World Screen March 2024

The Madame Blanc Mysteries ’ Sally Lindsay / Poache r ’s Richie Mehta

MARCH 2024

WORLD VIEW By Mansha Daswani.

UPFRONTS Spotlighting new content on the market.

SALLY LINDSAY A Q&A with the creator, co-writer and star of The Madame Blanc Mysteries.

FUTURE TODAY’S VIKRANT MATHUR The founder of the app and FAST channel solutions company talks about opportunities in AVOD.

AT FULL STEAM GoQuest’s Jimmy George discusses the new co-production Kuma and more slate highlights.

RICHIE MEHTA The filmmaker takes World Screen behind the scenes of Prime Video’s Poacher

TRENDING ON The most-viewed clips on our video portals for the last 30 days.

QUEST FOR THE BEST Our session on leading programmers returned with Disney’s Rick Clodfelter, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Zia Sands, BBC Children’s Anna Taganov and SVT’s Helena Nylander.

YOUTUBE’S LAUREN GLAUBACH As director and global head of youth partnerships and programming, Lauren Glaubach shared insights on how best to work with the leading video platform for kids.

TV KIDS PIONEER AWARD: LUCY MURPHY This winter’s TV Kids Pioneer Award recipient, Lucy Murphy is responsible for the Sky Kids linear channel and an expanding lineup of on-demand shows on the pay-TV platform in the U.K. and Ireland.

WILDBRAIN’S JOSH SCHERBA Josh Scherba showcased WildBrain’s multiplatform brand-building strategies.

THE BIG PICTURE BBC Studios Kids & Family’s Cecilia Persson, Paramount’s Lauren Marriott, Cyber Group Studios’ Raphaëlle Mathieu and 9 Story’s Alix Wiseman on navigating the challenges of the ecosystem today.

TOM ASCHEIM The industry veteran who led some of media’s most iconic kids’ brands shared his expertise on engaging with youth audiences.

PBS KIDS’ SARA DEWITT As senior VP and general manager, Sara DeWitt leads the number one children’s educational media brand in the U.S.

IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST The Jim Henson Company’s Halle Stanford, Mediawan Kids & Family’s Julien Borde and Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry-Sirvin shared their perspectives on landing commissions with public broadcasters.

CAKE’S ED GALTON Ed Galton, CEO of CAKE, weighed in on how the boutique independent outfit is approaching the latest shifts in the kids’ business.

MONEY MATTERS With a squeeze on budgets, we spotlighted new and emerging funding models with APC Kids’ Lionel Marty, Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone, Thunderbird Entertainment’s Richard Goldsmith and Sixteen South’s Alexandros van Blanken.

MATTEL’S MICHELLE MENDELOVITZ Just a few months since taking on oversight of Mattel Television Studios, Michelle Mendelovitz discussed the toy giant’s expanding content slate.

WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY’S AUDREY DIEHL Audrey Diehl articulated her strategy as senior VP of series at Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.

MASS EXPOSURE What’s the best way to maximize your IP on YouTube? We heard valuable insights from HARI’s Sophie “Kido” Prigent, pocket.watch’s Brian C. Janes, Wind Sun Sky Entertainment’s Jo Redfern and C To The B Productions’ Claude Brooks.

FULL STEAM AHEAD Sesame Workshop’s Susan Scheiner, ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel and Bejuba! Entertainment’s Tatiana Kober discussed incorporating science, technology, engineering, arts and math into kids’ content.

IN THEIR FEELINGS Social-emotional learning took center stage in this panel discussion with Atlantyca Entertainment’s Claudia Mazzucco, Acamar Films’ Mikael Shields, Lion Forge Entertainment’s Koyalee Chanda and MIAM! distribution’s Mélanie Errea.

ERIC FOGEL The TV Kids Festival wrapped with a conversation with Eric Fogel, executive producer of DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind Rules!

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Publisher

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Editor-in-Chief

Mansha Daswani

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Jamie Stalcup

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Editor, Spanish-Language Publications

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Production & Design Director

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Sales & Marketing Director

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Mansha Daswani

Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development

BY MANSHA DASWANI

Looking for Bright Spots

With the streaming wars over, peak subscriber fatigue and advertisers coping with fragmentation and cost-conscious consumers, the fundamentals of the business are being rewritten, again.

But amid the headlines about layoffs, challenging headwinds and less-than-rosy forecasts, there are still reasons to be optimistic about what the landscape looks like once we’ve come out of the other end of this latest round of disruption.

In the third quarter of this year, revenues from streaming services, including advertising from hybrid subscription tiers, will overtake pay-TV subs revenues in the U.S. for the first time, according to data from Ampere Analysis. The research firm notes that streaming subs topped pay TV in 2016 in the U.S., but revenue has taken longer to catch up due to SVOD’s lower ARPUs. SVOD streamers embracing hybrid ad tiers has helped to power subs growth and boosted revenue potential.

Rory Gooderick, senior analyst at Ampere Analysis, noted: “Most major streaming services in the U.S. have launched their hybrid advertising tiers, which, along with increasing clamp-downs on password sharing, have been successful at reigniting growth in the streaming market. There is still a way forward for pay TV, howev er. Disney and Charter’s deal in the U.S. shows how the two businesses can work together to maximize streaming’s reach to domestic subscribers and highlights the importance of traditional distribution platforms as service aggregators. Longer-term contracts and the reduction in churn makes this an attractive proposition for streamers, while control over the billing relationship also means there’s something in it for the pay-TV provider too.”

Onza Distribution

Heartless / Cacao / Golden Swan

Onza Distribution’s Heartless sees a series of mysterious disappearances startle Madrid’s high society, culminating in two serial criminals chasing each other. In Cacao, a young Portuguese girl of the same name who grew up on a cocoa farm finds that her real father is the farm’s owner. The telenovela “combines stunning cinematography with a classic love story,” says Béatrice Nouh, head of sales. Golden Swan , set at the start of WWII, rounds out the company’s highlights. The period drama asks whether love can survive the struggles of wartime.

“The premium thriller Heartless stands out for the confrontation of two serial criminals chasing each other.”

—Béatrice Nouh

ZDF Studios

The Zweiflers / Time: A Journey Through Thousands of Years / Clan—Choose Your Destiny

ZDF Studios’ slate features The Zweiflers, about a dysfunctional extended Jewish family. When the patriarch goes to sell his delicatessen empire, longsuppressed conflicts resurface. Time: A Journey Through Thousands of Years explores the discovery of time, the history of time measurement and the restrictions it places on our lives. It is “a fascinating study on something familiar to us all that is so valuable but elusive that mankind can neither capture nor reproduce it,” says Dr. Markus Schäfer, president and CEO. Clan—Choose Your Destiny tells a coming-of-age story based on a novel.

“All three productions are excellent examples of the great quality that can be achieved when experts and talents join forces.”

—Dr. Markus Schäfer

The Zweiflers

Known from hits such as Cold Call and Mount Pleasant, Sally Lindsay not only stars in the escapist crime drama The Madame Blanc Mysteries, she also created the series and serves as co-writer. In it, she plays Jean White, a renowned antique dealer whose expertise in antiquities proves to be the key to solving a series of murders and mysteries in a picturesque French village. Lindsay tells World Screen about the unique way she and co-writer Sue Vin cent craft stories together.

Sally Lindsay

By Kristin Brzoznowski

WS: What led to creating The Madame Blanc Mysteries ?

LINDSAY: My company and I are always looking for female-led projects. Years ago, I met this amazing woman on holiday in Spain who was really funny and lovely, and she was an unbelievable antique dealer. She was almost Sherlockian in her knowledge. She is a fourth-generation owner of an antique shop in London. She said they go all

over these little towns in the south of France and swap [antiques] around. I remember thinking this was amazing. [The idea] was hanging around for years, and I thought, How do we set this off? How do we get this character alive? We came up with the town and the characters first, and then I built the world around this little town in the south of France, which doesn’t actually exist—but it does in my mind. That’s when it came to life.

“My company and I are always looking for female-led projects.”

WS: How does the writing collaboration with you and cowriter Sue Vincent work?

LINDSAY: It’s quite an unusual system. I write a seven- to tenpage very specific scene breakdown, which usually includes two storylines: our local storyline and the mystery storyline. I read it to Sue, and she says what works and what doesn’t. Then she goes away and writes a Bible’s worth of dialogue. It’s so much dialogue, far too much; ten pages more than we need, really, but that’s her brilliant skill. Then we spend a week doing what we call “bonsai-ing it,” and we bonsai it to fit the time we need. We have quite specific roles, but we do cross now and again where I will write dialogue and Sue will have ideas for a mystery. Once we’ve got an idea, we’re really quick with it.

Vikrant Mathur Future Today

By Mansha Daswani

As cost-conscious viewers tire of excessive subscription spending and audiences turn to smart TVs for their online viewing fix, Future Today has positioned itself as a key technology partner to content owners and advertisers looking for a piece of the connected TV (CTV) market. Across a portfolio of apps, including its own HappyKids, and FAST channels, Future Today has been a driving force in the AVOD space since its inception in 2006. Today, it works with 300-plus content partners looking for new ways to monetize their IPs. Vikrant Mathur, co-founder and CEO, talks to World Screen about the challenges and opportunities in AVOD and FAST.

WS: Tell us about Future Today’s positioning.

MATHUR: We launched in 2006 when YouTube was just getting started. Our position was that digital video would fundamentally change how we consume content. We created iFood.tv as an online video destination for food and cooking enthusiasts. That was the first product for the company. We launched this service on mobile devices as we were trying to grow it. In 2010, Roku, Boxee and Yahoo! Connected TV were all trying to figure out how to get streaming onto the big-screen television. We launched iFood.tv as an app on all these devices, and the engagement we saw on the connected TV was much higher

than on either desktop or mobile. This was about the same time when Netflix was moving away from its DVD business and betting on streaming. We felt that more and more television would be streamed, so we bet the farm on it. We could see TV dollars moving into streaming. With TV being a $60 billion advertising industry, we felt that the market was big enough where if you could get enough eyeballs, you could have a sustainable business as opposed to desktop, where things were moving to programmatic, CPMs were depressed, and there was a commoditization of inventory. We got into two dimensions. One was our owned-

“We felt that more and more television would be streamed, so we bet the farm on it.”

and-operated apps. We expanded into other lifestyle categories, kids and family with HappyKids and then launched Fawesome for general entertainment. The second opportunity was that the OEMs wanted more and more apps on their platforms. The content owners wanted to be on these platforms, but there was a lot of fragmentation across devices. The content owners needed to figure out the launch on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, etc., and all the underlying technology that needed to be put in place, which we had already built for ourselves. From a monetization perspective, brands were looking to buy at scale rather than going to individual apps and doing a deal. As a result, we developed a platform that allowed us to easily launch, manage, promote and monetize new

Future Today operates a range of its own apps and partners with third-party IP owners.

apps and channels using a common underlying framework with out having to write custom code. Today, we work with hundreds of content partners to help them launch their apps and channels. We also help them monetize because we have a sales team selling our inventory.

WS: I’ve heard many IP owners quibble about not always getting the transparency they need from platforms.

MATHUR: Within our apps, we have a lot of data because we can see what people are clicking on and what people are watching. We get analytics as opposed to if we create a FAST channel and give it to a third party. It’s in their environment, so we may not be able to get a lot of the data that we would otherwise get. So, this is more of a challenge in FAST than apps because you’re relying on third parties. You only get data that they want to make available. That goes back to information asymmetries between the supplier and the buyer. Wherever we have the data, we share as much as we can.

WS: How do you make content feel exclusive within your apps so that people choose your services to watch those shows?

MATHUR: Streaming happened because of cost, choice and convenience. Cost because I’m paying $200 for 200 channels that I don’t watch. Convenience because I can watch something anytime I want. Choice because I’m not limited to what’s on TV at 7 p.m. To deliver on all those promises, the key factor is curation: how you

package the content to get it discovered and in front of people. Just because the same piece of content is available on five different services doesn’t mean that it’s easily accessible and discoverable on each of those services. If people can more easily find it on Future Today, then it’s sort of exclusive because my competitors are not able to surface it.

WS: What are your priorities for the company this year?

MATHUR: From a purely financial standpoint, we have to be more fiscally responsible. Having said that, I think the macroeconomic

“Conditions are favorable to free ad-supported streaming.”

conditions are favorable to free ad-supported streaming. The more content you can provide and the better the experience, the more chances you have of retaining them as a longer-term customer. We’re able to acquire content at reasonable rates compared to before. There are opportunities from an audience development standpoint where you can be in front of the consumers in a more cost-conscious way. So overall, from a consumption standpoint, I’m very bullish. We’re focused on drawing the audience, having more content, improving the user experience, making content more personalized and relevant to the user and delivering on that promise of free ad-supported streaming as [a viewer’s] first choice as opposed to their second option if they can’t find anything on subscription platforms like Netflix, Prime Video or Hulu.

AT FULL STEAM

GoQuest Media’s Jimmy George discusses the new co-production Kuma and more slate highlights.

By Kristin Brzoznowski

For over a decade, GoQuest Media has built expertise in matching top-flight content to clients’ platform needs. “We have distributed 600-plus titles across 32,000 hours of content to more than 80 countries worldwide,” says Jimmy George, VP of sales and acquisitions. “Our catalog represents a variety of genres—from romance to crime dramas to family sagas. We pick titles that have strong storytelling, unforgettable characters and great locations. Our approach with our clients is to have a curated experience of our catalog so we can help align with their programming strategy and select the most suitable content for them.”

GoQuest is introducing a brand-new co-production, the Turkish series Kuma (The Other Wife). A collaboration with Miami-based VIP 2000 TV, the series is currently in production. Turkish producer Stellar Yapım—which has worked on series such as A Mother’s Love, Wounded Birds and Broken Destiny—is on board the drama, helmed by İnci Gülen Oarr, showrunner of Elif.

Kuma follows a young woman from eastern Turkey who is forced to become a “kuma,” or second wife, to the brother of the

“We pick titles that have strong storytelling, unforgettable characters and great locations. ” — Jimmy George

man she is accused of killing. “Kuma brings a fresh perspective on a marriage conducted under extraordinary circumstances,” George says. “It has all the trappings of a Turkish daily series in terms of drama, relationships, romance and intrigue but takes it further by examining the repercussions of imposing tradition in the modern world.”

Additional highlights on the GoQuest slate include the period crime drama Erinyes , which recently sold in Greece and Lithuania. Meanwhile, the dramedy series Troll Farm was recently optioned by an Indian production company for a local remake. There’s also the police procedural Crusade, with stories centered on the crime and criminal terror division of the Warsaw Metropolitan Police.

In late 2015, Richie Mehta was working on India in a Day, a crowdsourced documentary featuring footage from everyday Indians going about their everyday lives. Of the 16,000 videos shot on October 10, 2015, and submitted for the film, one, in particular, stood out to Mehta. Sent in by the Wildlife Trust of India, it captured an ivory raid in Delhi. Mehta didn’t use the footage but knew he wanted to return to the story. After receiving critical acclaim for Netflix’s Delhi Crime , dramatizing the case of a brutal 2012 gang rape, Mehta set out to tell the real-life tale of the forest workers, police and NGO workers who brought down an ivory trafficking ring.

Richie Mehta

By Mansha Daswani

WS: What made you want to tell this story?

MEHTA: I was doing India in a Day. That was a crowdsourced project where people all over India would send me footage of their lives on one day, October 10, 2015. It was mostly people with their families and kids brushing their teeth and fun things people did in a day. One of the pieces of footage was of an ivory raid in Delhi. It was the Kerala Forest Department, Delhi police and NGO workers busting down a door and finding boxes full of ivory. I called Wildlife Trust of India, the NGO that submitted it. I said, What is this footage? And they said it was on the shoot day

of my documentary. It happened to be the biggest ivory raid in Indian history. I couldn’t give it the context it deserved in the documentary. I said, Give me a few years; I need to finish one other project, and then I’ll come back and learn more about this. I didn’t know wildlife crime was a big problem. I didn’t know there were wildlife crime fighters out there. Toward the end of Delhi Crime, I went and met these people and just got hooked.

“If it were a film, I could ask one question, but with eight episodes I could ask multiple.”

WS: With Delhi Crime , you’ve had experience taking a true story and adapting it for scripted television for a global audience. Did you have to take a different approach to this story?

MEHTA: It was a bit of the opposite. Of course, there’s a procedural around it and a manhunt and crime fighters. The difference with Delhi Crime is I didn’t need to instill empathy in the audience. You know what the crime is. I don’t need to show it. Here, I felt I had to show you the whole thing. I’m going to show it to you right up front in the very first scene of episode one. Just so you know what we’re talking about. I’m going to utilize every single trick in the movie book, whether it’s technology or thrills, to make you empathize. This is what these wildlife crime fighters are willing to sacrifice their lives for. I need to show you what this is and try to earn your allegiance

, based on a true story, rolled out on Prime Video around the world in February.

to stay with us through all eight episodes. Until you reach the end, you won’t fully realize what we’re talking about. The purpose of the project was to instill empathy, whereas, in Del hi Crime , the purpose was to get through something you were completely empathetic about.

WS: What’s the overall message you want audiences to take from the show?

MEHTA: There’s an overarching message that is not subtle. We should not be shooting elephants in the head and exploiting them. That’s an easy one. If it were a film, I could ask one question, but with eight episodes—6.5 hours of content—I could ask multiple. One of the big questions is, do we really think about what it means to examine our relationship with every living thing around us? What does that actually mean? Where you sit on that spectrum, your opinion will differ from everyone else’s. But I need you to examine it. That’s what this is.

Poacher

TV Kids Festival 2024 Recap

Summer Fest iva

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 4 to 7, 2024, the fourth 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 on TVKidsSummerFestival.com.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Ricardo Guise at rguise@worldscreen.com or Dana Mattison at dmattison@worldscreen.com.

val

CONTENTS

QUEST FOR THE BEST Our signature session on leading programmers returned with Disney’s Rick Clodfelter, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Zia Sands, BBC Children’s Anna Taganov and SVT’s Helena Nylander.

YOUTUBE’S LAUREN GLAUBACH As director and global head of youth partnerships and programming at YouTube, Lauren Glaubach shared insights on how best to work with the leading video platform for kids.

TV KIDS PIONEER AWARD: LUCY MURPHY This winter’s TV Kids Pioneer Award recipient, Lucy Murphy is responsible for the Sky Kids linear channel and an expanding lineup of on-demand shows on the pay-TV platform in the U.K. and Ireland.

WILDBRAIN’S JOSH SCHERBA In his first TV Kids Festival appearance since becoming president and CEO of the kids’ media company, Josh Scherba showcased WildBrain’s thriving multiplatform brand-building strategies.

THE BIG PICTURE This super panel heard from BBC Studios Kids & Family’s Cecilia Persson, Paramount’s Lauren Marriott, Cyber Group Studios’ Raphaëlle Mathieu and 9 Story’s Alix Wiseman about navigating the challenges of the ecosystem today.

TOM ASCHEIM An industry veteran who led some of media’s most iconic kids’ brands, including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, Tom Ascheim shared his expertise on engaging with youth audiences.

PBS KIDS’ SARA DEWITT As senior VP and general manager, Sara DeWitt leads the number one children’s educational media brand in the U.S.

IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST The Jim Henson Company’s Halle Stanford, Mediawan Kids & Family’s Julien Borde and Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry-Sirvin shared their perspectives on landing commissions with public broadcasters.

CAKE’S ED GALTON Ed Galton, CEO of CAKE, weighed in on how the boutique independent outfit is approaching the latest shifts in the kids’ business.

MONEY MATTERS With a squeeze on budgets, we spotlighted new and emerging funding models with APC Kids’ Lionel Marty, Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone, Thunderbird Entertainment’s Richard Goldsmith and Sixteen South’s Alexandros van Blanken.

MATTEL’S MICHELLE MENDELOVITZ Just a few months since taking on oversight of Mattel Television Studios, Michelle Mendelovitz discussed the toy giant’s expanding content slate.

WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY’S AUDREY DIEHL Audrey Diehl articulated her strategy as senior VP of series at Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.

MASS EXPOSURE What’s the best way to maximize your IP on YouTube? We heard valuable insights from HARI’s Sophie “Kido” Prigent, pocket.watch’s Brian C. Janes, Wind Sun Sky Entertainment’s Jo Redfern and C To The B Productions’ Claude Brooks.

FULL STEAM AHEAD Sesame Workshop’s Susan Scheiner, ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel and Bejuba! Entertainment’s Tatiana Kober discussed incorporating science, technology, engineering, arts and math into kids’ content.

IN THEIR FEELINGS Social-emotional learning took center stage in this panel discussion with Atlantyca Entertainment’s Claudia Mazzucco, Acamar Films’ Mikael Shields, Lion Forge Entertainment’s Koyalee Chanda and MIAM! distribution’s Mélanie Errea.

ERIC FOGEL The TV Kids Festival wrapped with a conversation with Eric Fogel, executive producer of DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind Rules!

QUEST FOR THE BEST

Our signature opening session on leading programmers returned with Disney’s Rick Clodfelter, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Zia Sands, BBC Children’s Anna Taganov and SVT’s Helena Nylander.

Read the recap here.

I n each platform, the majority of views are driven by a handful of shows. Fewer, bigger, better is embedded in our strategy. ” —Anna Taganov

We don’t want to be talking down to our audience. We don’t want to be referencing things that feel outdated. It should feel fresh. It should feel energetic. It should feel exciting.”

—Zia Sands

We like to be first in line, but we’re hap py to share down the road with a limited holdback to build that awareness and have that content in as many places as possible.”

—Rick Clodfelter

We are a very cautious publicser vice company, so there’s a lot of content on the market that doesn’t fit us. That’s why it’s important to be a part of [projects] at an early stage.” —Helena Nylander

LAUREN GLA YouTube’s

As director and global head of youth partnerships and programming at YouTube, Lauren Glaubach shared insights on how best to work with the leading video platform for kids.

Read the recap here.

LAUBACH

First, if you’re not on YouTube, join us. YouTube really is the best place where kids go to discover new characters, new IP. It’s also where they go to go deep on their favorite characters and stories.

Two, if you are already on YouTube, lean into multi-format. Across long-form, video-on-demand, shorts, live—you have the ability to tell your story in the format that makes the most sense and to reach your audience no matter what they’re doing. They’re going to find your characters, find your story. It’s great to be everywhere they want to be. The third thing I

would say is experiment and have fun.”

LUCY MURPH TV Kids Pioneer Award:

This winter’s TV Kids Pioneer Award recipient, Lucy Murphy is responsible for the Sky Kids linear channel and an expanding lineup of on-demand shows on the pay-TV platform in the U.K. and Ireland.

Read the recap here.

PHY

We use the linear channel to introduce new shows. In this age of a very crowded environment and ‘discoverability’ being the buzzword, a linear channel gives you an opportunity to introduce a new show and create an appetite for it that can then be translated into the on-demand environment.

Linear also gives us an opportunity to create mood and energy, which you can’t really do on-demand in quite the same way. Our linear channel gives us the opportunity to follow the rhythm of a young child’s day. We also recognize that we have different aged children available at different times of the day. We’re constantly thinking about what families are doing and what kids are doing. How are they feeling at this moment? And what can we give them that is just perfect?”

JOSH SCHERB WildBrain’s

In his first TV Kids Festival appearance since becoming president and CEO of the powerhouse kids’ media company, Josh Scherba showcased WildBrain’s thriving multiplatform brand-building strategies.

Read the recap here.

RBA

To get to this next stage of growth for our own and partner IP, we needed a simplification and a focused approach. We started by taking a look at all of our in-house capabilities and distilling them down into their core objectives. That’s how we landed on the three pillars of content creation, audience engagement and global licensing…. It used to be that linear broadcasters were the key curators of video content. Now, kids are doing their own curation; they go from screening something on an SVOD service to YouTube to non-YouTube AVOD and then over to gaming platforms—whether it be Roblox, Minecraft or Fortnite. For brand owners to really understand this and have a holistic strategy is a huge advantage.”

THE BIG PICTURE

This super panel heard from BBC Studios Kids & Family’s Cecilia Persson, Paramount’s Lauren Marriott, Cyber Group Studios’ Raphaëlle Mathieu and 9 Story’s Alix Wiseman about navigating the challenges of the ecosystem today.

Read the recap here.

You need to be a partner that can bring several aspects to a property, particularly if you’re trying to get an original idea away. ” —Cecilia Persson There’s a need for AVOD rights, catchup, etc. We’re seeing less demand for exclusivity in favor of more rights nonexclusively and a preference for building franchises. ”

—Lauren Marriott

The shape of the whole thing is changing—how it’s delivered, levels of exclusivity. That opens possibilities to being creative and nimble. ”

—Alix Wiseman

Right now, being a small independent is harsh. We’re pretty lucky. But we need to be smart as well to make sure that we are creative enough, both businesswise and editorially. We need to invest in development to have a wide variety of content to be able to interest a wide range of potential partners.” —Raphaëlle Mathieu

TOM ASCHEI

An industry veteran who led some of media’s most iconic kids’ brands, including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, Tom Ascheim shared his expertise on engaging with youth audiences today.

Read the recap here.

HEIM

Almost every show we know that’s successful for kids does well across multiple platforms. People usually pick their platform and the show they want to watch on that platform, even if it’s available in multiple places. I’ve seen that research repeated over many, many shows for children, for teens, for adults. One would think that the best and ideal strategy is to get it as many places as possible. It also used to be easier to make money as a content creator than it is today. A place like YouTube, while wonderful for exposure, is not a great place to make money unless you’re a very successful influencer. So, using a place like YouTube for exposure but finding a more traditional or a more well-paying platform for how you monetize your content also seems key to keeping the ecosystem viable.”

SARA DEWIT PBS KIDS’

As senior VP and general manager of PBS KIDS, Sara DeWitt leads the number one children’s educational media brand in the U.S.

Read the recap here.

WITT

It’s more important than ever that we’re here—that the U.S. has an accessible, engaging media option for kids that’s also noncommercial and isn’t feeling the same pressures in the same way. We are trying to think about how we are having an impact on kids and making sure that we can reach as many kids as possible throughout the country…. We want to help people think about how they can use media for positive things. We want to create media that inspires kids to keep exploring and learning beyond the screen and to help people understand that they can leverage that media for learning at home. There is content out there that is high quality, educational and developmentally appropriate for kids.”

IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST

The Jim Henson Company’s Halle Stanford, Mediawan Kids & Family’s Julien Borde and Dandelooo’s Emmanuèle Pétry-Sirvin shared their perspectives on landing commissions with public broadcasters.

Read the recap here.

For children whose families can’t afford Disney+, Netflix, you name it, they can always rely on the public broadcasters to enrich and educate their children. Times have changed, but their intention hasn’t. I think it’s their superpower.” —Halle Stanford

In Europe, we are lucky to have very strong public-service channels. They are critical for us to produce quality premium content. I’m a big believer that in the future, they will continue to care about children, and that in a more commercial environment, they will be asked by local governments to do more.” —Julien Borde

I have a very strong belief in the role and value of public-broadcasting systems because their goal is not to make money or to make a profit; their goal is to service and give food for thought for children to grow up, to understand themselves. They have to reinvent themselves. But their role is huge.” —Emmanuèle Pétry-Sirvin

ED GALTON CAKE’s

Ed Galton, CEO of CAKE, weighed in on how the boutique independent outfit is approaching the latest shifts in the kids’ business.

Read the recap here.

We’re small enough and nimble enough that we can withstand the down cycle because we’re not laden with debt and we’re not employing hundreds of animators. We still have a strong distribution business. When content is not getting produced, there’s still a need to fill platforms with content. That’s where the distribution business becomes handy. Finished content, library content becomes more important. We use that as an opportunity to wait until the market gets a little bit better, and then we can bring content that’s new. We choose our projects pretty well. We do see opportunities in small pockets here and ther e . ”

MONEY MATTERS

With a squeeze on budgets, we spotlighted new and emerging funding models with APC Kids’ Lionel Marty, Guru Studio’s Frank Falcone, Thunderbird Entertainment’s Richard Goldsmith and Sixteen South’s Alexandros van Blanken.

Read the recap here.

We often forget that we’re in the attention economy, not in the kids’ TV business. We’re chasing their attention. TV only can go so far with getting their attention—it has to be really beloved properties.” —Frank Falcone

The streamers know that they want to have awareness, and that means sometimes sharing exclusivity or having non-exclusive rights.” —Lionel Marty

There are lots of discussions now about co-funding series. We’re doing deals where we’re both putting up money and we’re sharing rights. That is one of the silver linings of the situation now.”

—Richard Goldsmith

Five or six years ago, finance plans were never this complicated. The models are evolving, and having to share rights and IP and accessing tax credits in other countries is becoming imperative for us as a studio.”

—Alexandros van Blanken

Mattel’s MICHELLE ME

Just a few months since taking on oversight of Mattel Television Studios, Michelle Mendelovitz discussed the toy giant’s expanding content slate.

Read the recap here.

MENDELOVITZ

The momentum coming off of the Barbie film has just energized everybody to another level. I’m so excited about the opportunity to be able to elevate these brands, even beyond what people’s expectations are. We will be working with best-in-class creators across the board.

We’ll be in live action, animation, unscripted. You will see a slate that is supercharged within the next year as we’re delving into different areas and ways to surprise people. In storytelling, we want to make sure that when [people] get to the end of an episode or a series, they feel like they have been taken to another place and seen something that they feel is iconic in a different way, in a positive way. We’re going to take that to the forefront of our storytelling.”

Warner Bros. Discovery’s AUDREY DIEH

Read the recap here.

Audrey Diehl articulated her strategy as senior VP of series at Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.

EHL

We have a responsibility as the people who work with characters that have been around for 80-plus years in some cases to maintain their legacy, to care for them in the same way that the originators have. We don’t want to take anything away. But at the same time, we can’t just do the same thing that they did. You can still watch those old cartoons and they’re still great. We try to think about what the core element is of that show or that character that we know audiences love and care about. What makes Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunn y? What makes Scooby-Doo Scooby-Doo? We try to infuse that into every execution that we have, and then we try to bring new life to it at the same time.”

MASS EXPOSURE

What’s the best way to maximize your IP on YouTube? We heard valuable insights from HARI’s Sophie “Kido” Prigent, pocket.watch’s Brian C. Janes, Wind Sun Sky Entertainment’s Jo Redfern and C To The B Productions’ Claude Brooks.

Read the recap here.

It’s gone from outlier to being a nonnegotiable part of that flywheel. It’s part of a bigger jigsaw puzzle as brand owners and brand builders. Your content needs to be where kids are hanging out. YouTube is a vital part of that.” —Jo Redfern Exposure on YouTube means that kids— and parents and carers—anywhere at any time can find you . It’s massively important.”

—Sophie “Kido” Prigent

You have to have a plan for uploading videos on a regular basis. Having a full season can be nice. But if you don’t have that 16th video after those first 15, your audience is not going to stick around.”

—Brian C. Janes

One of the big things for Snoop Dogg and I when we came up with Doggyland was to make sure that we launched it on a platform that was free for everybody.” —Claude Brooks

FULL STEAM AHEAD

Sesame Workshop’s Susan Scheiner, ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel and Bejuba! Entertainment’s Tatiana Kober discussed incorporating science, technology, engineering, arts and math into kids’ content.

Read the recap here.

There’s a growing need for

children

to develop

skills in science, technology, engineering and math from an early age. TV shows can be a complementary tool to formal education and encourage curiosity and positive attitudes toward STEM and STEAM subjects.

” —Susan Scheiner

Parents and educators understand that fostering early interest in these areas can contribute to a child’s academic success and to better future career opportunities. In addition, as technology becomes more integrated into everyday life, there’s a desire for content that aligns with educational goals while remaining engaging for young audiences.

”

—Oliver Grundel

In preschool, there are so many shows that incorporate STEM. But the 5-to-7 age group is where you can have a lot of fun because the kids are still really curious. You can throw in little facts—those repeatable moments off-screen are really important to hammer in the [lessons].”

—Tatiana Kober

IN THEIR FEELINGS

Social-emotional learning took center stage in this panel discussion with Atlantyca Entertainment’s Claudia Mazzucco, Acamar Films’ Mikael Shields, Lion Forge Entertainment’s Koyalee Chanda and MIAM! distribution’s Mélanie Errea.

Read the recap here.

Parents need help. Children are more exposed than ever to a constant flow of audiovisual content that is not so well controlled. Children have to find a way to enhance their [self-esteem]. Our role is to give them inspiration.” —Claudia Mazzucco

If you’re equipping

them with stories that are giving them a hinterland beyond their lived experience, you’re giving them equipment. You’re nourishing them in a way that nothing else can.” —Mikael Shields

That bucket of socio-emotional is massive. There’s an argument to be made that all stories are socio-emotional, at least the good ones.” —Koyalee Chanda

We want to entertain kids, but give them keys to live better together and build a better world. Social-emotional learning can be integrated through two mediums: relatable characters and personalities, and stories.” —Mélanie Errea

ERIC FOGEL

The TV Kids Festival wrapped with a conversation with Eric Fogel, executive producer of DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind Rules!

Read the recap here.

Fans will be delighted to learn that Megamind still has a hard time pronouncing certain words. In addition, both the movie [Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate] and the series will delve deeper into Megamind’s world and his mythology. He will also be reuniting with a fanfavorite character from the original film. I think it’s going to be very satisfying seeing these two characters come together again. We’re also introducing a brandnew character named Keiko Morita, who brings a teenager’s point of view to the show and teaches Megamind a few of the modern conventions. We realized pretty early on that it’s really funny seeing Megamind playing off a teenager.”

Trending On

The most-viewed clips on our video portals in the last month.

The Zweiflers

Family patriarch Symcha Zweifler wants to sell his delicatessen empire when suddenly he is confronted with his past in Frankfurt’s red-light district. (ZDF Studios)

Kid & Dino

Safir

Feraye, a textile design student and housekeeper at a wealthy family mansion in Cappadocia, has a flaw in her aff ection for Yaman, one of the family’s heirs. (atv Distribution)

A short that took 12 weeks to produce. All in-house designs, production, keyframe animation and post. (Huminah Huminah Animation)

Toys and Colors

Superbuns

Buns Bunny (aka Superbuns) saves the day with kindness every time. She bounds through her neighborhood ready to help her friends. (NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution)

Kaleidoscope City

Starring global sensation Toys and Colors, a magical world where kids learn to see the world through new perspectives. (pocket.watch)