Kids
C21_FrontCoverOS.pdf
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25/09/2020
Everything about kids’ content
10:50
Mipcom Online+ 2020
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Animators play a blinder on sticky wicket
Takeaways from the digital Cartoon Forum
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Azoomee’s learning curve during Covid
PLUS: Wa’qaar A Mirza – 18 | Diamond Entertainment – 22 Cottonwood Media – 24 | Natalie Llewellyn – 26
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NEWS ANALYSIS
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Summer like no other paves the way for change 2
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Undoubtedly, the summer of 2020 will be remembered for the irreversible impression the Black Lives Matter movement made on the industry. The death of African American man George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police in late May sparked protests around the world as the industry entered a period of reckoning. Figures such as Karen Rupert Toliver (1), exec VP of creative at Sony Pictures Animation, said anyone in the industry who isn’t participating in trying to make change is complicit in maintaining an unequal status quo. Referring to the civil rights movement, Rupert Toliver said change “requires people to get out of their comfort zones” while the urgent push towards greater diversity and representation is “not just about including black characters in our stories.” Major players in the US and UK have since committed significant resources to bringing about long-term change on- and off-screen. The BBC has committed £100m (US$124m) of its content spend to diverse productions, while the producers of animated shows such as The Simpsons said they would no longer have white actors voice non-white characters. But the process of tackling structural and systemic racism in the industry will be long and knotty. Events such as The Children’s Media Conference in July highlighted
the role TV plays in sustaining the harmful perception that black children are less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers. Dr Kevin Clark (2), a professor and children’s media consultant who took up a role in Netflix’s preschool department in September, reminded those involved in the creation of children’s media that they have a responsibility to interrogate their depictions of children of colour for any signs of racial stereotyping.
carriage deals with pay TV platforms against the backdrop of declining viewing of linear TV among UK kids in recent years. VP of kids’ programming for Disney channels in Europe, Africa, UK and Ireland David Levine, meanwhile, exited at the end of June, as Disney+’s footprint continued to grow around Europe, with the total number of countries it is available in now at 25. The pandemic has so far hurt Disney in lots of ways – at the end of September it announced 28,000 layoffs at its parks, experiences and products unit, for example – but it has undoubtedly helped drive subscribers to Disney+. This summer also saw the service joined in the US by rivals HBO Max and Peacock, both of which offer original content aimed at kids and families.
ViacomCBS Networks UK, home to brands such as Nickelodeon and Milkshake!, revealed a series of measures to strengthen its diversity and inclusion efforts, including a “no diversity, no commission” content policy that could become the norm across the industry before too long. Other potential signs of things to come followed the confirmation The Walt Disney Company would be closing linear channels Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD in the UK, with all programming shifting to streaming service Disney+ on October 1. This came after the Mouse House was unable to agree on new
The two streamer’s parent companies, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal respectively, also underwent vast changes to their management structures this summer, as the gradual strategic shift towards streaming we’ve seen over the years went into overdrive. 3
No prizes for guessing who they’re all chasing. Netflix’s summer saw it re-jig its management structure, with chief content officer Ted Sarandos upped to co-CEO alongside Reed Hastings. Non-English-language originals boss Bela Bajaria took on a new role overseeing global television, with Netflix VP of original content Cindy Holland leaving the global streamer after almost two decades, as the streamer, nearing capacity in the US, targets more international subs. Netflix, which set up a US$100m emergency support fund for workers in the creative community affected by the Covid-19 crisis, unveiled its latest preschool original in October. Ada Twist (3) follows a young black scientist and comes from Doc McStuffins creator Chris Nee (4) and Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions. Showrunner and co-executive producer Kerri Grant (5) summed up the project’s importance: “As a young, curious black girl who grew up loving TV, I simply became accustomed to rarely seeing images that reflected me onscreen – and the ones that did represented an anti-intellectual stereotype that led me to hide my own light under a bushel. “To be a part of bringing a show to kids that features a young black girl being unapologetically the smartest kid in the room, in a world as diverse and visually stunning as the one created by the books’ author [Andrea Beaty] and illustrator [David Roberts], fills my heart.”
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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Animation in 2020 and beyond
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Howzzat!
The show must go on C21Kids speaks to producers who pitched projects at Cartoon Forum in September about how the animation industry could change for better or worse in 2020 and beyond. By Nico Franks
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uch has been written about the ability of animation producers to keep the show on the road during the pandemic. Those studios that weren’t already making the most of remote working before the crisis quickly shifted to the new way of doing things, though slow internet speeds, software challenges and security concerns meant the process wasn’t without its headaches. However, by and large, the animation industry has responded to Covid-19 with impressive adaptability. It has demonstrated an amazing ability to respond to adversity, but this in turn begs the question: if such unimaginable change to the way people work can happen in the space of a month, why has the industry been so slow to change in other ways over the years? The industry faces a host of issues, but chief among them are representation and diversity, areas where much, much more needs to be done to challenge the systemic racism that exists within society. As Elizabeth Ito, the former Adventure Time storyboard artist and director who is currently working with Netflix on her original series City of Ghosts, said in June: “When the majority of big studio projects are run by white men, when the stories we tell are largely filtered through their way of thinking, we find out really fast what a small cage we are in when it comes to the things we are allowed to openly show in programming for children.” Rene Holder, animation producer at Estonia- and Trinidad & Tobago-based Farr Creative, says the lack of
representation is the biggest issue facing the animation industry. But it’s also the biggest opportunity after a summer like no other, during which the business was challenged to take a long, hard look at itself and commit to long-term change. “With regards to the Black Lives Matter movement, a lot of questions are being asked about who is telling stories and who gets to tell the kind of stories that we want,” Holder says. “While it’s an issue, it’s also a
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The opportunities for remote working and a distributed workforce have increased significantly. Larger companies are seeing that all of the infrastructure that they needed to have, maybe it can be re-allocated online with the same output. Rene Holder Farr Creative
great opportunity for black, indigenous and people of colour to tell their stories, and they’re getting a lot more opportunities as well as a result. “It has allowed us to lean towards these opportunities, because there are a lot more of them for different stories to be told. Once one voice is being heard, it raises other voices around it as well. For us, because there’s been this shift, it’s giving a lot more opportunities for people in u
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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Animation in 2020 and beyond
Pop Paper City
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I have concerns about training opportunities and fresh talent. Could people fall through the cracks because you’re not in the room with them? And do they miss all the learning that you do by osmosis by being in the middle of a great team? Grainne McGuinness Paper Owl Films
the Caribbean, or even just people of colour anywhere, to be heard outside of Western centres,” says Holder. The pandemic has allowed Farr Creative to ‘attend’ many more industry events than it would have normally been able to, from Europe’s Cartoon Forum – where the firm pitched cricket toon Howzzat! (24x22’) – to Mexico’s El Festival Pixelatl, both of which were onlineonly this year. Holder says he believes this could transfer to the way people in the industry do business and produce in the future, opening the doors to talent who otherwise would have been shut out. “The opportunities for remote working and a distributed workforce have increased significantly. Larger companies are seeing that all of the infrastructure that they needed to have, maybe it can be re-allocated online with the same output,” he says. Georgina Hurcombe, MD and producer at LoveLove Films in the UK, agrees representation and diversity are the key areas where the animation industry needs to improve. “Diversity is hugely important in creative projects and endeavours; including a wide range of voices is vital to creating innovative content. As an industry, we need to work harder than ever to ensure that opportunities are available to everyone,” says Hurcombe, who pitched Pop Paper City (52x11’) at Cartoon Forum. The time for platitudes and well-meaning words is over, however, and companies are rightly under pressure to demonstrate that they are responding to actively improve the situation. Hurcombe says LoveLove Films is doing its bit by running a new talent-placement scheme for a range of diverse students. Each year, the company usually takes on around 30 students from media production courses, giving some of them their first experience in the animation and production industry. “Ensuring students from a range of backgrounds and walks of life have the experience to get started in the industry is so important to us,” she notes. Stephen Fagan, MD at Studio Meala, believes the biggest issue facing the animation industry is the development and retention of talent, something he insists would be the case even without the pandemic. “As the global industry matures and grows, we need more of the middlemanagement level of people who can lead teams and still deliver great work,” says the exec, whose firm is one of numerous animation companies to have sprung up in Ireland in the past year or so led by people who previously
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worked at companies such as Cartoon Saloon, Jam Media, Kavaleer Productions, Giant Animation and Treehouse Republic. Fagan was MD at the latter before launching Studio Meala last year. “We’re looking at training programmes to develop talent internally and we’re also trying to encourage diversity in our organisation. It’s about creating a culture where people feel really supported in their roles and can collaborate creatively. “We’re working with Animation Skillnet in Ireland to find mentors within our team and give recent graduates industry experience. We’re trying to take on a Silicon Valley-style start-up mentality to make us a more attractive company to work for. We want to deal with unconscious bias, so we put out open calls to meet core members of the team. We’re trying to reach new talent and see how we can develop them and put career paths in place.” At Cartoon Forum, Studio Meala pitched T.A.I.L.S at Animal Airport (26x7’), a preschool comedy series about embracing difference and understanding that everyone has value to add to the world. Speaking to those in charge of animation companies, there’s a feeling that the sector’s massive shift to remote working in recent months could accelerate employees’ drive to live outside urban centres and work from there. Based in Boyle in County Roscommon, Studio Meala was one company operating on such a basis before the pandemic. “We were working remotely a year ago and people have asked us if we saw the pandemic coming. We live in a really picturesque part of the country. It’s not young and happening like Dublin, but it has a lot going for it in terms of a place to raise a family. We have office space as a place to collaborate but, other than that, people are free to work from home if they want to,” says Fagan. “We have all learned that working remotely is possible,” agrees Sebastian Wehner, co-founder and CEO at Wolkenlenker in Germany, which pitched adventure comedy series Little Fox (52x11’) at Cartoon Forum. “As a company, we are also, from an ecological point of view, questioning if it’s important to always fly across the pond to markets, as we now realise video calls with buyers and coproducers are quite efficient. It could become u
T.A.I.L.S at Animal Airport encourages kids to embrace difference
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SCREENINGS LIBRARY
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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Animation in 2020 and beyond
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With the experience of working remotely, we realised we are much less tied to a geographical or physical location than we previously thought and can effectively work as a global team even if we are not in the same studio. Corinne Kouper TeamTO
an even more global industry, which could be a big win. In Germany, animation is still seen as something for kids, but it might outgrow that a little bit thanks to the crisis.” However, some of those who work in animation are concerned about the impact working from home could have on the industry in the long term. As Grainne McGuinness, creative director at Paper Owl Films in the UK, says, remote working comes with both positives and negatives: “We’re now all able to work at times and in ways that suit us individually. That’s great for creative people, because the nine-to-five in a studio doesn’t suit everybody. But then there are people who really value that studio experience and need to be around other people to bounce ideas off one another. I have concerns about training opportunities and fresh talent. “Could people fall through the cracks because you’re not in the room with them? And do they miss all the learning that you do by osmosis by being in the middle of a great team? We need to create really rich training experiences and opportunities for new and younger talent to make relationships. That’s something that we need to address as an industry.” Meanwhile, Corinne Kouper, senior VP of development and production at TeamTO in France, says the shift to working from home has allowed the company to expand its talent pool. “With the experience of working remotely, we realised we are much less tied to a geographical or physical location than we previously thought and can effectively work as a global team even if we are not in the same studio. “But long term it will not change the way we have always worked – together, as a creative force in the same physical studio, where individuals greatly benefit from the spirit and energy that comes from the whole team,” says Kouper, whose company pitched Tiny Island (52x11’) at Cartoon Forum. Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, a producer at fellow French outfit Miyu Productions, says the fact the animation industry has experienced the pandemic so far with fewer complications than the live-action industry will stand it
TeamTO’s Tiny Island
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in good stead. But things aren’t as simple as assuming all types of animation can be produced from home. “Most techniques are quite suited to working from home. However, there are specific problems to be taken into account in regard to 3D feature films, notably in terms of bandwidth, and stop motion, which has a lot in common with live-action shooting. The situation is, therefore, more nuanced than meets the eye,” Raynal says. “Animation is a set of techniques; each has its own specificity. The Covid-19 crisis is far from over and we must remain cautious for the future. Generally speaking, in France, we fear a drop in advertising revenues and, consequently, in television channels’ revenues.” The producer, who pitched the company’s first preschool series, Patouille (52x5’), at Cartoon Forum, is not alone in voicing his concerns about broadcasters’ budgets. Many producers, such as Paper Owl’s McGuinness, who pitched Mr Dog (52x11’) at the same event, fear “stormy waters” ahead as a result of the pandemic’s impact on broadcaster coffers. Ian Hamilton, founder of Elk Studios, another Irish studio operating outside of Dublin to attract talent tired of the capital’s high cost of living and lack of affordable housing, says the effects are already being seen: “Broadcasters’ budgets are strained at the moment because of revenue losses. This means they’re not commissioning as much or, if they are, the amount they can put towards each project is less. What was £1m [US$1.3m] from a broadcaster as a commission is now £750,000, so you’ve got to push a bit harder to find that extra cash. On our projects, we’re looking for more presales and making savings in the budget.” Hamilton, whose company pitched Moo & Roo Take the World (52x11’), which is about the adventures of two brothers – one of whom just happens to be in a wheelchair – at Cartoon Forum, adds: “We’ve been lucky in that our three coproductions haven’t been scrapped, they’ve just been delayed. Broadcasters still need content, so it’s about maintaining those contacts, be it virtually with calls or going to virtual markets that are happening these days. We have to get used to doing things a little differently.” For the industry as a whole, that could be the understatement of the year.
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NEXT BIG THINGS: Cartoon Forum 2020
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Pandemic pitching The first ever digitalonly Cartoon Forum highlighted growing interest in serialised and diverse shows as well as why there’s no substitute for reallife networking. By Nico Franks
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Gemma & the Defenders
the recently installed general director of Cartoon, told C21 his year’s Cartoon Forum was unlike any of the ahead of the event. 30 previous editions of the annual European Last year’s Cartoon Forum was attended by 1,010 coproduction and pitching extravaganza for animated delegates from about 40 countries and saw woodland series. You don’t need me to tell you why. creatures, series arcs and projects dealing with social and Until late August, Cartoon Forum organiser Cartoon had political issues come to the fore. been steadfast in its efforts to put on a physical version This year, Maes identified fundamental values around in September. But with coronavirus cases rising around diversity, empathy, solidarity and Europe towards the end of the summer, friendship as a key part of many it accepted defeat and shifted to a The way completely online-only format. the world projects and more and more are tackling So, rather than decamp to Toulouse is and the way complex and sensitive issues such as bullying, cancer and grief. for a few days of networking, meetings we’re moving, Having cast her eye across all and, as is now traditional, karaoke, diversity is 80 projects being pitched at Forum Europe’s animation industry logged this year, Maes observed the rise on to Cartoon’s new platform in mid- so important. For us, if in the number of shows with female September to sample from 80 pre- there is no diversity in protagonists continues, while a recorded pitches, all of which are a project, we would not large proportion of titles promote available to view until October 15. inclusiveness and acceptance of Cartoon Forum has become an commission it. differences and disabilities. increasingly important event in the Darren Nartey These included Moo & Roo Take the kids’ TV calendar in recent years. ITV World (Elk Studios, 52x11’), a show It has helped more than 800 series about two young brothers, one of whom uses a wheelchair; find financing, representing a total budget of €2.81bn Baldies (Cofilm, 13x7’), which features kids with cancer; (US$3.33bn) and including global hits such as Peppa Pig, and Foreverly Friends (Nice Ninja, 52x7’), about five oddly since 1990. matched friends. And with animation Over a quarter of this year’s projects were adaptations production continuing of comic books or novels, while projects aimed at adults more or less at the same rather than children were of interest to US buyers such as pace as before the HBO Max and Adult Swim, both of which were attending the pandemic, platforms and broadcasters’ event for the first time. Another buyer making its way to Cartoon Forum for hunger for original the first time was UK commercial broadcaster ITV, whose content has not been senior programme acquisitions executive Darren Nartey diminished – although was on the hunt for projects to join its steadily growing slate the latter’s ability to finance of CiTV originals. programming may have taken Nartey points to Goat Girl (52x11’), from Ireland’s Daily a hit as a result of the disruption. Madness Productions, as one project that stood out. The “From what I’ve heard, quirky comedy series follows a 13–year-old who just broadcasters are looking for happens to have been raised by mountain goats, and content and they really need Nartey praised the project’s sense of humour. material. But, of course, it will “We concentrate on comedies for 6-12s at CiTV and we also be a question of finance, want things that kids and parents will enjoy. And the more as a lot of companies have girls we get in the better. Strong female leads was a trend missed out on a lot of income Moo & Roo I noticed, and it’s evolving. The type of characters u during this time,” Annick Maes, Take the World
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SEASON 3 IN PRODUCTION! 156 X 11 minutes
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NEXT BIG THINGS: Cartoon Forum 2020
Clockwise from left: Immobile Stars, Goat Girl, The Upside Down River and Daisy & Dot
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that are being introduced have more depth to them,” says Nartey, who wants to see more diversity off-screen too. “I was also glad to see producers were thinking about diversity not just in terms of gender. The way the world is and the way we’re moving, diversity is so important. For us, if there is no diversity in a project, we would not commission it. It’s not a debate for us at all.” Other titles with girls in lead roles this year included Gemma & the Defenders (Xilam, 52x13’), Immobile Stars (Tripode Productions, 1x26’), Daisy & Dot (Kedd Animation Studio, 52x5’), Finula Gilhooley (Wiggleywoo, 26x22’), Femmes & Fame (La Générale de Production, 20x3’) and Ling Ling (Futurum Kids, 52x11’). Cartoon pointed out that a growing number of projects selected at the event were creatively led by women too, be they writers, directors or producers. Goat Girl was among the top 10 most-viewed projects in the first few days of Cartoon Forum, with The Upside Down River (10x26’), from France’s Dandelooo, the mostwatched pitch. The Canal+ series is an adaptation of the children’s novel La Rivière à L’envers by French author Jean Claude Mourlevat and follows a girl’s search for water drops from the Qjar river to heal her sacred bird. Dandelooo joint founders Jean Baptiste Wéry and Emmanuèle Petry say the serialised nature of the show reflects the new way its target audience of eight- to 12-yearolds wants to watch ambitious stories. Petry told C21 the experience of pre-recording the pitch allowed them to really make sure all the information they wanted to convey was there, without the dreaded technical hitches that sometimes come with pitching live in the room. The feedback to the serialised project has been positive, because more and more buyers are looking for series in this style for older kids, she adds. “It’s filling a space that has not yet been filled. Broadcasters with VoD platforms are trying to re-capture that eight-plus audience who have fled in previous years,” says Petry. Meanwhile, Wéry doesn’t expect there to be a surge in hygiene-themed projects at
Cartoon Forum 2021 but he does think the pandemic could influence how producers develop new shows. “You might have more adventure series, showing people travelling the world, because people will miss being able to do that. But it takes three years to make a show, so we won’t be putting any masks on our characters,” says Wéry. It was hoped Cartoon Forum 2020 would be a chance for the European animation community to reconnect, in a socially distanced way, after a summer of cancelled events and festivals. The pandemic has played havoc with the 2020 industry calendar since the beginning of March and the Toulouse meet-up was the latest in a list of events to have been affected that may yet only get longer. And while participants praised the efficiency of the platform used to view the pre-recorded pitches, the lack of networking around the event – in many ways Cartoon Forum’s pièce de résistance – was greatly missed. Nevertheless, going online-only theoretically allows buyers the chance to see more pitches than ever, meaning more projects than ever could potentially receive funding as a result of this year’s Forum. This is at least one silver lining to a dark cloud that continues to hang over the industry while it perseveres as best it can through challenging times.
Finula Gilhooley
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SCHEDULE WATCH: Azoomee
Azoomee cofounders Douglas and Estelle Lloyd
Zooming ahead O
nline entertainment and educational platform business is now available to more than 45 million Azoomee, which specialises in positive, subscribers via connected TVs, linear channels and educational entertainment for children, is exactly mobile apps in over 150 countries. Recalling the reasons for creating Azoomee, Lloyd says: the type of app-based service likely to attract increased “About six years ago, I remember thinking, ‘Surely, with activity in a pandemic. In fact, according to chief operating officer and co- all the technological progress that has taken place, there founder Estelle Lloyd, traffic to the Azoomee site in week should be a space for kids to comment, have fun and have four of the UK’s lockdown earlier this year was close to 60 access to educational, positive content that they love,’ and also realising at the same time that kids did not just times higher than usual. “That’s a significant increase in traffic on the app,” says love watching TV, watching series, but also loved playing games and that games have a massive, a Lloyd. “Parents were stuck at home, wonderful power for learning.” trying to find things for kids to do and The beauty about Azoomee combines those two hopefully looking for positive tools having had a experiences, “the lean-back watching and learning products that really give videos, which are quality, premium, their kids a fun experience while also 60 times increase in traffic is that we now educational and also fun, and games learning something.” – not just learning games, by the way, The Bafta-nominated and multi- have a much, much we’ve got really fun games as well,” award-winning subscription service bigger sample to draw says Lloyd. “The key is that some of was launched by Estelle and her conclusions from. them are educational, some are not, husband Douglas to offer a safe, adbut they don’t have any advertising, free online environment for young Estelle Lloyd so the experience is really complete kids (four years-plus), with a focus on Azoomee and fun. There are no loot boxes. positive screentime, games and videos. Today, the platform offers a curated library of hand-picked There’s nothing nasty in there, so it gives parents a lot children’s TV programmes, games, brain-teasers, puzzles of reassurance that their kids are playing games and watching content that is appropriate for them.” and creative activities. Unsurprisingly, this year’s lockdown has seen a lot of Accessible via apps on mobile devices and a range of streaming platforms, Azoomee expanded its footprint activity on Azoomee around its arts and crafts section, in January this year with the acquisition of like-minded “where we can see that parents and children are making Berlin-based firm Da Vinci Media. The combined things together or co-creating,” observes Lloyd. u
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Kids’ online entertainment and learning platform Azoomee has seen a surge in traffic during the coronavirus pandemic. Its co-founder explains how the company is making the most of the uptick. By Gün Akyuz
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Jonathan Bird’s Blue World
Alvinnn!! & the Chipmunks
Dr Panda
SCHEDULE WATCH: Azoomee
Lloyd also flags Azoomee’s social emotional learning category, calling it an important area of its content acquisition strategy. “It’s sometimes a very difficult type of content for kids to create organic engagement with. It really needs parents to be encouraging and sitting with their children, and really almost co-viewing and discussing the content,” explains Lloyd. “We believe strongly that it’s very important to have that type of content on the app, particularly right now.” Programmes that explore a child’s life on a daily basis, whether “at school or being bullied or having a new baby in the family,” are also important to the platform. “There are big changes in a kid’s life, and they learn quite a lot by watching this type of programming,” Lloyd “We’re also seeing a lot of says. “Particularly right now, it’s very important that we increased traffic on our continue providing that kind of content on the Azoomee wildlife videos, but also platform as well as Da Vinci.” Shows on that slate include Storytime from Feel on our purely educational games. So all games, like Brave and The Life Education Trust; Franco-Belgian coding, for example, are copro Mily Miss Questions, from Cieldeparis with the getting a lot more usage, a participation of France Télévisions; and Hope Works, a lot more traffic than they collection of short films encouraging kindness. The latter was a collaboration between children’s broadcasters and normally would.” The platform’s current media companies around the world, including Sky UK, increase in traffic is also BBC Children’s and Azoomee. Lloyd also highlights French copro The Treehouse yielding richer data samples to help refine Stories from Dandelooo and Caribara Production for Azoomee’s content Piwi+ and Canal+ Family. The series, which mixes strategy. “The beauty about animation and live action, covers a wide range of subjects having had a 60 times increase in traffic is that we now about growing up. It’s also a show “involving a group of have a much, much bigger sample to draw conclusions kids in a tree house interacting and having fun,” which from,” says Lloyd. “We have been able to refine and really children will be missing and will want to experience in drill down as to what our audience really wants to see, some way, says Lloyd. Azoomee’s largely acquired slate of children’s titles is what they love watching, which games they love playing. So, obviously, that informs our content acquisition supplemented by one or two original productions like strategy. We will probably pay more attention to the top, Marvellous Makes. A second season of the crafts-based show, produced by Fatpebble for Azoomee, is currently top categories we are seeing currently on the app.” Among the acquisitions trending in Azoomee’s ‘most in the works, with a “very small team” that remains popular’ section earlier this year were animated series undisrupted by the current restrictions, says Lloyd. For now, Azoomee’s acquisitions have also been Alvinnn!! & the Chipmunks season two, Dr Panda, Wild Kratts and The Jungle Bunch. Also popular have been unaffected by pressures in the supply chain, although series like Lassie S2, picked up from ZDF Enterprises; demand for finished content is likely to increase as a Urban Tails, from Ireland’s Monster Entertainment; result of the freeze around live-action productions. Azoomee’s acquisitions strategy now also extends Jingle Kids, from Russian studio Open Alliance Media; and Scorpion TV’s live-action nature series Siyaya to the Da Vinci brand. “They have a similar content acquisition approach to us, in looking for positive Wildest Cape. Series that keep kids engaged for a certain amount of programming, mostly on video. So, together with the two brands, we are obviously continuously time have been doing very well, says Lloyd, looking for programming that fits our though she notes that such shows tend to Urban Tails comes from Ireland’s Monster content strategy,” says Lloyd. perform well anyway. Lloyd hopes the current crisis won’t do “Factual content is doing well, too,” Lloyd Entertainment lasting damage to what has been “a very continues. “It’s an interesting one right dynamic section of the content industry that now because there is, to some extent, a has done very well in the last five to 10 years.” learning element in these shows. They are “At the end of the day, we are experts in parent-pleasers, so therefore there’s maybe distribution. So whether it’s Azoomee or Da a bit more encouragement by parents to Vinci, we are building distribution models.,” she watch this type of content on the app, and says. “But obviously what we need is great content that might explain why we are getting an to put into that distribution that we are building. increased level of traffic and increased level “So, we’re very dependent on the kids’ of engagement in this.” content industry continuing to produce Another acquisition from earlier this year amazing content and for us to continue is family underwater adventure series to have access to it, particularly at a Jonathan Bird’s Blue World (25×30’), time when more people are interested hosted by the marine naturalist in quality, positive content that is and Emmy-winning underwater educational to some extent.” cinematographer.
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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Wa’qaar A Mirza
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Zayn & Zayna’s Little Farm
Time to get real W
Wa’qaar A Mirza
a’qaar A Mirza says he spent years knocking on the doors of animation companies and children’s broadcasters in the UK with his idea for a show about a Muslim family living on a farm. However, those doors were never opened. This led him to spend his own money – a figure he puts at around £500,000 (US$553,000) so far – to create five episodes of the 26x11’ show himself and take it direct to audiences via YouTube. This wasn’t the first time A Mirza faced rejection in the industry. The CEO of business incubator Safi Ideas went to film school in the UK in the 1970s, but says he was unable to get an industry job due to the prejudices of the times. He instead moved into the corporate sector, before returning to his love of film and self-financing his own projects. These include Zayn & Zayna’s Little Farm, an English-language animated show, with a little bit of Arabic, for preschoolers. It follows a brother and sister on their family farm and aims to introduce children to the themes of mindfulness, sustainability and diversity. Made by London-based
Wa’qaar A Mirza, co-founder and CEO of Safi Ideas, believes the animation industry needs to stop dancing around the subject of diversity and inject more realism into its programming. By Nico Franks Safi Productions with Henry Becket (Olly the Little White Van) at the helm of a team of over 30 creatives, the show is not didactically religious – something A Mirza says has meant it has resonated with Muslim audiences. “For viewers, it’s been a breath of fresh air. Every day they’re bombarded with religious programmes, teaching children how to pray etc. But we didn’t want to go down that road. We’ve had people saying, ‘Thank God my kids can just have some entertainment with a nice loving message,’” says A Mirza. He believes that although many children are growing up in multicultural societies with varying religious beliefs, many broadcasters are still fearful of content that goes beyond “playing it safe” by featuring human characters from genuinely diverse backgrounds. Instead, A Mirza accuses the industry of a “warped type of thinking” that chooses to represent “artificial”
diversity metaphorically, by having lots of different animals of different colours, for example. A Mirza argues children’s programming is rife with tokenistic characters used to tick a diversity box, with a massive lack in real, diverse content and relatable characters. “When my granddaughter goes to a nursery school in London, which is a very diverse city, how many orange zebras and pink horses is she meeting? None. She’s meeting real people. When she’s in the real world, she’s meeting Indians, Muslims and Jewish people. There is no realism and instead kids are treated as though they’re stupid. But they’re not – kids are super intelligent at this age,” says A Mirza. Could this be down to the industry’s lack of diversity behind the scenes, an issue it has been urged to acknowledge head-on in reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement? u
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Ghee Happy centres on a daycare centre for young Hindu deities
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While agreeing there is a dearth of diversity in the industry – A Mirza points to a lack of Muslim voice actors and writers in children’s television – the entrepreneur adds the commercially driven nature of the sector has fostered an environment where programme makers are unwilling to take risks. “There’s a fear that if you go down a road and produce real characters featuring diversity, you may lose audiences, or you may not
Ethnic animation is getting millions of views on YouTube, with loyal followers and merchandise being sold. It’s like if I was living in a small town in England and there’s no halal meat, what am I going to do? I’m going to open my own shop. Wa’qaar A Mirza Safi Ideas
get advertisers. There’s a financial pressure there,” A Mirza says. “It all comes down to nobody having any intention. They’re not looking at the bigger picture. These diverse markets spend money; some of them are very rich markets. They’re wealthy and influential. “In the Muslim market, no matter what the media says, most of them are really well off and highly educated. They spend more than anyone else on travel, on food, on branded clothes. And they spend more money on their children’s education than you can imagine.” A Mirza points to UK supermarket
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Wa’qaar A Mirza
giant Tesco, which in May faced threats of a boycott from a minority of consumers on social media after it unveiled a promo during Ramadan that advertised halal meat. Clearly, the chain understands being inclusive of Muslim consumers makes sense both financially and morally. Elsewhere, Netflix is working on Ghee Happy, a show from directoranimator-illustrator Sanjay Patel about a cute group of Hindu deities known as the Ghee Gods who attend a daycare centre run by a teacher named Gooroo. And there are examples of shows on traditional TV that do engage with different religions in an authentic way, such as Canadian animated series 16 Hudson from Big Bad Boo Studios. Nevertheless, A Mirza describes YouTube as a “gamechanger” in terms of allowing him a route to market beyond the traditional method of piecing together a coproduction and receiving a commission from a broadcaster. “Ethnic animation is getting millions of views on YouTube, with loyal followers and merchandise being sold. It’s like if I was living in a small town in England and there’s no halal meat, what am I going to do? I’m going to open my own shop. We’ve been fed up not having the platform we deserve, so we started our own.” A Mirza also warns that the momentum currently being seen as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement could fizzle out by the end
of autumn and “we’ll go back to it being lip service” rather than systemic change. While it’s important that children learn about the importance of mindfulness, sustainability and diversity, it’s arguably more important that their parents do, given this is where children will get a lot of their information. A Mirza believes the media has a part to play here, too, and is currently failing, with the overriding messaging around minorities and immigration being negative in the UK, fuelled in no small part by Brexit. “I do believe that no kid is born a racist or hating another. We are all conditioned. This last year has been very difficult politically for diverse communities. The majority of parents aren’t getting a balanced view about the benefits of diversity, and the kids pick up on it,” says A Mirza. Diversity is often used unhelpfully in the industry as a catch-all term for lots of different things, spanning gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic backgrounds, race, ethnicity and disability. But just because a programme may be diverse and inclusive in one of those areas, it may not be in others. A Mirza adds that he is open to featuring other types of diversity in Zayn & Zayna’s Little Farm, pointing to its inclusion of a character who uses a wheelchair: “As we grow, we will look at all other issues. We are not scared of anything.”
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DEVELOPMENT SLATE: Diamond Entertainment
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Majority-female and black-led Diamond Entertainment is a new kind of independent animation studio with diversity at its core, explains founder DC Cassidy. By Nico Franks
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ather than the traditional path that many animation studios follow, of pursuing service work before investing in their own IP, LA-based Diamond Entertainment is forging ahead with its own slate of originals. Leo & Helen: The Explorer Chronicles, based on a screenplay by founder DC Cassidy, follows two mixed-race teen siblings as they travel back in time to Machu Picchu in search of an ancient talisman required to reunite them with their mother. 2D-focused ‘pop-up’ studio Diamond’s slate also includes Portal, which follows a young thief whose rare ability to open portals sends her on a dangerous heist to steal a device that could not only change the tide of war but also give back her lost memories of her dead brother. Discussing the two projects Diamond has in active development, writer and producer Cassidy says both feature diverse protagonists because that’s what naturally happens when under-represented writers and creators are involved in production. “They organically tell stories with protagonists that look like them without really trying. It just happens. When you take younger people and you build a studio, that’s the way the world is,” says Cassidy. Diamond lays claim to being Hollywood’s first black-led independent animation studio and was set up by Cassidy, a military veteran. Diamond is concentrating on creative pitches to studios and networks and, like many studios these
Leo & Helen: The Explorer Chronicles
Diamond days days, operates on a remote basis, with team members aged between 18 and 26 spread around the world in places including Buenos Aires, Ontario and China, with five in the US. Unlike many other studios with physical premises, Diamond has relied on remote working among its young workforce since it was set up at the beginning of 2020. “As far as we know, we believe this is the first black-led animation studio in Hollywood. If there are people out there who have been working that we’re not aware of, we’re certainly not trying to take anything away from them,” says Cassidy Running Diamond, which has a majority of women employees, since the beginning of the year – just before
the pandemic hit the US and the wave of protests led by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement changed the world forever – has been a unique experience, he adds. Cassidy praises the US animation industry’s response to the BLM protests, which were sparked by the death of African American George Floyd in US police custody, and says there has never been a better time to be a young black creator in Hollywood than right now. The continued protests in response to racism and police brutality mark “a once-in-a-century moment” that is going to “lead to systemic change not only in this industry but throughout the world,” Cassidy believes. “The world is waking up to the
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We’re fortunate to be standing on the shoulders of giants who had it so much more difficult. We don’t get a pass just because we’re minority-led and majority-female. We still have to produce great work, which is something I stress to the team.
DC Cassidy
Diamond Entertainment
extraordinary dangers and injustices that folks who look like me face, not only in the US but around the world. That’s not new if you’ve been paying attention,” he says. “But now you have people listening, being empathetic, being compassionate and really trying to understand, listen and learn and lead in the changes. That’s been extraordinary. “Top people in the industry are reaching out, offering their time and resources to really lift up underrepresented voices, and specifically black voices. That’s why I say there’s never been a better time. “This is the opportunity so many black creators have been looking for. We’re fortunate to be standing on the shoulders of giants who had it so much more difficult than we did,” says Cassidy. “We don’t get a pass just because we’re minority-led and majorityfemale. We still have to produce great work, which is something I stress to the team. We need to produce the highest quality animation we’re capable of,” he adds. Arguably, setting up during a pandemic should stand Cassidy and Diamond Entertainment in good stead for the challenges, as well as the significant opportunities, that lie ahead in an industry in a state of unprecedented flux.
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BACKEND
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Three-year plan
Cottonwood Media David Michel
Like many of its peers in the industry, Cottonwood Media is grappling with how to safely restart live-action production amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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igh-end live-action drama for children was a booming genre prior to the pandemic, with shows such as Cottonwood Media’s Find Me in Paris finding their way around the world via both traditional broadcasters and streamers. However, the pandemic has well and truly thrown a spanner in the works, with a Find Me in Paris movie, shot at the Opera National de Paris, among the production casualties in 2020. Nevertheless, in the first year of its three-year plan between now and 2023, Cottonwood Media president David Michel says the company is focusing on three key things to help it get back on track, while also addressing industry-wide issues. This includes plans to start shooting a new liveaction series with an international cast, for which it has been implementing safety measures. “The first year is still a year of a very unusual crisis where it’s hard to travel, which creates all kinds of problems,” Michel says. “We’ve done everything by the book in order to be prepared in terms of Covid safety measures. It’s the year of the unknown, so we’re trying to think in terms of the worst-case scenario.” Part of France’s Federation Entertainment, Cottonwood Media produces both live-action series and animated shows, such as The Ollie & Moon Show and Squish. With the virus presenting an ongoing threat, Michel adds that while animation may be more Covid-proof than live-action and buyers are seeking finished programming, demand for new live-action content is still strong. “Broadcasters are still greenlighting new liveaction shows to shoot in 2020/21. They know, just like we do, these shoots might take a little longer and might end up being a little bit more costly, but they are making that commitment,” he says. While potential further lockdowns could prevent filming of live-action shows, Michel also points out that during France’s initial lockdown period,
Find Me in Paris
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I don’t think people will want to be hearing about the end of the world for a few years once Covid is over. Everyone is in this very sombre mood right now and people will want escapism rooted in reality. David Michel Cottonwood was able to use the time to develop new programmes that it is now starting to pitch and sell. In the second and third years of its plan, Cottonwood will focus on two industry trends: diversity “without tokenism” and escapism. When it comes to the former, Michel notes that Cottonwood has to address the different concerns of its various international audiences, given that its shows travel across the globe. “Our main clients are in the US and Canada. So, from a production perspective, we have to really think about our writers rooms and our casting and so on, about their needs and where their cultures and societies are at, which is slightly different from where we’re at in Europe right now. In Europe, we are still lagging behind a bit as to how central diversity should be,” he says.
Meanwhile, Michel predicts that escapist content will remain an important trend over the next three years as viewers seek lighter and more optimistic programmes following the pandemic. “In the past few years, there has been lots of dystopian content showcasing quite grim futures, both on the adult and kids’ side. I don’t think people will want to be hearing about the end of the world for a few years once Covid is over. Everyone is in this very sombre mood right now and people will want escapism rooted in reality,” he says. Despite the challenges ahead, Michel is optimistic about the future, partly thanks to the influx of SVoD platforms and the opportunities they present to production companies like Cottonwood. “We have access to much higher budgets than we did before and, just like with diversity, it’s very exciting because we can tell other stories,” he says. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years and, basically, for the first 15 of those, I was working on the same format of shows for the same broadcasters for the same budgets. “It was nice but, at the end of the day, when all your parameters are the same, you end up telling the same stories. There’s something very refreshing about working with the platforms right now with their different budget requirements and audience skews. So I’m strangely optimistic.”
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KIDSTALK: Natalie Llewellyn
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Under a Covid cloud
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020 will be a year to remember. Covid-19 has had a profound influence on the world of work, our everyday lives and our mental and physical well-being. When we were first faced with the possibility of a pandemic, no one knew how it was going to play out – and to a certain extent, we still don’t. Before Covid-19 had touched the consciousness of all of us in the UK, I remember walking the halls of Kidscreen Summit, Miami back in February and the ripple effect of the virus had already started to take hold. Many of our friends and colleagues in Asia were noticeably absent and there was a sense of caution within the kids’ community. Returning home, talk soon started of the possibility trade shows – the cornerstones of TV licensing, the places where new brands are debuted, relationships are ignited, negotiations are kick-started and global deals are signed – would be cancelled. Without these markets, how will the commissioning process, the distribution business and the recruitment of international talent be impacted? It was at this point we realised Jellyfish had to respond quickly and adapt our business model so we could still thrive in a rapidly changing landscape. Jellyfish Pictures employs over 300 artists working across animated feature films, visual effects for high-end TV docs and dramas, and visual development for new animation properties. We had to look at the economic and creative landscape, employing crisis management and mitigation plans. As a service provider as well as producer of original content, we had a strong insight into how the industry was evolving as the pandemic took hold. Production within the studio did not suddenly come to a screaming halt. Fortunately, even before lockdown, Jellyfish had set up remote home-working for all its employees, both in the UK and across Europe, and thanks to our innovative and advanced cloud technology, there has been very little negative impact on overall productivity. Since Jellyfish’s originals slate is dedicated to animated projects, such as Ivy & The Inklings and Stan & Gran, we’ve been able to push forward during the crisis. I’ve not noticed a dip in how commissioning broadcasters’ respond to our original content pitches. If anything, many have been quicker to review and act on submissions and there seems to be no let-up in the appetite for kids’ content. Whilst the majority of production across all
Natalie Llewellyn, MD of original production at UK animation house Jellyfish, looks at getting a children’s property off the ground in a Covid-19 world. genres has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, we are fortunate that children’s content, and specifically animation, has preserved some level of immunity. As commissioning focus has shifted to animation rather than live-action, we’ve noticed an upswing in the appetite for visual development services, from both producers and broadcasters. A number of long leads for high-profile animated project development have landed in lockdown and our art department is at full capacity for some time to come, which is fantastic. I miss the buzz of a market – nothing beats a face-to-face pitch, an impromptu meeting that turns into a new business opportunity. Video-conferencing brings a different kind of exhaustion; it’s not always easy to read social cues or body language, for one thing. However, I’ve probably shared more of the ‘real me’ with colleagues since March and we’ve developed a new personal connection from catching a rare glimpse of each other’s homes or having our video call photo-bombed by cats and kids in equal measure. Is it harder to get a property off the ground in a Covid-19 world? Of course. It’s difficult for a project to cut through in such a competitive market at the best of times. Bottom line, though, is that a well-conceived, beautifully written, visually distinct, fresh idea will make it through these challenging times regardless and it would seem that even a pandemic won’t dim the industry’s passion and audience’s appetite for great content. In a crisis, we have seen the world unite and with that has emerged a more flexible and compassionate workforce. In the fast-paced world that we live in, being given the gift of time has enabled a new culture of creativity to be born and a willingness amongst our peers to share knowledge and success more freely. That can only be a good thing for content creators in the long term.
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