TV Kids NATPE 2014

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TVKIDS

WWW.TVKIDS.WS JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2014 NATPE & INTERNATIONAL EMMY KIDS AWARDS EDITION

Co-Productions / Hasbro’s Stephen Davis / AwesomenessTV’s Brian Robbins

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CONTENTS FEATURE

It’s a Small World After All

10 Learning to Share Driven by the desire to share risks and profits, producers and broadcasters are using co-production models to get shows made.

The Little Mermaid was recently aired on television in prime time, and when I told my children, now 26 and 15, they eagerly joined me to watch what had been such a beloved movie of their childhoods.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor Joel Marino Assistant Editor Simon Weaver Online Director Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Cesar Suero Sales & Marketing Director Vanessa Brand Sales & Marketing Manager Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Kids © 2014 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvkids.ws

We all sang along with the delightful and fun songs; it is remarkable how lyrics not heard for years and years immediately resurface from the recesses of our memories.

For me, watching the adventures of Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian evoked so many bittersweet memories and emotions: remembering my children when they were little, how they looked, how they laughed, how they played and enjoyed being silly, and, of course, how much they loved television, with my son enjoying video tapes and my daughter DVDs. I was living in Italy when my son was little. Of course, shows made in the U.S. were available there, from Disney and Looney Tunes. But he also delighted in European shows such as The Smurfs. Our move to the U.S. coincided with the arrival of Power Rangers and then anime such as Pokémon, Digimon and more.

These shows all had very distinctive characteristics. You could easily distinguish an American show from a European show from, of course, anime—not only in the look and style, but also in the pacing of the storytelling. Fast-forward to my daughter, who was born in the U.S. and spent her early years enjoying a mix of PBS, Nick Jr. and Playhouse Disney, and the imported shows she enjoyed weren’t that different from the American ones.

Today, the lines are blurring even more. Where the show comes from doesn’t make it look different from the rest. Shows are produced for the global market and thereby aspire to a high level of quality, and what constitutes quality—whether the level of CGI, the engagement of the characters or the pace of the storytelling—is pretty much the same for producers in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt or New Delhi.

I learned something interesting while writing the feature in this issue on co-productions. One of the reasons there are more universal standards for what makes a successful kids’ show is that much of the new talent entering the workforce—creators and animators—grew up on shows aired on pan-regional services such as Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

This new breed all got used to the same style of pacing and storytelling, and this is reflected in the work they do today as adults. While up to a very short while ago, Anglo-Saxon writing was considered the best, today, young writers from many different countries share the necessary sensibilities to make hit shows. It’s a small world after all.

—Anna Carugati

INTERVIEWS 16 Hasbro’s Stephen Davis

18 AwesomenessTV’s Brian Robbins

GET DAILY NEWS ON KIDS’ PROGRAMMING SUBSCRIBE HERE: WWW.WORLDSCREEN.COM/PAGES/NEWSLETTER

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BRB Internacional • InviZimals • Filly Funtasia • Mica Targeting youngsters between the ages of 5 and 12, InviZimals centers on a group of creatures that cannot be seen by humans.

The video game-based show, which uses augmented reality, is produced by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The series is being showcased by BRB Internacional, along with Filly Funtasia, a cartoon sitcom, and Mica, an animated preschool series. “[These] three productions are aimed at a global audience,” says Emilie Pasquet, a sales executive at BRB. Pasquet mentions that a pair of InviZimals specials recently debuted on several television channels around the globe, including TVE’s Clan in Spain, SIC in Portugal, K2 in Italy, Gulli in France and Eleven in Australia. “Filly Funtasia and Mica will be launched during 2014 worldwide too,” she adds.

“We expect to grow in the digital media area.”

—Emilie Pasquet InviZimals

Cyber Group Studios • Zorro the Chronicles • Zou • Mini Ninjas

The famous masked swordsman Zorro takes center stage in Zorro the Chronicles, a new animated series produced by Cyber Group Studios in association with Blue Spirit Studios. “Zorro is perfect for family viewing,” says Carole Brin, Cyber Group’s VP of international sales and acquisitions. “The brand has a worldwide heritage, and it will be a big franchise among 8- to 12-year-old kids, who will love the mix of action and comedy.”

Also on the company’s slate is the second season of Zou, the first season of which has been nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award in the preschool category.There is also Mini Ninjas, a collaboration between Cyber Group Studios, TF1 Production and Enanimation that is based on a video game and app.

“We have high hopes for Zorro the Chronicles as a great new entertainment production for kids and families.”

—Carole Brin Zorro the Chronicles

DreamWorks Animation • Turbo F.A.S.T. In 2013, DreamWorks Animation teamed up with Netflix to develop a number of new original series based on some of the studio’s hit franchises. “The multiyear agreement gives us the luxury of creating an extended narrative without many of the restrictions of more traditional distribution models,” says Marjorie Cohn, the head of television at DreamWorks Animation. The first show to come out of this deal is Turbo F.A.S.T., an ensemble comedy that debuted on the Internet TV service late last month. “Turbo F.A.S.T. exemplifies how we can draw inspiration from our films but deliver something that is completely unique,” adds Cohn. “Instead of presenting one big story, we have the ability to dig deep into the world and all of the individual characters.”

“Kids today are looking for daily engagement with the characters and content that they love.”

—Marjorie Cohn Turbo F.A.S.T. 56 World Screen 1/14

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Nerd Corps Entertainment • Slugterra: Ghoul from Beyond • Slugterra • Endangered Species One of the main priorities for Nerd Corps Entertainment this year is its successful Slugterra franchise, which includes the animated show Slugterra as well as the new television movie Slugterra: Ghoul from Beyond.“The property already has a substantial global fan base, a full toy line and many licensees signed on for diverse products worldwide,” says Ken Faier, the company’s president. “The TV movie offers a longer-form adventure that will expand the world and feed our audience’s hunger for more Slugterra.”Also being promoted by Nerd Corps is Endangered Species, a character-driven original comedy.“In each episode [of Endangered Species], hilarious adventures spring from the relationship between three mismatched best friends—the daredevil bunny, the hyper-safety-conscious squirrel and the naïve but adoring seagull,” adds Faier.

“Slugterra continues to be our priority, both in broadcast and in licensing.”

—Ken Faier Slugterra

Suzy’s Zoo • Suzy’s Zoo • Little Suzy’s Zoo • Wags and Whiskers

Initially a collection of greeting cards, Suzy’s Zoo is now featured on a variety of social expression products. The brand is divided into Suzy’s Zoo, Little Suzy’s Zoo and Wags and Whiskers.“Suzy’s Zoo has been a proven success in both the United States and Japan in recent years,” says Cathy Malatesta, the president of Lawless Entertainment, which represents Suzy’s Zoo. “The brand was recently introduced into the U.K. market, with licensees in publishing, baby clothing sets and accessories, games and more. To further exploit the brand throughout the world, agents have also recently been appointed for Benelux, Germany, Brazil and China.” Over the past year or so, Suzy’s Zoo has also released a number of successful e-books and interactive apps, as well as a Europe-targeted website.

“Suzy’s Zoo evokes the spirit of a simpler, safer world.”

Little Suzy’s Zoo

—Cathy Malatesta

Toon Goggles • www.toongoggles.com Toon Goggles recently scored a deal with Western Digital, which is now offering the on-demand platform’s family-friendly content on its WD TV Live media players.“WD TV Live streaming media players transform a user’s TV into a smart TV, providing complete access throughout the home to popular Internet-based entertainment,” says Stephen L. Hodge, the managing director of Toon Goggles.“We are delighted to be added to their broad selection of impressive channel services.”Toon Goggles is pre-installed on a variety of electronics, including Techno Source’s Kurio 7 Android tablet for families, the Sharp Aquos LED TV and Barnes and Noble’s NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, to name a few. It is also available online and as an application for Android, iOS,Windows 8 and Sony mobile devices.

“Our focus on becoming the overall on-demand entertainment destination for kids sets us apart.”

—Stephen L. Hodge Toon Goggles app on Kurio tablet 58 World Screen 1/14

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LEARNING CAKE’s Angelo Rules.

Driven by the desire to share risks and profits, producers and broadcasters are using co-production models to get shows made.

By Anna Carugati rom a very early age, children are told to share their toys and play together. If they master these skills, they could very well be qualified for the adult sharing that goes on in the children’s television business: co-producing. This involves working together on ideas, agreeing on story lines and storyboards, casting decisions, animation styles and much more.

The term “co-production” has become a catchall phrase that actually refers to a number of deals: treaty co-production, co-venture, co-financing, co-productions between production companies, co-productions that involve broadcasters and co-productions with financial institutions.

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Whatever the name, what drives these deals is a desire by the parties involved to share costs, mitigate risk, access financing—whether from government subsidies and tax credits or private equity—and very often share in the revenues, and hopefully profits, derived by the international sales of these shows to broadcasters around the world.

Given the cost of producing quality animation or live action, and the fact that license fees have dropped, for most independent producers and distributors, co-production is a viable option for producing kids’ programming today.

One of the most established forms of partnership is the treaty co-production. In these deals, the parties split all the work that needs to be done to produce the show. “Generally

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SHARE

speaking, you take a production and you divide the services pursuant to the financing that comes from the partners,” explains Vince Commisso, the president and CEO of 9 Story Entertainment. “There are rules about minimums. For example, generally no country can do less than 20 percent [of the work]. All the key creative must be talent that comes from one of the two countries, and it needs to be certified and qualified by those governing agencies. We are in the midst of doing one with Brazil and we have done several in the past with France and the U.K. Treaty co-production is common.”

The advantage of these formal treaties is that producers get access to local funds, provided the show uses talent from the country that is providing the funds.

Producers in Germany and Australia also make use of treaties.The German producer/distributor Studio 100 Media is making a feature film of its successful property Maya the Bee. Maya the Bee Movie: First Flight is produced as an official co-production between Studio 100 Media and its Sydneybased animation studio, Buzz Studios, in association with Flying Bark Productions.

In this case, a key incentive for the co-production was gaining access to a new audience. “Part of our strategy on Maya the movie was we wanted to expand more into the English-speaking world,” says Thorsten Wegener, the director of business operations at Studio 100 Media and producer of Maya the Bee Movie. “That is one of the reasons why we said, Let’s make a co-production with an English-speaking partner because we want to have their perspective on our brand and on our storytelling to open it up for the English-speaking world.

This is an advantage of co-productions, because they allow you to open doors to other markets.”

Another form of partnership that needs to adhere to specific rules is the co-venture, and it takes place between Canadian and U.S. companies.

In a co-venture, 75 percent of the entire budget must be produced in Canada. “There is a ten-point key creative system,” explains 9 Story’s Commisso. “Those points tend to be director, music composer, storyboard supervisor, layout supervisor, key animation, lead voice—all those things make up points and there are ten; eight must be done in Canada. Each party must contribute 50 percent of the financing and have 50 percent of the control, and participate in 50 percent of the net profits.”

9 Story is doing two co-ventures right now, one with WGBH on Arthur and Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood with The Fred Rogers Company, and it will likely be doing a third, also with The Fred Rogers Company.

As Commisso explains, the co-venture is a good way to mitigate production risk, because the division of labor is very clear: 75 percent of the services have to be done in Canada, and usually one service or two services, like writing and

commenting, come from the U.S. “In a treaty co-production, sometimes it’s not that clean because more of the work has to be done in one of the partnering countries.” The split is usually closer to 50-50, and partners have to decide how they want to divide the work. Treaty co-productions can also raise the cost of production because often certain services, such as storyboards, need to be duplicated.

WORKING TOGETHER

The co-venture is a variation of the co-financing deal, which appears to be the most common type of partnership. It allows for the greatest flexibility; partners can craft a deal that serves their needs, and not all parties have to be involved in the actual production.

“What we have been trying to do for the last five years at CAKE is to offer the project what it needed at the moment that it got introduced to us,” says Tom van Waveren, the CEO and creative director of CAKE. “Sometimes a project comes to us and it is 100 percent developed; the production is ongoing and there is just a need for a distributor,” he explains. “But there are also situations where someone will bring us a project where a commissioning broadcaster will be on board, a big part of the development will have been done, it’s clear what the show wants to be, but there is still a part of the budget that needs to be found. Plus, there needs to be some creative fine-tuning on the show. And that has typically been a scenario where we have felt comfortable coming on board and working with the organizing producer and studio.”

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Magic formula: Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom marked the second successful collaboration between eOne Family and Astley Baker Davies.

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Not surprisingly, compromise is an essential component of any co-production. “We need full editorial control for all of our co-productions to ensure tailor-made programs for our needs,” says Arne Lohmann, the VP of ZDFE.junior, a division of ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE). “However, compromise is essential here, and with top-notch co-production partners—such as the ones we have—this means a fruitful, rewarding exchange of ideas, and there’s no ‘contest’ to see who gets his way most often.”

ZDFE’s recent co-productions include Mako Mermaids, Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures and The New Adventures of Peter Pan. “They represent a good cross-section of co-productions made with renowned producers from various countries, including Australia and India; for different age groups, from preschoolers to teens; and with diverse formats, from live action to animation,” says Lohmann.

PARTNER POTENTIAL

Dynamic duo: ZDF Enterprises and DQ Entertainment have co-produced several projects together, including The New Adventures of Peter Pan.

One example of this kind of deal is Angelo Rules, produced by the French company TeamTO in association with CAKE. This series for the 6-to-11 set is going into its third season. Season two was nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award.

Another successful co-financing arrangement led to Peppa Pig, a collaboration between Entertainment One (eOne) Family and Astley Baker Davies. “Peppa Pig is a perfect example of a co-financing deal where we fund a big part of the production in order to get the brand-management rights, but we don’t produce a single element of the show itself,” says Olivier Dumont, the managing director of eOne Family.

“The experience on Peppa Pig was so positive that it led to another deal,” continues Dumont. “We then did Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom, where our comments and notes were absolutely minimal because they had a very strong creative vision for the show, which we felt really worked for our needs and would resonate for the international market.”

Being on the same page editorially and crafting a show that will sell internationally are the two most important aspects of any co-produced show. Both tasks require a great deal of work, and neither is easy.

“Sharing editorial control is one of the disadvantages in a co-pro because you have so many different approaches, so many different ways of working as well as cultural differences, and you have to handle this,” says Studio 100’s Wegener. “This is really an aspect that is not to be underestimated. But when a co-production works out well, then of course we like to continue to work with the same partners.”

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The importance of choosing the right partner is also stressed by Philippe Soutter, the president of PGS Entertainment.“Nearly all of the properties we represent are co-productions.The higher the budget, the greater the need for co-production partners. But there are exceptions. For example, on The Jungle Bunch from TAT productions, despite having a $10 million budget, the producers wanted to do everything in-house and we found a way together to have no external partner,” he says. “The advantages of a co-production are that a producer can get more financing assistance, as well as the added connections a co-producer might have to additional resources. Disadvantages would be usual budget increases and longer production process since more approvals are needed. The clear disadvantage comes when you don’t pick your partners the right way.”

Like anything, a co-production, whatever form it takes, has its own process, explains Pierre Sissmann, the CEO of Cyber Group Studios.“If you do a co-production with a financial institution where they bring in money and they want a piece of the back end, they will not interfere at all with the creative,” he says.

A co-production between producers in different countries— for instance, between France and Italy—will certainly require compromise because each partner brings a broadcaster into the deal. “The most difficult thing is to align broadcasters’ interests in the creative process,” says Sissmann. “So, if you have a broadcaster in France that has a certain view on your IP, or a broadcaster in Canada or the U.S. or Germany that has a different view, it becomes a process whereby you’ve got to agree on the best creative for the series but it has to satisfy all the broadcasters and all the producers.”

The difficulty, Sissmann continues, is not so much agreeing on all the elements, but in making sure at the outset of the production that the partners will follow a certain set of guidelines. “You have to define a process at the outset; if you don’t, it’s going to be very complicated,” he says. “It is complicated even if you do define a process, because some people are going to disagree on the creative issues or the production issues or the delivery issues anyway. So, in a co-production it is essential to define the steps that need to be followed and who has a final say, who will stay on which task at which point in time and who is in control of which task.”

Sissmann and his team have two co-productions in the works.

Mia, a new preschool series, is a co-pro between Cyber Group Studios in France for the Lagardère preschool channel TiJi, Radio-Canada and Sardine Productions in Canada, and

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Spacetoon, which is a network covering all of the Middle East, Indonesia and Malaysia.

“We have another co-production with TF1 Production for TF1 and RAI,” says Sissmann. “It’s called Mini Ninjas. TF1 Production picked up the property and asked us to co-produce.

We are the executive producers of the series, which we will deliver to TF1 and RAI next fall.”

Securing international distribution rights is an important part of any co-production deal; rights are either split among the partners, or one takes all rights.

“The skill set we bring to the table is that we have a good sense of what works internationally,” says CAKE’s van Waveren.

“When we look at a project...we look at what needs to happen editorially to lift it from a regional to an international project.

Then we ask where the financing is. In animation, it’s always key to maximize the access to soft funds as much as possible but try not to impact the creative freedom of bringing on board the talent needed to lift the show to a level where it appeals to an international audience.”

A GLOBAL MIX

Finding a friend: m4e is one of several partners involved in the production of Tip the Mouse, which is based on a children’s book series.

“We really enjoy that international mix,” says van Waveren.

“Ultimately, if you put those shows next to one another, our hope is that they will not feel that they come from those territories, but they will feel they are of a standard that can travel pretty much around the world.”

Keeping the international market in clear focus is a strategy shared by German media group m4e. At m4e, every show it takes on is a co-production.They do not own a production company, but rather work with partner studios around the world.

“Usually, we determine a budget together, a possible work split, then we bring in our partner studios,” says Hans Ulrich Stoef, co-founder and CEO of m4e. “We use their ability to access funding and tax credits, and then we bring in additional broadcasters who trust us when we are involved in such a project and when we feel it’s right for the international audience.

Then we secure the financing; the remaining gap will be closed by us, and then we take equity positions, as well as international distribution for all rights.”

One of m4e’s most successful properties is Mia and me, co-produced by Lucky Punch, Rainbow S.r.l. and March Entertainment, with m4e, Hahn Film, ZDF and Rai Fiction. “We are doing Mia and me the feature film, and we are in development of the third season of the TV series as well, all with Rainbow and with Mattel as toy partner,” adds Stoef.

The first season of Tip the Mouse is in production.

The series is a co-production between m4e, Studio Campedelli, Studio Bozzetto & Co. and Rai Fiction, and m4e has already received requests for another 52 episodes.

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Part of the pack: Cyber Group Studios has been involved in a number of co-productions, most recently for Mia.

Co-productions are quite common nowadays, as production costs remain high yet license fees are not increasing—if anything, they are dropping. This has led producers to join forces and finances in an effort to make shows that have broad international appeal, which is key to a property’s success.

“Five years ago, a good show was a good business, and now it needs to be a great show,” says CAKE’s van Waveren. “We feel that we need to push the creative to a higher level than what was needed. It’s not that we didn’t try to make the best possible shows.We made the best possible U.K. show or the best possible Aussie show and brought maybe some people from outside on board to make it happen. And now we need to ask, Does this project really have the potential to be embraced by many different countries? Today, if you have a successful show in a limited number of territories, from a business point of view, it’s that much harder [to recoup the investment and make money].”

A number of executives in the children’s television business feel that subsidized co-productions, targeting only two or three countries, illustrate a myopic view of the business.

“There are so many productions that do not deliver on what they promised that they are overloading the pipeline, and that makes it very hard for good and entertaining shows these days to find the audience,” says m4e’s Stoef. “There are too many producers; they understand how to produce a TV show but don’t understand how to make it commercially successful. That’s a big, big problem. But there are still broadcasters buying these shows and it takes money away from the good shows that have a chance of surviving in the market.”

Stoef continues, “And the broadcasters...have to understand that they have to come up with some serious money.They cannot only produce their margins on the backs of the animation production companies; they have to pay a certain license fee.This is also for their survival: what would they do without content?”

Despite the challenges inherent to co-productions, there is one very promising development on the horizon. There is a new generation of talent emerging who grew up with AngloSaxon storytelling, thanks to Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel being present in so many markets.“These new creators know how to tell stories in a rhythm, a tone and a tradition that is internationally understood,” says CAKE’s van Waveren.“That makes it easier to find talent needed for a project that works in different corners of the world.”

They will still need to know how to share, but the process is going to be easier.

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our creative stewards, who we brought in to help us reimagine our brands for television and film. Certainly, relative to other kids’ storytelling in the marketplace, we have benefitted significantly from having these wonderful beloved brands.

TV KIDS: Is there an appetite for shows that the whole family can watch together?

DAVIS: Absolutely. It’s interesting when you look at the statistics: kids actually still do want to watch programming with their parents. Whether that’s on television or on digital, it indexes very high, which we have found to be a competitive advantage for our channel, Hub Network, which is run

by Margaret Loesch. We saw a white space for programming for kids and families. When you look at shows, even Transformers, My Little Pony and Family Game Night, we get a big percentage of kids watching with an adult, and we are now replicating that kind of success globally. There aren’t a lot of shows in the international market that kids and families can watch together, so our shows are very, very strong in that respect.

Hasbro’s Stephen Davis

By Anna Carugati

As president of Hasbro Studios, Stephen Davis oversees a team charged with reinventing many of Hasbro’s iconic toy brands for today’s media-savvy children. This includes development, production and international distribution of TV shows for both animation and live action. To date, the studio has produced more than 900 half-hours of programming, including the series Transformers Prime and G.I. Joe Renegades, which target boys; My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and Littlest Pet Shop for girls; and Clue and Family Game Night, aimed at the whole family. As Davis explains, one of the studio’s strengths is its ability to produce shows that children and their parents enjoy watching together.

TV KIDS: The children’s market has always been crowded.

When you set up the studio, did you see certain voids in the market that needed to be filled?

DAVIS: We are in a fortunate position to have over 1,500 brands that are very well known to kids and families. We felt that we certainly had a leg up going into the market because of how beloved and well known our brands are. At the end of the day, though, it’s about great storytelling and great characters, so I was fortunate enough to build a studio with A++ talent. We work with a lot of very well-regarded storytellers, 66 World Screen 1/14

TV KIDS: Hasbro Studios has brought together the entertainment and licensing divisions. How did that come about?

DAVIS: At its heart, Hasbro is a company of storytellers, and so much of what we do in our brand-franchise strategy is telling stories, whether that is at retail or on the big screen or on the small screen. And so much of entertainment and licensing are really intertwined, so putting the groups together allows us to be sure that we are really fully integrated with respect to our content and our retail strategies. And frankly, that we are better partners to our licensees, and that they have the benefit of seeing the strength that storytelling has in their retail efforts. We put the teams together, and Simon Waters, who runs global licensing and publishing, has just been phenomenal. He and his team have done such a tremendous job in both TV and film, and now we are just supersizing that effort.

TV KIDS: What new shows do you have coming up?

DAVIS: We have this great new show, which is kind of the

entry point for Transformers for littler boys called Transformers Rescue Bots. Although interestingly, when we reimagined Transformers for a younger generation, typically big brother doesn’t want to watch what little brother is watching, but because the Transformers brand resonates across so many generations and it’s so relevant and relatable, we’re actually finding that while we conceived Rescue Bots principally for 4- to 5-year-olds, the older brother, who is 7 or 8 years old, is also watching with little brother.

We just talked about co-viewing and children wanting to watch with their parents, well, now we have this show where little brother wants to watch with older brother and big brother also wants to watch with little brother, which is a phenomenal opportunity because, again, there are not a lot of shows where you have that kind of multigenerational appeal at all levels. In fact, Rescue Bots inspired us for our new chapter of Transformers, because Rescue Bots is a much simpler show to understand, the transformations are much simpler, and it’s a lighter, brighter, more humorous approach. So a lot of what we learned from Rescue Bots we are now applying to our new Transformers series.

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to take a shot and do something I had never done before, which was finance the movie myself. I knew it had to go fast. It was about four months from the time of our first meeting to actually shooting. That movie went on Nickelodeon later that year and was the number one movie of the year for kids, teens and tweens.After that, I decided, if this kid from Nebraska can do this all on his own, what would happen if I were to really [take a lead in] this? That’s how Awesomeness came to be.

TV KIDS: You’ve now used AwesomenessTV as the basis for

a linear TV show. How did that come about?

ROBBINS: It was always in the game plan. I look at what

we’re doing on YouTube as two things. One, we’re building a brand, and we could not have scaled a brand as quickly on any other platform as we did on YouTube.

Today, we have more than a million subscribers on the main channel and 200 million video views. On our MCN, our multichannel network of content creators, we have 25 million subscribers, 2 billion video views and 65 million monthly uniques. As we’re scaling that audience, the idea was to also make valuable IP. We took our sketch comedy, bundled it together in a half-hour format with hosted wraparounds, and that premiered on Nickelodeon this past summer [to 1.7 million viewers].

AwesomenessTV’s

Brian Robbins

By Mansha Daswani

With more than a million subscribers and 200-million-plus video views on his flagship AwesomenessTV YouTube channel, Brian Robbins knows a thing or two about what kids, tweens and teens want to watch—and how they want to watch it. The actor turned TV producer (with credits that include Smallville and One Tree Hill) is today on the cutting edge of delivering compelling content for young viewers. So much so that last year Jeffrey Katzenberg brought Robbins and AwesomenessTV into the DreamWorks Animation family. TV Kids recently spoke with Robbins about nextgeneration content creation.

TV KIDS: What was the inspiration for AwesomenessTV? ROBBINS: There were a couple of things. First was watching my

own kids’ behavior and the way they were consuming content.

They’re not watching traditional television in the way that you and I might have conceived of watching television. They are on their devices all the time. [In 2010], my agents introduced me to this kid named Fred [a character portrayed by Lucas Cruikshank], who was the first YouTuber to have a million subscribers.When I met him he had about half a billion views. I was confused—I make movies and television, what am I going to do with this kid from the Internet? And then I went home that night and said to my kids and their friends, Do you guys know who Fred is? They all knew who Fred was; they all imitated his funny voice. I asked them,Would you want to see a Fred movie?

And one of the kids without hesitation said, Tonight? I decided 68 World Screen 1/14

TV KIDS: As more and more viewing takes place online, what happens to the traditional linear model of television?

ROBBINS: I don’t think traditional TV is going away. As a matter of fact, more people watch TV today than ever before.

They just watch it differently. So we’re filling a service for a certain audience. More than half our views are mobile. It’s all short-form snackable content. If you’re going to watch an hour of television, or even a half hour, you still want to lean back, watch it in your living room, watch it the way people watch traditional TV. But our stuff can be watched on a school bus, while you’re waiting at the doctor’s office, and in between studying or doing your homework. You can fill these voids that we now have in our lives more than ever.

Jeffrey [Katzenberg] likes to say we wait a lot. There’s a lot of waiting time, and we’re filling the waiting time.

TV KIDS: What is your advice to content creators today, producing programming for this new Millennial generation?

ROBBINS: You have to be authentic. They can smell insincerity a mile away. I think the one problem traditional broadcasters have had is that they only make a couple of shows.

Think about the slate at Cartoon Network or Nick or Disney: it’s a handful of shows, and they repeat a lot. In this world where you have so much choice, why do you have to watch something that you’ve seen ten times? These kids have both the appetite and the time to consume a ton of content.

TV KIDS: What are the benefits of being part of

DreamWorks Animation?

ROBBINS: Having someone like Jeffrey Katzenberg as my

partner now, helping me guide this business, grow it, is a tremendous advantage. He’s one of the last moguls and he loves what we’re doing. He loves this space, he really believes in it, he’s a visionary. So that in itself is a giant help. There’s also a lot of valuable IP at DreamWorks that I think we’re going to be able to use to grow our brand.

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