZAG’s success in the region, she adds, as it enabled the company to operate at the local level, understand the dif ferences between the countries in the LatAm region, and navigate core challenges such as economic fluctuations, taxes and politics.
Despite the pandemic impacting the re gion’s retail sales, Cortez says ZAG’s consumer products business flourished by responding to the sudden increase in demand for ecom merce solutions. The company established its own ecommerce division in 2021 and launched the official ZAG online store to help its partners sell licensed products online.
While Pinguim used the same CP rollout strategy for Earth to Luna! as it did for Fishtronaut, the strength of response to the Luna line encouraged creative thinking at theFollowingcompany.an episode in Luna’s third season where she visits her family’s ranch and learns about the values of raising animals and grow ing vegetables, Pinguim decided to pursue food as a category, inking a deal with Francebased poultry company Label Rouge to release a licensed line of free-range eggs in grocery stores and mass retailers including Walmart.
“Looking at our YouTube viewership and watch-time, we know that Latin American Spanish is the second best-performing language, and Brazilian Portuguese is the third,” says Marta Braun, Moonbug’s LatAm distribution director. “We know there’s a huge demand for our brands in the market, and there’s plenty of engagement from ourWhileconsumers.”CocoMelon and Blippi master toy partner Jazwares is already in the market, multi-category programs are expected to launch in Q4 2022, starting with Mexico.
“Latin American audiences look for quality, competitive pricing and products that actual ly tell a good story, especially when it comes to toys. I think that by adding in codes that unlock exclusive content or AR elements, we are satisfying their hunger for these types of products and remaining competitive.”
“There is a hunger for our products and our content. We just have to establish ourselves and prove that we are here to stay,” says Braun. Miraculous IP owner ZAG has made a major push into LatAm with a focus on local, regionalized strategies
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“LatAm is becoming a very digitized region, but every country requires a very specific social media strategy because the influencers and trends that emerge are often different,” saysSheEscobedo.isalsolooking into incorporating digital elements into the company’s physical prod ucts in the region to increase their value.
Pinguim spied an opportunity to link its Earth to Luna brand to farm-raised food products, inking a licensing deal with France’s Label Rouge
For kids with autism, appropriate play is particularly important. Research shows that early intervention can improve learning, social and verbal skills, as well as behavior regula tion. But beyond toys, what parents want most—for themselves and others—is infor mation.I speak to this from personal experi ence. My sister has a severe form of autism and grew up at a time when information was hard to come by, propelling my mother to become an early activist for greater under standing and Authenticityawareness.iskeywhen creating prod ucts for specific communities, and companies working in the kids entertainment space are uniquely poised to offer information through the channels they operate in, whether it’s inclusive characters on shows like Sesame Street or toys and their packaging and mar keting
Product trends on the road to retail How toycos and gamecos are making their products more accessible to kids on the autism spectrum.
There’s another significant trend as well— greater visibility of people on the spectrum in mainstream culture. This can be seen on screen in TV shows and films, and increasingly in the marketplace as well.
The first products in the Access+ line are adaptations of Dobble/Spot It!, Cortex and Timeline that will be available worldwide next year. Each game has been revised based on extensive testing of materials, rules and game mechanics to create a positive, enriching experience for players of all abilities to enjoy.
The neurodiversity niche
Meanwhile, Fat Brain Toys has developed a comprehensive Special Needs Resource Center on its site that details appropriate toys for 23 different conditions, from ADD/ ADHD to vision impairment. Simply by click ing on the condition, shoppers can find which toys will support kids with those conditions.
BY: CHRISTOPHER BYRNE
ast year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that one in 44 children in the US had some form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That translates into about 1.65 million kids ages 17 and under. In Canada, the incidence is one in 60, according to Health Canada; and the World Health Organization reports similar rates in developed countries around the world. Since the early 1970s, medical professionals have developed considerably more knowledge about ASD. This has led to a better under standing of how to design educational experi ences to help young people with ASD develop and achieve to the best of their ability.
There are millions of kids worldwide with ASD whose parents and caregivers are eager to find products that support their teaching efforts—and that often means toys. The principles of capitalism dictate that where there’s a market need, supply should follow, and several manufacturers are doing exactly that. Game publisher Asmodee has launched a dedicated division called Access+ that aims to provide equal and inclusive access to board games.
Goodwillcollateral.hasa halo effect. Many new par ents—younger Millennials and Gen Z alike— want to support companies that support their values, inclusion being one of them. In today’s market, this is a multi-faceted oppor tunity with benefits for kids on the autistic spectrum and the companies that create toys and games for them.
CHRISTOPHER BYRNE ( a.k.a. The Toy Guy) is a toy expert, consultant, author and co-host of The Playground Podcast
38 CONSUMER PRODUCTS | August/September 2022
The studio draws on the expertise of re searchers to adapt Asmodee’s existing games for players with cognitive disorders affecting speech, social relations, attention, emotional control, planning and memory.
The Family Room’s Passion Points data reveals why creating more inclusive kids content will be easier in a post-pandemic world BY: GEORGE CAREY Gen multiculturalAlpha’smelding 40 KID INSIGHT | August/September 2022
41August/September 2022 | KID INSIGHT
Perhaps driven by uncertainty and change, our data is showing that “familiar” is the hot new thing and a great starting point for more inclusive Gen Alpha shows, properties and campaigns. So consider dusting off some of those timeless classics in the vault, lean in on familiar titles, and go for comforting enter tainment that doesn’t ask kids to take risks they are in no mood for.
Staying positive Being surrounded by the familiar Learning to make money
A is for agency This surging emotional emphasis on the safe and familiar is not coming at the expense of kids’ desire for personal autonomy and agency. On the contrary. Our data on Gen Alpha reveals how the last four years have decreased their dependence on external validation and increased their focus on internal validation, personal agency andThisautonomy.canbeseen in a surging interest among kids in practical life skills such as making money. Prior to the pandemic, this priority was widely dispersed across each multicultural population. Today, it has become an emotional priority for all kids, who seem to recognize by the age of seven that money is power, and power means agency. So when it comes to a Gen Z content strategy for the coming years, consider concepts and properties that veer away from kids’ traditional markers of success and accomplishment (making parents proud, doing well in school) to those that equip and enable them to obtain and exercise the prac tical life skills needed for personal agency.
Pre-COVID (2018) Today (Q1 2022)
Source: Q1 2022 Passion Points Study
The rise in kids’ emotional emphasis on “having friends I can trust” versus “having fun with my friends” suggests a new and richer appreciation of what lasting relationships are built upon. And perhaps most notably, Gen Z’s surging desire to “stay positive” reveals a basic commitment to hope over fear, and positivity over cynicism. This is particularly true for Black kids, but is also trending for White, Asian and Hispanic children. How can you, as content creators, foster this? With our population growing more ethni cally diverse, and countries around the world seeming to move in opposing directions, cre ating inclusive programming, games and enter tainment has never been more important—or more challenging. But for kids, the daily anxieties they face have brought them closer together, with a new set of shared values that were not present just a few years ago. That’s good for kids—and good for those in the entertainment industry looking for single content solutions with emotional relevance for every child. 3.71 2.21 2.07 1.6 0.56 0.9
GEORGE CAREY is founder of The Family Room and creator of its Passion Points™ platform. He is a leading authority on the emotional drivers of consumer decision-making. ince the earliest days of the COVID-19 crisis, the lives and routines of families everywhere were challenged and disrupted. But through this shared experience, some thing unexpected occurred. The core values that define Gen Alpha and the emotional priorities driving their preferences became more cohesive—regardless of race, ethnicity or Wenationality.callthis phenomenon “multicultural melding,” and we believe this trend creates a significant opportunity to change how we develop kids programming for the years ahead. It’s based on a data set The Family Room has developed called Passion Points, which is designed to turn audience emotions into concrete data. Grounded in the belief that most media decision-making is driven by our feelings (why else do we ask one another, “What do you FEEL like watching?”), we have been tracking Passion Points around the world for more than a decade. The result is some extraordinary insight into how the last three years have changed kids, both as people and in terms of the emotional priorities that govern their choices as consum ers. Here, we take a look at three of the top examples of multicultural melding, demonstrat ing how these new shared values can create content that travels easily around the world. F is for familiar Prior to the pandemic, kids of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds had very different appetites for the familiar. Kids who identified as White couldn’t get enough of this emotional priority, while kids who identified as Asian wanted nothing to do with it. No more! Over the past five years, there has been an astonishing shift of all kids’ interest in ”being surrounded by familiar things and people.”
Multicultural kids are more aligned on emotional values coming out of COVID
The data in this chart shows differences in how kids from four ethnic groups in the US ranked several key emotional priorities in their lives. The bottom line? Decision-making disparity was higher among this demo before the pandemic, but commonality is prevailing as we come out of it.
H is for hope It has been a pretty tough few years for kids, with so many of their traditional expectations taken away, and significant sacrifices made. But rather than turn towards pessimism and cyni cism, our data shows that all kids—all kids—are choosing hope. Surging priorities like “kidding around and laughing” suggest a clear commit ment to preserving the joys of childhood.
BY: RYAN TUCHOW
42 TECH | August/September 2022
Developers are reaching audiences in the millions with titles on Roblox, and companies making games are finding new ways to build brands through the platform. Still, the question of how to succeed on Roblox remains.
It’s no secret that kids have em braced Roblox as a platform that allows them to make their own games and play games made by their peers. And while some brands are starting to reach out to them through the platform’s game creation features, the question that’s top of mind for everyone is: How do I succeed on Roblox?
Getting in the game
10-year-old makes a simulator game to let kids her age build hotels. Tweens join a concert where their avatars dance on stage with their favorite artist. And a group of young motorsports fans customize their own vehicles for open-world racing.
Gameco and researcher Dubit created a virtual party and concert for the Brit Awards on Roblox earlier this year
Roblox is more frictionless because parental permission is not required to play individual games, and it has its own virtual currency.
The opportunity for developers is clear, and so is the need for a guiding hand. There’s very little know-how among industry execs about how to execute successfully in the space, says Matthew Warneford, Dubit’s CEO andAfterco-founder.bringing Nickelodeon’s brands and the Grammy Awards into Roblox through branded games and experiences, Dubit now operates as a full-service studio with more than 100 people on its team. The company can take a brand from the early game de velopment stage right through to marketing and updating the final product.
That approach, which immerses kids instead of interrupting their enjoyment, helps build their affinity for brands, he says.
It’s never been harder to connect with kids because of the sheer number of com peting platforms vying for their attention, says Warneford, adding that Dubit’s success stems from being able to help toycos and producers struggling to advertise to this consumerChildren’sgroup.time spent watching TV is on the decline, and while they love YouTube, they hate the ads. On Roblox, marketing can be embedded in the experience in a more or ganic way, from avatar accessories to branded rooms and buildings (i.e. Nikeland).
When you don’t have research to lean on, a key to being successful on the platform is hiring the young creatives who are making titles on it. This is the route that three-yearold developer Gamefam has taken to grow quickly, as kidcos are increasingly realizing that a Roblox strategy is the new must-have for reaching kids.
Mobile games also face a range of other ob stacles, including expensive player acquisition (marketing), retention and monetization, as well as parental consent hurdles in app stores.
Developers building experiences in Roblox are hearing from IP owners eager to add the platform to their marketing and franchise plans. And these developers have one message for companies still uncertain if Roblox is worth investment: It’s time to get in the game.
That’s where game developers come in. Companies like Dubit and Gamefam have forged thriving businesses by bridging the gap between brands in the physical world and the kids in Roblox’s digital universe. And after scoping out the potential of the platform, prodco Epic Story Media is launching its own studio dedicated to bringing itself, and others, into the Roblox universe.
The developer steered Hot Wheels onto Roblox in 2020 through the free-to-play Hot
The subsequent surge in interest on both the consumer and B2B sides allowed Dubit to launch a Roblox development business and meet the demand from brands to build their own experiences on the platform. After all, kids were already making games featur ing their favorite brands and characters, so getting the brands themselves into the game seemed like a natural next step.
“The next generation of big brands will come from the metaverse and Roblox,” says Ricardo Briceno, chief business officer at the LA-based company.
“We’ve driven tens of millions of players into our portfolio of branded experiences, and we can use our network of games to cross-promote the titles and track who is playing what,” says Warneford. “Engaging kids the right way means building love, and we’re able to do that on Roblox.”
Roblox games are much easier on the budget than building mobile games from the ground up. Mobile games need to be close to perfect when they come out. This means several months of work may be required to make a game—not to mention the time and money for updates post-launch to keep kids engaged. A Roblox game, in comparison, can be made in weeks, and less-than-perfect is more acceptable to Roblox players because they’re used to unpolished games made by other kids, says Warneford.
In addition to making custom games, Dubit also offers low-cost, low-commitment options such as pop-up experiences where kids can play in branded worlds for limited-time runs. These smaller-scale events, which can be made and marketed for under US$10,000, have the potential to reach tens of thousands of players, and can be relaunched later to coin cide with new consumer product or content launches, says Warneford.
The response was crickets—until the pan demic drove everyone into hiding in their homes for months on end.
In the US, more than 23 million kids ages two to 17 play Roblox every week, accord ing to Dubit data from June 2022. Kidcos already on the platform see it as similar to where YouTube was a decade ago—a growing user-generated space that offers big opportunities for brands that stake a claim in it now.
Briceno first became interested in Roblox in his previous role as a franchise marketing exec utive at Mattel. Seeing the platform’s growth, he wanted to get Mattel brands such as Hot Wheels on it in a meaningful, ROI-positive way. It was Gamefam that crystallized the opportu nity and helped bring it to life, he says.
43August/September 2022 | TECH
In early 2020, before the global pandemic shutdown, UK research firm Dubit saw that more kids around the world were talking about and playing Roblox. The company started spreading the word to the kids industry that it was looking to get onto the platform and bring other brands with it.
One of Gamefam’s keys to success is partnering with native Roblox creators, says Briceno. Instead of attempting to hire game developers who don’t know the platform and tasking them with building popular titles, the company taps existing indie developers who are already making Roblox games—and some of these creatives are still teens themselves. This gives Gamefam deeper insight into what resonates with the community in order to make Roblox titles that will connect with kids. Being on-trend is paramount, he says. Gamefam’s growth on Roblox is just begin ning. The company raised US$25 million this March, and it’s using this capital to staff up its team of Gen Z game creators to more than 100“Thepeople.success with which companies come onto Roblox with brands is varying,” says Briceno. “There’s no playbook, but we’re try ing to write one now with bigger and more exciting games, and by building the franchises that will be popular with kids.”
Epic Story Media is starting off its work on the platform through a partnership with Florida-based events company Falcon’s Beyond. Through this deal, Epic will expand Falcon’s Katmandu theme park brand into many forms of content, including a digital theme park game in Roblox. This game will let kids explore a branded theme park, which Epic will regularly build out with new attractions and experiences.
The Roblox-focused development hub will create original games that Epic Story Media can grow into franchises, as well as bringing existing brands such as Slugterra and Dex and the Humanimals onto the platform. With so many kids entertainment com panies looking to get onto Roblox in ways that will make money, Epic Story Media sees its new studio as a means to also help other brands enter the virtual world, says CEO Ken Faier.
Offering its services as a Roblox developer is a key business strategy for Epic. The hope is that companies coming in for a Roblox game will want to partner on a series and licensing deals as well, says Faier. The platform also serves as a testing ground where Epic can experiment with reaching kids. It’s planning to launch 10 to 15 projects a year in Roblox, and being able to have developers in the game with kids, seeing in real time how they interact with brands, will provide insights that Epic can leverage in future products and share with its partners, says Faier.
Beyond games, Gamefam has partnered with rapper 24KGoldn to launch a concert that racked up close to 500,000 concurrent viewers—far more than could fit in any real-life venue. The company’s network of games, which now spans more than 30 titles, has more than 6.5 million unique daily users and 15 million total users globally.
44 TECH | August/September 2022
“Beyond launching ourselves into Roblox, we can be a service provider to companies that want to turn their brands into games,” he says. “There aren’t a lot of pros on the platform yet, and we can help other brand owners succeed on it.”
Roblox offers such a sea of opportunities for both developers and gamecos that working to gether might just be the best way forward.
As companies like Dubit and Gamefam continue to build their audiences on Roblox, Toronto-based prodco Epic Story Media is heading onto the platform for the first time with the launch of its own studio and plans to develop a universe of games. To get a piece of the digital pie, the company is currently incubating content in a game-focused sister company. Epic Storyworlds’ four-person team includes co-founder and gaming industry veteran Steve Couture, and the goal is to expand to a dozen people within the next year.
Gamefam has brought multiple brands onto Roblox, including SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog
Wheels Open World game, where kids can collect cars, compete in races and explore a large map with friends. That experience so impressed Briceno that he eventually moved to Gamefam, joining its C-suite in 2021. The company has since teamed with other major kids brands like Sonic and WowWee to create games and experiences on the platform.
As rising demand from streamers for high-quality animation continues to outpace available talent, students are facing an industry that’s more competitive than ever. In this special report, Kidscreen looks at the labor shortage issue and explores how programs at three of the world’s top animation schools are changing to give students more job opportunities.
Animationsnextgeneration The University of Hertfordshire’s Digital Animation program campus ’ 46 FEATURE | August/September 2022
BY: JEREMY DICKSON
Getting Real
Netflix is still investing heavily in animation, despite recent belt-tightening measures that saw it axe five animated projects (for creative rather than cost reasons, the company has stated), after its first quarterly subscriber loss in a decade. In June alone, the streamer added eight new European projects to its slate, including four ani mated series and four features. And a month later, it acquired Aussie animation studio Animal Logic (The LEGO Movie) to support its longform animation ambitions.
Genre: Mystery-comedy
The biggest ongoing concern is the struggle to provide the volume of workers required to meet a surging demand for animation talent being driven by the growth of streaming.
fter a tough 18 months adapting to the pandemic, the renowned character animation school at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) experienced a catastrophic flood last summer that de stroyed its offices and computer labs, giving a whole new meaning to the word “pivot.”
Synopsis: The titular cat detective hunts down an elusive burglar, who isn’t what she seems.
STUDENT PROJECT 47August/September 2022 | FEATURE
“[The flood] resulted in even more online learning for our teachers and students and the eventual use of a temporary off-campus location in Santa Clarita for in-person classes,” says director of character anima tion Maija Burnett. “The upshot is that we’re getting a renovation, and we’ll have a vibrant new workspace to move back into that will be more suitable for the 21st century [from a tech perspective] when it’s ready.”
“We run our 3D animation and VFX program six times a year, and our animation concept art and classical animation programs four times a year, so students have a lot of options,” says Giles. “It gives them a [head start] on jobs because [by the time] most students typically graduate in the spring, we’ve already graduated students back in the fall and winter.”
Length: Eight minutes
To address labor shortages, immersive one-year diploma programs at Canada’s Vancouver Film School (VFS) pack three years of training into one year on a rotating model, sending skilled graduates into the work force faster than traditional four-year degree programs, says Colin Giles, head of the School for Animation and VFX.
Adding to the demands of switching to online learning prior to the devastation, the program’s heads and instructors were forced to adapt again after losing their home base and valuable educational resources when an HVAC chiller overflowed above CalArts’ studios.
In the US, employment of special effects artists and animators is forecast to increase 16% by 2030, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. And in the UK, the British Film Institute’s 2021 Screen Business Report found that while production spend on animation for TV and online declined, animated films saw a massive increase, rising from US$96 million in 2016 to US$625 million in 2019.
Streaming competitors Disney+, AppleTV+, Amazon, Peacock and HBO Max have also been building out their animation slates this year, with Disney+ in particular looking to capitalize on international growth.
FEEDING THE SYSTEM
Style: 2D/hand-drawn animation
Demographic: Teens
In Canada, for example, a 2021 study of the creative technology sector in British Columbia conducted by DigiBC, the Information and Communications Technology Council and the province’s Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training found that more than half of the animation companies it surveyed had experienced an uptick in talent de mand in 2020 and bigger workforce growth (724 hires between 2017 and 2019) than the VFX and video games sub-sectors. Respondents included WildBrain, Atomic Cartoons, Titmouse, DNEG and Yeti Farm Creative.
Writer/director/story artist: Kyky Yang, CalArts character animation graduate (May 2022)
Portfolio: instagram.com/kyky.yang
Though the pandemic and flood forced changes on the CalArts pro gram, being ready to adapt at any moment is nothing new for post-sec ondary animation schools, which have to constantly keep up with rap idly changing software and tech to ensure their grads have the right skills to enter the job market.
Future goal: “I'd love to continue creating content that is close to me as a member of LGBTQ+ community. I’m also Taiwanese, and I dream of someday making a film that reflects my cultural background and upbringing.”
From a worldwide perspective, the value of the global animation mar ket is estimated to hit more than US$390 billion by the end of the year, up 5% from US$372 billion a year ago, according to market research firm Statista. And by 2030, it could very well surpass US$587 billion.
To help students’ careers along, the school offers mentorships and in ternships with industry professionals and studios. VFS also offers a fasttrack degree program in partnership with the British Columbia Institute Detective Alice and the Inside Game
Animators are the most in demand when it comes to creative/ artistic roles—33% of companies across all industries noted this job type as in demand—followed by FX artists, referenced by 18% of ani mation and VFX companies. And this demand isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon.
“Out of 370 students, 80% are currently from the UK, but our inter national enrolment has fallen to 20% from 35% pre-Brexit,” says Martin Bowman, who runs the program with Daniel Goodbrey. “Up until Brexit, EU students could study with us and receive government [loans] for tu ition. After graduating, they could get jobs in the UK quite easily and
Considering that the program’s international enrolment climbed to 60% of its total enrolment during the pandemic (from 45% pre-2020), these issues are top of mind for Giles. “The challenge is keeping up with the changes and dealing with delays,” he says. “We are seeing more in ternational students arrive, although it’s still very difficult for students from China to travel here.”
48 FEATURE | August/September 2022
Students present at the University of Hertfordshire’s 2022 Animation Exposé, an annual event featuring industry guest speakers, short films, showreels, trailers, comics and concept art
“The program, which has been very successful, allows students to apply for a post-grad work permit,” says Giles, adding, “We want students to have as many [job] options as possible.”
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While international enrolment for VFS’s animation school has in creased, across the pond, the University of Hertfordshire’s digital animation program has experienced a drop in students from outside the UK, mostly due to Brexit.
Stay at the Château Laurier to get a 10% discount off your registration of Technology and the University of the Fraser Valley in Canada, plus a number of other universities around the world.
However, despite the school’s best efforts to fast-track students’ ca reers, Giles says one of the biggest issues right now involves the varied and ever-changing regional rules around work permits and immigration status.
Getting international students into Canada now that in-person classes have resumed is also a challenge, especially for students from countries like China, where extended city-wide lockdowns are causing travel delays.
Connect with new contacts or meet up with old friends at favourite events like Order your TAC Pass at AnimationFestival.ca
Epic Games’ recent acquisition of nearly 50% of Toronto-based SideFX, which makes the popular 3D animation software Houdini, will also help more students land jobs, adds Bowman.
Length: Two minutes
Underwater Disco then pay back the money they borrowed. It was a brilliant system, but since Brexit, the bottom has fallen out of that market. We still get in ternationals, but things have shifted for us in that we’re seeing more applicants from Southeast Asia now.” The inability to funnel enough international students into the job market could become a bigger problem for schools, especially consid ering how much streamers like Netflix and Disney+ have been invest ing in localized animated originals for different international territories.
According to DigiBC’s Creative Technology Ecosystem study, real-time game engine programmers skilled in using Unreal Engine and Unity for animation are second only to video game data scientists/analysts as the highest-ranked job type of the future.
Production companies around the world currently developing kids ani mated projects in Unreal include Cyber Group Studios (France), Dark Slope (Canada), Hype (Brazil), CAKE (UK) and Lil Critter Workshop (Malaysia).
“Unreal and virtual production are going to really blow up in the next couple of years, and we are trying to keep up,” says Giles. “From a gen eral production standpoint, more TV shows—and kids TV, especially— will be moving towards Unreal and virtual production.”
Genre: Fantasy
Portfolio: luzmarmexico.myportfolio.com
Another major ongoing issue for schools is the need to continually ex pand students’ skill sets.
KEEPING UP WITH TECHNOLOGY
Giles says VFS’s games program has used Unreal for many years, but now the school is building training programs through fellowships with Epic Games. “We’re hiring part-time instructors with Unreal experience to help students already interested in the tech, and then next year we will launch Unreal into our curriculum,” says Giles. “We’ll be teaching it from day one alongside Maya and Nuke.”
Unreal and virtual production are going to really blow up.
49August/September 2022 | FEATURE
STUDENT PROJECT
Though CalArts, VFS and Hertfordshire each have a different history teaching Epic Games’ Unreal Engine technology, all three schools are planning further investment because the software will continue to im pact the industry in a big way for years to come.
Demographic: Preschool and kids Synopsis: This playful fantasy is a modern reinterpretation of a Busby Berkely dance number, but with fish. Future goal: “I want to become an animator working on a children’s animated TV series.”
“The link between the two software products is now really cohesive,” he says. “Our students who knew Houdini this year got hired extremely fast—most before they even graduated.”
Writer/director/story artist: Luna Cherrington, currently on a one-year internship with Disney, will graduate from the University of Hertfordshire in May 2024. Style: 2D animation
Taking this integration a step further, the program is also looking to invest in or partner with a company to install an LED video wall sim ilar to Industrial Light & Magic’s on-set virtual production/VFX tech Stagecraft, which was first used on Disney’s The Mandalorian At Hertfordshire—which offers three-year degrees in 2D animation, 3D animation and VFX, 3D games art and design, and comics and con cept art—the digital animation program has been teaching Unreal since 2006 and will implement the latest iteration, Unreal 5, this fall.
Should every school look to adapt with investments in real-time soft ware and virtual production? Bowman says it depends on the focus. “If a school is focused on commercial-based animation projects, which we are, then yes,” he says. “But schools focused more on fine art animation or animation more suitable for festivals might not jump in. That said, Unreal is going to get bigger and will give students another area to specialize in.”
– Colin Giles, VFS
“Because we’ve had a games art degree for such a long time, it’s busi ness as usual when it comes to Unreal,” says Bowman. “But we are notic ing demand is growing from not only the games industry, but also from the VFX industry and children’s 3D animation production.”
Further investment could pose more of a challenge, however. When Bowman and Goodbrey recently approached a company they prefer not to name about buying a virtual production studio with an LED wall, the company said it would cost about US$12 million. “Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of budget,” says Bowman. “I think Vancouver Film School charges a lot more for tuition than we do, so that is how they might be able to afford one. But it makes perfect sense to invest in the tech because the industry will be more than willing to take grads who have those skills.”
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“While we haven’t necessarily been able to amp up our curriculum, we have had good discussions with members of the industry, and our students have been able to keep up with at least some of what’s hap pening,” says Burnett.
Genre: Adventure-learning
THE NEED FOR SPECIALIZED TRAINING
VFS’s animation school already has a relationship with Sisler High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and last year awarded 15 full-ride schol arships. Students at Sisler have also received mentorship support from the Orange Tree Project—a collaboration between Sisler’s CREATE pro gram, Nickelodeon Studios, Nick Community Efforts, LA-based diversi ty org Rise Up Animation and Toon Boom Animation.
“The students who benefitted from this project come from a socio-economic level that likely wouldn’t otherwise allow them to come to a school like ours—or any animation school, for that matter,” Giles says, adding, “Programs like these are opening up doors.”
For Giles, there is also a need to train even younger tech-savvy talent.
STUDENT PROJECT 51August/September 2022 | FEATURE
“We had to focus more on our core areas last year, which are tradi tional 2D/hand-drawn animation and CG animation” Burnett says. “We can’t just jump in [to Unreal]. Our program has a very traditional back bone to it that remains our focus. But if Unreal continues to move at such a fast pace and becomes important to the industry, then it will be something we have to provide. We are definitely interested, but it will also depend on factors like space and budget.”
Portfolio: camigarcia.art
To improve emerging animators’ job prospects, production companies are increasingly investing in their own training and mentoring programs, while funding initiatives that support training and guidance for young tal ent have also stepped up. In the UK, for example, the Animation Skills Fund recently delivered its best-ever total of US$225,000 in contributions from productions over the last year.
Synopsis: This children's book/TV series concept stars a bat with a cleft lip who, after meeting a new bee friend, learns that everyone has a different way to bloom. Future goal: “I hope to pitch the idea to book publishers and develop it further for TV.”
Meanwhile, the four-year animation program at CalArts is taking longer to integrate Unreal into its curriculum for a number of reasons. According to Burnett, some elective VR courses where students got to practice in Unreal and Unity were taught before 2020, but when the pandemic and aforementioned flood hit, it was hard for students to get set up with the software and tech.
Hiro Length: One minute Writer/director/story artist: Camila Garcia Ayala, Vancouver Film School animation concept art graduate (2022) Style: 2D animation
“The big growth market right now in our industry is coming from high schools, and this will gain momentum in the next three to four years, especially in North America,” he says. “Over the next couple of years, we plan to integrate our program into the digital media programs at high schools and bring training on board.”
On the flip side, the majority of animation companies DigiBC sur veyed highlighted that while the quality of skilled senior talent for in-demand roles in BC is good, there isn’t enough of this talent available, making the hiring market very competitive.
In the meantime, the program continues to foster connections with studios working with Unreal and real-time production, including LAbased AMGI Animation (Hamsta World), which participated in CalArts events remotely during the pandemic and most recently attended the program’s student showcase event in April.
“It took us over a year to hire someone from the industry for a rig ging position, because the salary lecturers get paid in the UK is fixed by the government and significantly lower than the industry pay scale,” he says. “It takes a lot of hard work to attract someone with the relevant experience who is also willing to take a pay cut.”
According to DigiBC’s Creative Technology Ecosystem study, some companies are experiencing difficulties in finding skilled juniors for indemand roles that require specialized skill sets such as rigging. Employers noted that many juniors enter the industry as “generalists” and still re quire extensive training, creating a roadblock to hiring more entry-level talent, and stalling career advancement.
To help improve students’ skill sets, Hertfordshire has enough staff now (20) to offer specialized training in areas like rigging and real-time development, but Bowman says it’s a challenge finding instructors.
Another situation that could prevent students from taking jobs on ani mated kids content is the rise of adult animation. At Hertfordshire, twothirds of the program’s students want to get into adult animation, versus one-third or less who would prefer careers in kids animation. “It’s partly this way because we cater to the VFX industry,” says Bowman. “The qual ity that studios want for adult animation is phenomenally high.”
Demographic: Four to eight
FRNCK Demo: Six to nine Producer: Superprod (France) Style: CG animation Format: 26 x 22 minutes Budget: US$8.8 million Status: In development, with a bible, several graphics and a treatment of the first episode completed. Delivery: 2024 52 FEATURE | August/September 2022
BY: SADHANA BHARANIDHARAN & RYAN TUCHOW What will this unique generation of kids want to watch in the next few years? Is it pasta delivery with a side of grit? Or a dog’s day in paradise turned upside down?
From surreal to IRL, these six series are aiming to engage coming out of Toulouse. Franck is just a typical 11-year-old boy with a bright future ahead of him…until he lands in the past. Transported back into the pre historic era, he teams up with a girl named Kenza and a young wooly mammoth to navigate a whole new world. (The title of the series is spelled funny because the protagonist is stuck in a time when vowels have not been invented yet.) The sto ry follows Franck as he faces off against dinosaurs, deals with the challenges of growing up, and gets used to family life in a prehistoric tribe. The adventure-filled series is adapted from a comic book franchise by Olivier Bocquet and Brice Cossu.
COOL NEW SHOWS CARTOON FORUM EDITION
The Tinies Demo: Upper preschool Producer: MIAM! animation (France) Style: Real-time CG animation Format: 52 x 11 minutes Budget: US$7.8 million Status: Canal+ has greenlit the show Delivery: Q3 2024 Sick of collecting dust in the attic, a group of retired toys tinker their way into craft-filled games and adventures. Ollie the doll and her toy friends find ways to totally transform ordinary household items, like turning an egg carton into a skate park, or an empty shampoo bot tle into a truck. Directed by Wassim Boutaleb and David Tabourier, the series promotes sustainability by encouraging kids to recycle and use their imaginations to create their own fun.
Katie Lyons, development producer at Sixteen South, created this tasty concept.
Tween sisters Fiona and Flavia Fusilli are determined to make their family’s restaurant a success, but they face a major challenge—their eatery is hidden away in the remote mountains. So the sisters decide to bring the pasta to the customers by setting up a delivery service. Each episode sees them filling orders and hitting the road, encountering problems along the way, from sibling rivalries to unusual customers (like a talkative underwater creature).
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Spaghetti Sisters Demo: Seven and up Producer: Sixteen South (Ireland) Style: 2D animation Format: 52 x 11 minutes Budget: US$6.1 million Status: A teaser and bible are available, and Sixteen South is seeking co-produc ers and broadcasters. Delivery: 18 months after greenlight
Demo: Four to six Producer: Wolkenlenker (Germany) Style: CG animation, with a 2D look Format: 52 x seven minutes Budget: US$6 million Status: In early development Delivery: TBD Fearless Tiger and friendly Bear live in a charming house by the riverside in Tiger & Bear, an adaptation of the best-selling books by German author Janosch, who is attached as a producer. With a mix of zen and quirky humor, the series follows its titular characters through life’s little moments, from searching for a butterfly to learning how to share a delicious cake. It features watercolor-inspired animation to reflect the artwork of the books.
Delivery: Q4 2024
Delivery: Q4 2024
Ten-year-old Penny is magically transported to the magical world of Lolyland, with no idea how it happened because she’s lost her mem ory. Stuck in a world of unicorns, cyclops and dragons (none of which have ever seen a hu man before), Penny journeys to find out where she comes from and how to get home.
Demo: Six to 10 Producer: Cottonwood Media (France) Style: 2D animation Format: 52 x 11 minutes Budget: US$7.8 million Status: A bible, pilot script and trailer are prepared. Cottonwood is handling distribution and seeking broadcasters and co-producers.
Saint Bernard Popov is living the dream, relaxing alone in a house on a deserted island. But his calm is shattered when his family comes to visit. In a typical epi sode, Popov’s tranquility goes to the dogs when his eight over-energetic young cousins turn his routines upside down.
Demo: Five to six Producer: Dandelooo (France) Style: 2D animation Format: 78 x five minutes Budget: Approximately US$6 million Status: A bible is complete, and scripts and a Cartoon Forum teaser are in the works. Dandelooo plans to co-produce with Spain’s Teidees and will handle international distribution. The next goal is to secure some presales.
55August/September 2022 | FEATURE
A Day with the Dogs
Welcome to Lolyland
Tiger & Bear
Delivery: 18 months after greenlight
SPOTLIGHTING SPAIN
BY: RYAN TUCHOW Cartoon Forum is saying “Hola!” to Spain this year, spotlighting the region at its annual pitch fest. Eight Spanish projects have been selected to present, all of them aimed at kids. Why Spain? With a population of around 50 million people who watch linear TV for four hours a day on average, it offers an opportunity to reach a lot of eyeballs, according to regional trade org Animation from Spain. And if you want to make your shows there, financial incentives including a 30% tax rebate for in-country production spends up to US$1.1 million (and 25% thereafter) are very appealing.
Status: A bible and two scripts are completed, with a teaser coming in August. The team is seeking broadcasters and distributors.
BrainwavesBertie’s Demo: Six to nine Co-producers: In Efecto Atlantis (Spain), Flickerpix (UK) Style: 2D/3D CG animation Format: 52 x 11 minutes Budget: US$105,000 per episode
As a Cartoon Forum appetizer, here are three series that embody Spain’s whimsical take on kids animation.
56 FEATURE | August/September 2022
Based on the Dirty Bertie book series from David Roberts, this comedy-adventure series revolves around a kid whose imagination is so powerful, it can shape the world around him. From turning his parents into kids, to creating a pterodactyl, whatever 10-year-old Bertie thinks about comes to life, and then wild adventures ensue. Things only go back to normal after he learns some valuable lessons about empathy, teamwork and friendship. Matt Baker (Dennis and Gnasher Unleashed!) is writing the scripts.
My Brother is a T-Rez
Coco is an average six-year-old girl, with one big difference—her little brother Rez is a pink Tyrannosaurus. In every episode of this educational adventure series, Coco encourages Rez (who is prone to making messes and being impatient) to think creatively and solve the problems he encounters. The pair take on imaginary adventures as Rez learns how to overcome challenges and Coco learns how to be a better older sibling.
Delivery: TBD
Demo: Six to nine Producer: Peekaboo Animation (Spain) Style: 2D animation Format: 40 x 11 minutes Budget: US$6.1 million Status: A bible and teaser trailer are completed, and Peekaboo is aiming to start production in 2023. Delivery: 2025 In this action-comedy, a rooster and a pig get stranded on an island, where they meet up with a vegan crocodile. The trio solves problems while dealing with unusual obstacles like suspicious boars and a mysterious old shaman. Jose Balbuena Heredia, a Spanish senior layout artist who worked on Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers, is the creator and showrunner.
Demo: Five to six Co-producers: Mr. Klaus Studio (Spain), Lusco Fusco Animation (Portugal) Style: 2D animation/CG animation
Format: 52 x seven minutes Budget: US$4.2 million Status: A bible, three scripts, several synopses and a teaser are completed. A full-episode animatic will be ready for Cartoon Forum. Spanish broadcaster RTVE is already attached as a broadcaster, and the producers are seeking additional broadcasters and co-pro partners.
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Best Friends Forever… Stranded!
Powell took his drawings to a friend who makes mascot costumes. After collaborating on the design, Fnook came to life, complete with whiskers made from fiber-optic cables and 28-inch ears that hang down to resemble Powell’s long “metal hair.”
“I’ve always been interested in cosplay, but I never really took the plunge until about four years ago after I had a heart attack,” he says. “There was no permanent damage, but I thought, ‘If I don’t do this now, I’m probably never going to do it.’”
KNEW?WHO
COSPLAY!in... 59August/September 2022 | KIDSCREEN
Andy Powell takes a break from animation to inhabit his alter ego
day, Andy Powell is a senior character and VFX anima tor at Nelvana. But in the spare time he manages to carve out around doing hand-drawn effects for the Canadian studio’s upcoming animated series Super Wish, he transforms into a giant heavy-metal bunny named Fnook. Powell had been creating personal animations and comic strips of Fnook for several years, and always thought he would make a great cosplay character. Then came the heart attack.
The character’s name comes from a cherished memory. In 1995, when Powell was only 18, he was living in England mak ing sprite pixel graphics for 16-bit video games. His colleagues welcomed their new recruit into the British video game industry with a pub night.
“They decided to make a toast at the table, and with typical British nonsense humor, they all raised their glasses and said, ‘Fnook, fnook, pertah!’” The gibberish toast stayed with Powell and seemed like the perfect moniker for his rock ’n’ roll bunny with a funny bone. The original plan was to take Fnook on the road, attending anime and comic cons, but the costume was completed just as COVID put the kibosh on travel and crowds. So Powell turned to TikTok, sharing weekly short videos of Fnook dancing, hamming it up and acting out classic comedy bits to audio clip overlays. Mel Brooks and Monty Python are his favorites, and he recently joined forces with other TikTok an imal cosplayers to recreate scenes from Young Frankenstein and The Holy Grail Today, Fnook’s TikTok account has almost 40,000 follow ers. “I never expected it to explode like this; I just wanted to goof around in costume,” says Powell, adding, “This has been the most fun distraction from work that I’ve ever created for myself. Especially since we started the whole workfrom-home thing, distractions have been a challenge, so this has been a great way to let off steam. And when you have thousands of people who have seen what you made today and enjoyed it, it’s such a boost.”—Janet Lees
