Gráinne McGuinness of Paper Owl on tackling kids’ mental health issues

from Content London 2021: Day 2

News round-up for day two

Making sure the kids are alright

Gráinne McGuinness of Paper Owl Films argues that public broadcasters have a key role – and responsibility – when it comes to tackling mental health issues in kids TV. Karolina Kaminska reports.

Belfast-based children’s prodco Paper Owl Films’ ethos is to create content “that makes a difference, inspiring audiences to see the world in different ways.” To achieve this, the studio produces programmes touching on various themes and issues, one of which is mental health.

One of Paper Owl’s fl agship shows is Pablo, an animated series it has produced since 2017. The programme, which airs on the BBC’s preschool channel CBeebies in the UK and on networks in 20 other countries, follows the adventures and challenges of a fi ve-year-old autistic boy.

“The most joyous project of our life at Paper Owl has been Pablo,” says creative director Gráinne McGuinness. “What creating Pablo did for us as a team at Paper Owl was give us the mantra of thinking differently and seeing the world in different ways. We worked with a wide spectrum of people – neurotypical and autistic – who all had their own challenges and passions in their lives. In creating that show, it made us all feel very passionately about the fact that this is what we want to do in all our shows.”

In line with this, Paper Owl last year released animated fi lm Sol, which focuses on a young boy and his journey through grief following the death of his grandma, and is currently in production on Happy the Hoglet, a series for CITV about a baby hedgehog who, despite his name, is not always happy.

The subject of mental health is featuring more and more in children’s TV, as awareness around the issue increases. And for McGuinness, it is a vital topic to address when making kids’ programming.

“Children are 100% of the future, so nothing could be more important than having nurturing, caring, positive takeaways in our content for that audience. It is the most important audience and the most demanding audience,” she says.

“Children will very quickly switch off if they think they’re being preached to, so it’s about getting those messages out in a way that’s done through positive modelling; not by letting kids know that they’re being spoken to but by creating relatable characters and situations that they normally fi nd themselves in and that model healthy behaviours.

“Preschoolers and young children are continually engaged in emotional discovery; they feel things so massively, whether it’s the joy of being on a beach or the absolute anguish of not getting what they want. It’s a very natural thing to build in positive emotional discovery in content for them. Not all children have positive modelling of mental health in their homes, so it’s more important than ever we model it in the content we create.

“When I was a child, we didn’t have this kind of discussion. We didn’t have this passion for mental health and establishing good mental health patterns in our younger children and our younger viewers. I’d say my own journey in life would have been helped an awful lot if I’d had these messages as a child, because life is full of highs and lows. We experience all sorts, we experience grief, we experience joy and it’s about navigating it all.” Pubcasters are the most likely to commission kids’ content that covers themes like mental health, according to McGuinness. In fact, she doesn’t

think Sol – which was commissioned and funded by pubcasters TG4 in Ireland, S4C in Wales and the BBC – would have been made had it not been for those channels, although it was picked up by commercial networks CITV and Channel 5 afterwards. “We wouldn’t have been able to tell that story if it had just been for a commercial broadcaster,” McGuinness says. “It took public service broadcasters to take the risk of addressing a subject like grief for us to be able to make the special. “Public service broadcasters are willing to t this is what we want to do take a risk. They are willing to refl ect minorities and they’re willing to see all children refl ected s, Paper Owl last on screen, whereas traditionally commercial mated fi lm Sol, broadcasters have had to appeal to more a young boy established demographic categories that hrough grief meet their commercial needs. ath of his “I feel very passionately about the fact that s currently we will always need our dedicated public

Happy the service broadcasters, but there’s absolutely or CITV no reason why commercial broadcasters can’t gehog fi nd ways to create meaningful content for ame, children as well. If we are creating content for py. young children that promotes mental health, mental we have to do that in a way that attracts the ng more and biggest possible audience because we want

TV, as awareness the biggest possible audience to engage.” increases. And for a vital topic to address ’ programming. 00% of the future, so of discussion. We didnt have th for mental health and es good mental health patt yo y unger children and o viewers. I’d say my ow in life would have be an awful lot if I’d messages as a child life is fu and l experie sorts, we e grief, we expe and it’s about it all.” Pubcasters are likely to commiss content that covers th mental health, acco McGuinness. In fact, s Children are 100% of the future, so “ Child nothing could be more important than having nurturing, caring, positive takeaways in our content for that audience.