TV Kids March 2023

TV Kids Festival Videos / In-Demand: Edutainment & Diversity & Inclusion

The TV KIDS SUMMER FESTIVAL is a four-day must-attend virtual event taking place a week prior to Annecy/MIFA.

Set to be held from June 6 to 9, 2023, the third edition of the TV KIDS SUMMER

FESTIVAL will feature keynotes and panels with leading executives and creatives discussing the major trends in the children’s programming business. It will be streamed live and available on-demand for two months TVKidsSummerFestival.com. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Ricardo Guise at rguise@worldscreen.com or Dana Mattison at dmattison@worldscreen.com.

CONTENTS

MATTEL’S RICHARD DICKSON The president and COO of Mattel highlights the crucial role IP plays in the company’s overall brand-building strategies.

WILDBRAIN’S ERIC ELLENBOGEN The vice chair and CEO of the leading kids’ and family content indie shares how he is guiding the company through a fast-changing marketplace.

BANIJAY KIDS & FAMILY’S BENOÎT DI SABATINO The CEO of Banijay Kids & Family lays out his growth strategy for the company, which includes a dedicated distribution and commercial arm and production labels across Europe.

TV KIDS PIONEER AWARD: FRANCESCA NEWINGTON The director of the Narrative Entertainment-owned POP Channels highlights her content strategy at the U.K. portfolio of services.

THE DECISION-MAKERS Sky Kids’ Lucy Murphy, Paramount U.K. & Ireland’s Louise Bucknole, TFO’s Marianne Lambert and Future Today’s David Di Lorenzo articulate their acquisition strategies.

9 STORY MEDIA GROUP’S VINCE COMMISSO 9 Story Media Group’s president and CEO highlights his strategy for building on the company’s successes and further expansion.

CHRIS NEE The creator of the breakthrough show Doc McStuffins and a slew of other titles via an overall deal with Netflix on innovation in preschool narrative techniques, the keys to encouraging co-viewing and her work in driving forward diversity and inclusion in children’s media.

SPOTLIGHT: U.K. & IRELAND Jetpack Distribution’s Dominic Gardiner, Serious Kids’ Genevieve Dexter, Monster Entertainment’s Andrew Fitzpatrick, Sixteen South’s Colin Williams and Magic Light Pictures’ Muriel Thomas in a conversation about British and Irish animation.

INSIDE GABBY ’S DOLLHOUSE Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey offer an inside look at the process behind making the hit DreamWorks Animation series Gabby ’s Dollhouse

MONEY MATTERS CAKE’s Ed Galton, Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone, DeAPlaneta Entertainment’s Carlos Biern and Big Bad Boo Studios’ Shabnam Rezaei offer their insights on how to cobble together the financing on shows.

STAR TREK: PRODIGY ’S NEW FRONTIERS Kevin and Dan Hageman discuss making the first animated series for kids set in the beloved Star Trek universe.

MAKING SENSE OF YOUTUBE Strategies for harnessing the power of YouTube and other free video platforms in serving young viewers are debated by Entertainment One’s Yannick Ferrero, pocket.watch’s David B. Williams, Cloudco Entertainment’s Sean Gorman and Genius Brands International’s Paul Robinson.

THE JIM HENSON COMPANY’S HALLE STANFORD The president of television at The Jim Henson Company talks about how the outfit places “humor, heart and hope” at the center of every show it produces.

KIDOODLE.TV’S STREAMING EDGE Brenda Bisner, the chief content officer at the platform, reveals what’s driving its usage gains across multiple markets and platforms.

GETTING CREATIVE Sesame Workshop’s Kay Wilson Stallings, Nelvana’s Athena Georgaklis, Cyber Group Studios’ Ira Singerman and Boat Rocker’s Shaleen Sangha share their approaches to crafting development slates that meet the needs of all players in the market.

FIRST DAY ’S FIRSTS Creator Julie Kalceff and producer Kirsty Stark showcase how the Australian live-action series is breaking barriers in its representation of transgender kids.

SMARTER KIDS Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry-Sirvin, Toonz Media Group’s Bruno Zarka and The itsy bitsy Entertainment Company’s Kenn Viselman deliver lessons on successfully incorporating curricula and important social themes in kids’ content.

EMMA WATKINS The singer, dancer and actress who rose to fame as a member of The Wiggles talks about her new series, Emma Memma: Sing. Dance. Sign.

IN-DEMAND: EDUTAINMENT & DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Shows that put edutainment and diversity and inclusion front and center.

Ricardo Seguin Guise

Publisher

Mansha Daswani Editor-in-Chief

Anna Carugati Editor-at-Large

Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor

Jamie Stalcup

Associate Editor

David Diehl Production & Design Director

Simon Weaver Online Director

Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Director

Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Manager

Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President

Anna Carugati Executive VP

Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development

OUR PLAYGROUND IS GETTING BIGGER!

RICHARD DIC Keynote: Mattel’s

Richard Dickson, the president and COO of Mattel, highlighted the crucial role IP plays in the company’s overall brand-building strategies.

Read the recap here.

DICKSON

Following the completion of our turnaround in 2021, we evolved our strategy last year from transforming Mattel into an IP-driven, high-performing toy company to growing our IP-driven toy business and expanding our entertainment offering. Film and television, consumer products and digital experiences like games and NFTs are directly adjacent businesses to the toy industry. We’re making a lot of progress on capturing the full value of our IP in what we believe are highly accretive business verticals.”

ERIC ELLENB Keynote: WildBrain’s

Eric Ellenbogen, vice chair and CEO of the leading kids’ and family content indie, shared how he is guiding the company through a fast-changing marketplace.

Read the recap here.

NBOGEN

The headlines have been exaggerating the rationalization happening in the business. There has been enormous, unprecedented investment in content. A lot of it was about audience acquisition and retention. What we’re seeing now is more careful choices and development by the streamers. The level of investment is still extremely high. The landscape is changing for sure. Some services are de-emphasizing kids’ content, but we are seeing growth in FAST channels. There’ll be continuing shifts in the marketplace. But our business has always endured those things. It’s just about great creative.”

BENOÎT DI SA Keynote: Banijay Kids &

Benoît Di Sabatino, the CEO of Banijay Kids & Family, laid out his growth strategy for the company, which includes a dedicated distribution and commercial arm and production labels across Europe. Read the recap here.

SABATINO Family’s

With six production companies, we have six times more opportunities to develop amazing shows and potentially global brands. All those companies are based in important financial territories with key commissioning broadcasters and tax incentive policies. Thanks to this organization, we can cater to a wide range of audiences—from preschool to kids, young adults and family—in live action and animation. Each label is building its own financing, but we help with our distribution network around gap financing, presales, co-productions and minimum guarantees. Our method is to encourage producers’ initiatives and provide them with support if needed.”

FRANCESCA TV Kids Pioneer Award: PO

For her savvy programming decisions at the Narrative Entertainment-owned POP Channels, Francesca Newington was honored with the TV Kids Pioneer Award after participating in a keynote conversation about her content strategy at the U.K. portfolio of channels and services.

Read the recap here.

A NEWINGTON POP Channels’

We look for anything that pops; anything with that vibration to it, that energy, and anything that’s funny—it keeps them hooked in. Franchises are very important for us. Anything that already has built-in recognition and nostalgia that appeals to parents for co-viewing. We ask ourselves, Would you sit and watch that with your child? We always look for content that has diversity embedded within it. It’s so important to reflect our audience within our content. We’re finding that there’s so much more out there now that fulfills that criteria and in many different and authentic ways. That’s positive to see, and it’s always front of mind for us when shortlisting content.”

THE DECISIONMAKERS

Sky Kids’ Lucy Murphy, Paramount U.K. & Ireland’s Louise Bucknole, TFO’s Marianne Lambert and Future Today’s David Di Lorenzo articulated their acquisition strategies.

Read the recap here.

We’ve been focusing on live-action series, trying to find more movies for our audience; things that will bring the family together. ”

—David Di Lorenzo

We need to make sure there’s a balance of premium shows that we do have exclusivity for and franchises that may be on more than one platform.”

—Lucy Murphy

We’re always looking for innovation. How can we make them learn a little bit as they are having fun?”

—Marianne Lambert

We’re looking for killer, not filler. We want the shows that are going to stand out. What will make the kids draw the picture, hum the theme tune and play based on that show? They’re always going to be the winners for us.”

—Louise Bucknole

VINCE COMM Keynote: 9 Story Media

Vince Commisso, 9 Story Media Group’s president and CEO, shared his strategy for building on the company’s successes and further expansion.

Read the recap here.

MMISSO Group’s

What we’re seeing is a belief—an accurate one—that the current business model as a result of streaming content is not as lucrative as the one that preceded it. That’s caused a bit of a pause in the marketplace, manifesting itself in two ways. One is a reduction in the commissions of shows and then the reduction of budgets. That’s going to be the case for the foreseeable future. I think it’s time for companies like us to look at how

we do everything and adjust for the way the world is moving forward, especially in the area of content.”

CHRIS NEE Creative Keynote:

Chris Nee, creator of the breakthrough show Doc McStuffins and a slew of other titles via an overall deal with Netflix, spoke about innovation in preschool narrative techniques, the keys to encouraging co-viewing and her work in driving forward diversity and inclusion in children’s media. Read the recap here.

I started at Sesame Street, which was great at working on two levels— the level the kids were watching on and the one the parents were watching on. I don’t have that sense that if kids don’t understand every single beat of something, they won’t watch it. That’s a different way of approaching preschool TV. I think they recognize an emotional beat because of how everybody reacts to it. Doing really strong character comedy work through the very specific point of view of whatever the weirdness of the characters is keeps the parents in there. And then the other real secret when you’re trying to keep parents in and watching is having great voice casts and great music.”

IRELAND Spotlight: U.K. &

Jetpack Distribution’s Dominic Gardiner, Serious Kids’ Genevieve Dexter, Monster Entertainment’s Andrew Fitzpatrick, Sixteen South’s Colin Williams and Magic Light Pictures’ Muriel Thomas took part in a conversation about British and Irish animation.

Read the recap here.

What doesn’t destroy us—our lack of financing—in a way, makes us resilient and robust. That’s why the indus try is growing. ” —Dominic Gardiner

It comes down to us as producers to maximize co-pro funding and soft money to make the [shows] affordable. ”

More studios are looking to the same pool of funding. But thankfully, the funding pool has also expanded somewhat.”

—Andrew Fitzpatrick

The Irish are known for their storytelling; that’s the one thing that we keep coming back to in terms of what we can do well.”

Losing [access to Creative Europe funding], we need to think creatively and find other ways to cover that. ”

—Muriel Thomas

—Genevieve Dexter

—Colin Williams

GABB Y ’S DO Inside

Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey offered delegates an inside look at the process behind making the hit DreamWorks Animation series Gabb y ’s Dollhouse .

Read the recap here.

DOLLHOUSE

We loved dollhouses, miniatures, cats. We were very tuned in to this unboxing phenomenon and how much preschoolers were into it. We thought there was something there, but we wanted to take it to the next level. So instead of unboxing a toy or a product, what if we unbox a story? We put it all into the mix and came up with the idea for Gabby ’s Dollhouse.” —Jennifer

Twomey

We love that we inspire kids to use their creativity once the show is over. That just seems sort of the essence of the ecosystem of the internet now, of doing recipes together, doing crafts together.” —Traci

Paige Johnson

MONEY MATTERS

CAKE’s Ed Galton, Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone, DeAPlaneta

Entertainment’s Carlos Biern and Big Bad Boo Studios’ Shabnam

Rezaei of fered their insights on how to cobble together the financing on shows.

Read the recap here.

It’s a time to regroup and look closer at what we’re commissioning. It’s healthy for the business to make things that people watch and not burn money on shows that never find an audience.”

There are so many things at play. We stay true to the content we want to make; we believe there’s a great audience for it.”

Licensing consumer products will be back again in the next two or three years. Kids’ and family content is needed. Global shows will always happen.”

We’re almost going back to the model that some of us were very successful at for many years, which is putting multiple partners together to get to 100 percent.”

—Ed Galton

—Carlos Biern

—Frank Falcone

—Shabnam Rezaei

Star Trek: Prodig y ’s NEW FRONTI

Kevin and Dan Hageman discussed making the first animated series for kids set in the beloved Star Trek universe.

Read the recap here.

NTIERS

Because it’s animation, we’re able to do some things that some live-action shows can’t do. Our ship is all windows. You’re looking right out into space. We wanted to make sure we pushed and pulled what these characters looked like and what they could represent throughout the galaxy.” —Dan

Hageman

We weren’t necessarily looking at writ ers who have done the close-ended 22-minute or 11-minute formats. A lot of our writers come from the live-action world. We take the time for it to breathe, and we need those dramatic moments. It’s a different animal than a lot of other young animated shows.” —Kevin

Hageman

Making Sense of YOUTUBE

Strategies for harnessing the power of YouTube and other free video platforms in serving young viewers were debated by Entertainment One’s Yannick Ferrero, pocket.watch’s David B. Williams, Cloudco Entertainment’s Sean Gorman and Genius Brands International’s Paul Robinson.

Read the recap here.

For anyone who wants brand success and stickiness, YouTube is, if not front and center, certainly crucial to have a great strategy and execution.” —Sean

We have to deliver value to our paying customers, but at the same time, we want to build the brand. That’s about careful windowing [and] creating different content.”

—Paul Robinson

Gorman

It’s essential [in] our brand-building strategies to gain awareness. It’s making sure that we reinvent our brands so that it converts for the retailers as well.”

—Yannick Ferrero

YouTube is the most data-rich environment we’ve ever had and the richest with engagement as well. Sometimes I call it the Galapagos Islands of media because it’s like this incredibly fiercely competitive environment where you see all these new forms of life evolve. ” —David

B. Williams

HALLE STAN Keynote: The Jim Henson

Halle Stanford, the president of television at The Jim Henson Company, talked about how the outfit places “humor, heart and hope” at the center of every show it produces. Read the recap here.

ANFORD on Company’s

The Henson way is from Jim Henson’s legacy, but also how we at Henson right now are trying to build on what that means. It comes down to three words: humor, heart and hope. We’re a performer-driven company. We create characters, from the inside out. We’re always creating the essence and heart of characters. That makes us unique in the types of characters we create at Henson, and I think it’s why they resonate strongly and emotionally with audiences in prime time and kids.”

KIDOODLE.TV’S STREAMING

Brenda Bisner, chief content officer at Kidoodle.TV, revealed what’s driving its usage gains across multiple markets and platforms.

Read the recap here.

EDGE

Completed content is the number one priority. We do not gap finance; we do not co-produce. We’re not going to come to the table and save the day on some old-school business-structure models. We’re looking for content that you have ready to go that has a proven audience around it. It is really important that there is a social strategy. There’s a lot out there in the marketplace. How are you going to get to the front? The packaging of that content, what makes it different? If it’s everywhere for free, why should people care about that? I’m always encouraging partners to look at what they have, how they can package it and what their visuals are to engage the audience.”

GETTING CREATIVE

Sesame Workshop’s Kay Wilson Stallings, Nelvana’s Athena Georgaklis, Cyber Group Studios’ Ira Singerman and Boat Rocker’s Shaleen Sangha shared their approaches to crafting development slates that meet the needs of all players in the market.

Read the recap here.

We’re looking for characters that our audience will want to be friends with.

We look for stories that are meaningful to our audience, on topics that our audience can relate to.” —Kay

Wilson Stallings

Ultimately, we’re always looking for a meaningful, creative, fun story, driven by great characters, and it has to fit within our overall priorities.”

—Athena Georgaklis

Finding new voices, people who are underrepresented and putting them on screen, is a core philosophy that we stand by. ”

—Shaleen Sangha

We’re here to create new ideas and bring something into the world that inspires the next generation of kids. But of course, having known IP is certainly very important in terms of a business considera tion. We balance both.”

—Ira Singerman

FIRSTS First Day ’ s

showcased how the Australian live-action series First Day is breaking barriers in its representation of transgender kids.

Read the recap here.

Creator Julie Kalce ff and producer Kirsty Stark

—Julie Kalceff

Children’s television has such an impact on kids. It’s how they view the world. And if they don’t see themselves on screen, it impacts how they feel about themselves. It goes a long way toward creating their self-esteem. I think children’s television has a great, important role in not only diverse representation, but also representation in a way that creates an environment where people can start conversations and see what best behavior is and how they should be acting.”

We knew that it wasn’t enough just to tell the coming-out story. We want to show what it’s like to live as a trans girl once you are out. And that story continues. The financing was a lot more difficult within Australia to put together. We approached Hulu, knowing their enthusiasm for the first series, and they were amazingly supportive in putting up part of the financing. We were able to complete production and put the series out to the world.”

—Kirsty Stark

SMARTER KIDS

Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry-Sirvin, Toonz Media Group’s Bruno Zarka and The itsy bitsy Entertainment Company’s Kenn Viselman delivered lessons on successfully incorporating curricula and important social themes in kids’ content.

Read the recap here.

‘Educational’ is very broad now because it’s almost in every show. Even in shows that are ‘commercial,’ so to speak, there is a social-emotional, educational part in it; I think we are over this era when people just wanted to entertain kids. We have a mission with children. We have to help them.

Pétry-Sirvin

We need to encourage kids to use their imaginations and creativity to problem-solve and understand a differ ent way of learning. Yes, you have to be able to do reading, writing and arithmetic. But what’s equally or probably more important is that we are creating things that allow kids to become innovators in the future.” —Kenn

Viselman

Education is a wide world. Children are spending 7 to 10 hours a day at school. When they come home and watch a program, they want to get entertained. We’re not there to point to the education as this is educational. I think our mission is not to be educational—it is to participate in this change for the future.” —Bruno

Zarka

EMMA WATK Creative Keynote:

Emma Watkins, who rose to fame as a member of The Wiggles, spoke about her new series, Emma Memma: Sing. Dance. Sign.

Read the recap here.

ATKINS

People around the world have been researching the benefits of music and dance and movement for children for so many years. There’s such a plethora of research that supports movement and music in children’s learning. Something that we learned many, many years ago was that connection that children have to associate concepts and words with music— it helps their understanding of that particular subject. It’s lovely to be able to use media now to combine all of those forms and give children options. I think in the past we’ve been so laser-focused on just one, whether it’s just music or just visual, whereas now we can provide lots of different options.”

In-Demand: Edutainment & DNI

Corpse Talk

Commissioner: YouTube

Producer: Tiger Aspect Kids & Family

Distributor: All rights from Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution.

Description: (6+ animation, 13x7 min. & 1x15 min.) The show that brings the dead famous to life! Host Adam is digging up history in the comedy-led chat show Corpse Talk.

Educational Component: History.

Pitch Perfect: “An animated comedy chat show for the dead famous, blending learning with laughter, Corpse Talk is based on an established comic book series featuring key historical figures, including Mozart, Cleopatra and Josephine Baker. With accompanying worksheets encouraging a love of history, the series has amassed 10-plus million views on YouTube.” —Tom Beattie, Managing Director, Tiger Aspect

Kids & Family

Sales Contacts: Delphine Dumont, Chief Commercial Officer, Banijay

Kids & Family; Cecile Cau, SVP, Sales, Co-Productions & Acquisitions; Julia Rowlands, SVP, Sales, Co-Productions & Acquisitions.

In-Demand: Edutainment & DNI

The Nap Time Show

Commissioner: Black Education Station

Producer: Boone Productions

Distributor: All rights available from Boone Productions.

Description: (3-6 comedy/educational, 10x22 min.) An interactive episodic preschool series using imaginative play to develop a healthier relationship between children and rest.

DNI Components: Age, gender, neurodiversity and cultural representation.

Pitch Perfect: In a world recovering from widespread burnout, The Nap Time Show answers the call for authentic diversity with universally relatable characters and compelling storylines championing the benefits of rest. With imaginative play, magical music, wildlife adventures and a vintage nurturing appeal, this show is an everyday breath of fresh air. Watch the trailer for more about the show from Sierra L. Boone, executive producer.

Sales Contacts: Sierra L. Boone, Daphne Boone, sales@thenaptimeshow.com.

In-Demand: Edutainment & DNI

Heirs of the Night

Commissioners: NRK, AVROTROS, NDR, ZDF Studios

Producers: Lemming Film, Hamster Film, Maze Pictures, Maipo Film, ZDF Studios

Distributor: ZDF Studios, worldwide, excluding co-pro partners’ territories.

Description: (10+/family, 26x26 min.) Heirs of the Night is set in 1889 and tells the story of the five remaining vampire clans in Europe and their young ones.

Pitch Perfect: After centuries of war, there are only five vampire clans in Europe. All direct descendants of Lord Dracula, who gave each of them a ruby endowed with a specific power that is only mastered by its clan. The never-ending clan wars and the growing threat of vampire hunters have forced the vampires to retreat into isolation to protect their heirs. However, they realize they must come out of hiding and unite their powers if they want to survive. And this is where our saga begins. An epic adventure for tweens, teens and families, filmed on location all over Europe. This is a fantastical coming-of-age saga with international appeal, an incredible cinematographic look and outstanding production values.

Sales Contacts: Arne Lohmann, VP, Junior; Katharina Pietzsch, Director, Junior; Jan-Frederik Maul, Director, Junior; Marei Bruckmann, Director, Junior.

In-Demand: Edutainment & DNI

The Polos

Producers: MarcoPolo Learning, Boat Rocker Studios

Distributor: Television, all digital, terrestrial, cable, satellite, etc., from Bejuba! Entertainment.

Description: (3-7, 52x5 min./52x11 min.) Driven by their insatiable curiosity, a quirky group of friends take off on epic road trips to experience the wonders of our natural world.

Educational Components: STEM, natural sciences and 21st-century skills.

Pitch Perfect: The Polos is a wonderful action-packed adventure series. The series is engaging and full of information, wrapped in a compelling story. Marco and his friends go on adventures and learn about the world, animals, nature, space and all kinds of things by doing and experiencing.

Slot Winner: The Polos has won numerous awards, including a Kidscreen Award, Rockie Award, the Parents’ Choice Award and an International Emmy nomination. The brand continues to grow and is part of the curriculum across the U.S.

Sales Contact: Tatiana Kober.

tvkIDSSCREENINGS.COM

The only video portal for the kids’ media industry.

Our Playground is Getting Bigger

In-Demand: Edutainment & DNI

Big Blue

Commissioners: CBC, Radio-Canada

Producer: Guru Studio

Distributor: Worldwide content and L&M rights from Guru Studio.

Description: (6-9 comedy, 52x11 min.) Siblings Lettie and Lemo lead their quirky submarine crew to solve the ocean’s mysteries and find the origins of a new magical recruit named Bacon Berry.

DNI Component: Created by Ghanaian-Canadian artist Gyimah Gariba and produced by award-winning entertainment company Guru Studio, Big Blue offers young viewers a zany yet heartfelt look at what it truly means to be part of a tightly-knit family. Gariba’s vision was to create a show where kids of all backgrounds, specifically Black children, could see themselves reflected on screen.

Pitch Perfect: The show underscores the values of discovering our differences and caring for our planet. Kids learn the important role we can play in protecting our planet and that sometimes the smallest creatures in the sea can make the biggest waves.

Sales Contact: Corey Caplan, Senior Director, International Sales.

In-Demand: Edutainment & DNI

Rosie’s Rules

Commissioner: PBS KIDS

Producers: 9 Story Media Group, Brown Bag Films

Distributor: 9 Story Distribution International in all territories, excluding the U.S.

Description: (3-5, 80x11 min. & 20x1 min.) Follows the adventures of Rosie Fuentes, an inquisitive and hilarious 5-year-old girl, as she learns about the wow-mazing world beyond her family walls.

Educational Components: Social studies—geography, history, civics and government, economics and more.

Pitch Perfect: Rosie ’s Rules is an animated preschool series that teaches social studies through fun everyday lessons and character-based stories. With humor and tons of catchy songs, parents and kids will fall in love with Rosie! Recently named a Common Sense selection for families and one of the eight best educational shows for kids by Parents.com.

Slot Winner: Rosie’s Rules premiered on October 3, 2022, on PBS KIDS and, to date, has had 76 million cross-platform streams and 19.5 million gameplays on the app and pbskids.org in its first four months.

Sales Contact: Alix Wiseman, SVP, Distribution & Acquisitions.