tv kids miptv 2010

MIPTVEDITION

3-D AnimationGlobal ChannelsCo-production ModelsDisney Channels’ Carolina LightcapBBC Children’s Joe GodwinLagardère Active’s Pierre Belaïschwww.tvkids.ws THE MAGAZINE OF CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING APRIL 2010

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• Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars• Survive This• Wild Kratts

9 Story Entertainment

The title character of the classic Harriet the Spy books is givena modern look in the new Disney Channel original movieHarriet the Spy:Blog Wars,which leads off 9 Story Entertain-ment’s new properties for MIPTV.The special stars JenniferStone of Wizards of Waverly Place as an aspiring writer whodecides to blog about a teen idol starring in a new film fromher father, a movie producer.The company is also bringing tomarket a second season of its kids’ reality series Survive This,which puts eight 14- to 17-year-olds through a variety of skill-testing survival challenges.Also available is an animated series,Wild Kratts,from adventurer zoologists Chris and Martin Kratt.

“The markets are always a great forum for introducingour slate of programming to international broadcasters,” saysNatalie Osborne,the executive VP of business development at9 Story.“MIPTV will give us a good sense of the directionthe year is taking in the production and distribution of kids’programming and is always a great steppingstone, for us, toMIPCOM later in the year.”

www.9story.com

Harriet the Spy:Blog Wars

“We are alwaysexcited to meetwith key buyersto talk about thenew programswe’ve completedand showcasewhat we have inthe pipeline.”

—Natalie Osborne

IN THIS ISSUEMake Way for 3DExecutives debate thefeasibility of 3-D TV 32

Hanging ToughSurveying the globalchannel brands 40

Partnering UpCo-productions havebecome essential 48

InterviewsBBC Children’sJoe Godwin 54Disney Channels’Carolina Lightcap 58Lagardère Active’sPierre Belaïsch 62Mondo TV’sMatteo Corradi 66Marvel Animation’sEric Rollman 70Rainbow’sIginio Straffi 72Fresh TV’s Tom McGillis 74

Tai Chi Chasers, a 39-episode fantasy adventure series, is4Kids Entertainment’s lead new property for MIPTV. Itsits alongside several other productions in the compa-ny’s catalogue targeting kids aged 6 to 11, including newepisodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds and Dinosaur King.

“These are all story-driven series, with kid-identifiablecharacters,” says Brian Lacey, the executive VP of interna-tional.“Over the years,Yu-Gi-Oh! has proven to be a franchisetype of series,which enables broadcasters to effectively builda strand of programming year-in and year-out.Dinosaur Kinghas racked up impressive audience ratings in virtually everymarket [it has aired in].We expect Tai Chi Chasers to follow inthe footprint of Dinosaur King.”

Lacey says his goals for MIPTV include strengtheningthe company’s broadcaster partnerships.“We hope to dothis by providing new content—over 130 episodes oforiginal programming—that continues to draw a loyaland strong audience following.”

• Tai Chi Chasers•Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds• Dinosaur King

4Kids Entertainmentwww.4kidsentertainment.com

“These programs reach thecore kids’ audience, ages6 to 11, for broadcasters around the world.”

—Brian Lacey

Yu-Gi-Oh!

4 TV KIDS

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280 World Screen 4/10

6 TV KIDS

Supported by the Qatar Foundation, Al Jazeera Chil-dren’s Channel ( JCC) is the Arab world’s first dedicatedoffering for kids. Since its launch in 2005, however, JCChas worked hard to expand outside of its regional bor-ders.With a mix of original productions and acquiredfare, JCC has been bringing its mission of educatingkids aged 7 to 14 with entertaining content to territo-ries outside the Middle East. JCC also expanded its tar-get base with the launch in 2008 of Baraem TV, a pre-school service.

At MIPTV, JCC is showcasing the original program-ming it has developed for its channels, including theMalaysian co-production Saladin; Discover Science, a co-production with Japan’s NHK; and the preschool showsNan & Lili and Al Maaa. “We believe these are quiteunique programs [that will] stand out for the quality oftheir content and production values,” says MalikaAlouane, JCC’s director of channels’ programming.

• Saladin• Discover Science• Game Show Format• Nan & Lili• Al Maaa

Al Jazeera Children’sChannel

• Rob the Robot• RollBots• The Secret World of Benjamin Bear

Amberwood Entertainment

MIPTV marks the official launch of Amberwood Enter-tainment’s new preschool series Rob the Robot.The showwill be Amberwood’s “major push” at the market,according to senior VP Jonathan Wiseman. Commis-sioned by Canada’s TV Ontario, the title stars a curiousand adventurous robot, named Rob, exploring the planetwith his friends. “Rob the Robot is an off icial treaty co-production with Singapore’s One Animation,” Wise-man notes. “Knowledge Kids, ACCESS and SRC arealso on board and Amberwood will be announcing sev-eral additional broadcast partners at MIPTV.”

Wiseman adds that Rob the Robot “combines enter-taining story lines with stunning visuals,” and features astrong educational foundation.

Amberwood will also be in discussions with broad-cast partners on several other properties, notably Roll-Bots, which was commissioned by YTV, and The SecretWorld of Benjamin Bear, which is now in its fourth sea-son and continues to shore up slots worldwide.

www.amberwoodent.com

Rob the Robot

www.jcctv.net

Nan & Lili

Ricardo Seguin GuisePublisher

Anna CarugatiGroup Editorial Director

Mansha DaswaniExecutive Editor

Kristin BrzoznowskiManaging Editor

Lauren M. UdaProduction and Design

DirectorSimon Weaver

Online DirectorPhyllis Q. Busell

Art DirectorTatiana Rozza

Sales and MarketingDirector

Kelly QuirozSales and Marketing

ManagerRae Matthew

Business Affairs ManagerCesar Suero

Sales and MarketingCoordinator

Ricardo Seguin GuisePresident

Anna CarugatiExecutive VP and

Group Editorial DirectorMansha DaswaniVP of StrategicDevelopment

TV Kids© 2010 WSN INC.

1123 Broadway, #1207New York, NY 10010

Phone: (212) 924-7620

Fax: (212) 924-6940

Website: www.tvkids.ws

“We believe theseare quite uniqueprograms [that will]stand out for thequality of their content and production values.”

—Malika Alouane

“The series [Rob the Robot]combines entertaining storylines with stunning visualson a strong educationalfoundation.”

—Jonathan Wiseman


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The Australian Children’s Television Foun-dation (ACTF) is a major provider to theever-growing list of broadcasters in need oflive-action dramas and comedies. On thecomedy front,ACTF is offering a secondseason of Lockie Leonard,which has “receivedan overwhelming response” since itsMIPCOM launch, according to RobertaDi Vito, international sales executive.Another highlight is the 13-episode MyPlace. Di Vito is also excited to be show-casing an assortment of short-form con-tent, as well as the animated series Deadly.

“With a slate that mixes brand-new aswell as evergreen kids’ programming, andspanning everything from tweens to fam-ily entertainment, we anticipate that ourcatalogue will be well received by buyers,”Di Vito s ays.

• Deadly• Lockie Leonard• My Place

Australian Children’sTelevision Foundation

“The really nice thingabout our shows is thatevery series is a greatentertainment experiencewith interesting charac-ters and strong storiesthat kids can relate to.”

—Roberta Di Vito

www.actf.com.au

CAKE Entertainment continues its success-ful collaboration with France’sTeamTO onOoohhhasis, about a curious lizard and hisfriends looking for adventure in the desert.This follows CAKE and TeamTO partneringon Angelo Rules. CAKE has also developedstrong ties with Fresh TV through the TotalDrama franchise—Total Drama World Tour isbeing launched at MIPTV—and with thecomedy Stoked.Rounding out CAKE’s high-lights is the live-action series Dead Gorgeous.

“Each show is very different,” says Ed Gal-ton, the managing director of CAKE Distri-bution.“We’re always looking for those prop-erties that will resonate with client’saudiences worldwide, so having an interna-tional feel and humor is very important.”

• Ooohhhasis• Dead Gorgeous• Angelo Rules• Total Drama World Tour• Stoked

CAKE

Stoked

“These are five interesting programsthat tick the boxes ofwhat we look for whenwe take on a property:strong characters,engaging story and animpressive design,look and feel.”

—Ed Galton

www.cakeentertainment.com

Deadly


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Classic Media, which represents morethan 3,600 hours of programming, hastaken on several new brands recently.There’s the tween animated series MyLife Me, the preschool animation Nan &Lili and the kids’ sketch show OOglies.These join the returning animated pre-school property Tinga Tinga Tales, as wellas the live-action series Tracy BeakerReturns, currently airing on CBBC, onthe MIPTV slate.

“Amongst the broad-ranging appeal ofthese shows, buyers will find comedy, fun,humor, learning and drama but above all,well-produced, entertaining content,” saysChloe van den Berg, the executive VP ofinternational.

• My Life Me• Nan & Lili• Tracy Beaker Returns• OOglies• Tinga Tinga Tales

Classic Media

“We’re excited tohead into this marketwith a strong offeringof new and classicbrands.”

—Chloe van den Berg

www.classicmedia.tv

On the heels of the global success of the pre-school live-action series The Doodlebops,Cookie Jar Entertainment is bringing tomarket the new animated offering Doodle-bops Rockin’ Road Show. “By animating theshow we have opened up a whole newexciting world that kids everywhere willlove,” says Alison Warner, distribution VP.Older boy-skewing properties also feature,such as Metajets, Kung Fu Dino Posse andseason two of Magi-Nation.

Warner says that Cookie Jar will also beexploring international co-productionopportunities at MIPTV, and “seekingpartners for our new live-action shows indevelopment. In addition,we are also opento co-producing third-party shows.”

• Doodlebops Rockin’ Road Show• Magi-Nation • Caillou • Kung Fu Dino Posse• Metajets

Cookie JarEntertainment

Doodlebops Rockin’Road Show

“Cookie Jar Entertainment isoffering broadcastersa wide range of programming that willappeal to audiencesof all ages.”

—Alison Warner

www.cjar.com

My Life Me


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DECODE Enterprises has three sister pro-duction companies to draw on for its outputto the international market: DECODEEntertainment, Studio B Productions andHalifax Film. New for MIPTV is the pre-school art series Pirates, Adventures in Art,which “teaches kids to be creative,” says JoshScherba,the senior VP of distribution.Also onthe slate are dirtgirlworld,Martha Speaks,How tobe Indie and That’s So Weird.“A number ofthese series are still in production but havealready been proven to connect with audi-ences and draw ratings in major territories—they are new first-run series but with less riskassociated because of their track record.In thedifficult financial climate we’re currentlyfaced with, this is a big plus for buyers.”

• Pirates,Adventures in Art• Martha Speaks• How to be Indie• That’s So Weird• dirtgirlworld

DECODEEnterprises

Martha Speaks

“These are allseries that havecome from production houses with agood trackrecord in producing successful kids’shows.”

—Josh Scherba

www.decode-ent.com

DQ began developing its own intellectualproperty for the worldwide market withThe Jungle Book. The company is nowshifting its attentions to another literaryclassic in The New Adventures of Peter Pan.It is also adapting Satyajit Ray’s Feludadetective stories, as well as animatingCharlie Chaplin and Lassie. TapaasChakravarti, DQ’s CEO, says that thesebrands are being “resurrected and adaptedto 21st-century kids and families” usingscriptwriters from Europe and the U.S.At MIPTV, Chakravarti says, “We areexcited to showcase our new develop-ments and look forward to strategicalliances to bring these great propertiesto life.”

• The New Adventures of Peter Pan • Lassie & Friends • Charlie Chaplin• The Jungle Book• Feluda:The Kathmandu Caper

DQ EntertainmentInternational

The New Adventuresof Peter Pan

“The properties beingdeveloped by DQ are legendary brands withexisting and recognizedequity throughout globalmarkets.”

—Tapaas Chakravarti

www.dqentertainment.com

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Edebé Audiovisual is promising a diverseslate of children’s programming titles atMIPTV, according to Eva Fontanals, themanaging director of Edebé AudiovisualLicensing.The highlights differ in termsof style and target demo.There’s the envi-ronmental series Edebits; 4 Angies, a girls’action series that was among the top 30shows screened at MIP Junior; and newseasons of Let’s Go Play with BoomchikiBoom and Stoneboy.

“Our series are strong as TV proper-ties,” says Fontanals.“Our next big goal isto transform them, together with ourlicensing department, into recognizablebrands, and this will only happen once wecreate awareness of the brands. MIPTV isa great market to do so.”

• 4 Angies• Let’s Play with Boomchiki Boom• Stoneboy• Edebits

Edebé Audiovisual

4 Angies

“Edebé Audiovisual, asa division of children’spublishing house Edebé,is committed to the pro-duction, distribution andancillary exploitation ofquality kids’ properties.”

—Eva Fontanals

www.edebeaudiovisual.com

Originated more than 30 years ago, thejokester cat Heathcliff is being updated,courtesy of Fitz Roy Media and MagicLantern. Fitz Roy and Magic Lantern arealso collaborating on Daktari Park, based onthe works by wildlife vet Sue Hart. Rein-vigorating classic brands is central to FitzRoy’s strategy, says CEO Hamp Hampton,who is also working on a series of one-minute interstitials for Fido Dido.Targetinga younger set is Secret Wings, a girls’ brand.Hampton adds:“The downturn in the mar-ket has created new opportunities for com-panies like mine that can say, ‘We’ve gotgreat properties that are known, we’regoing to develop them in a different way,and be out there in the market faster.’”

• Fido Dido• Funny Face• Heathcliff• Daktari Park• Secret Wings

Funny Face

www.fitzroymedia.com

“The businesswas built aroundthe idea of takingproperties with alot of equity thatneed to berebranded and[bringing them]back in a differentway.”

—Hamp Hampton

Fitz Roy Media


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The Smurfs turned 50 last year,and the littleblue characters continue to find their wayonto television screens around the world.I.M.P.S.represents 272 half-hour episodes ofthe classic series, first broadcast from 1981 to1989, as well as the 1975 animated featurefilm The Smurfs and the Magic Flute.

“I.M.P.S. is continuing to see greatinterest in the classic animated Smurfsseries,” says William Auriol, the compa-ny’s CEO.“The performance of the car-toon series in terms of ratings, which arevery high, justify the continued interestin the series. It’s an evergreen character,but we have nevertheless adapted ourbrand strategy and image to constantlychanging trends and we continue to workwith strong brands, quality products andthe best retailers to create Smurf univers-es worldwide.”

• The Smurfs• The Smurfs and the Magic Flute

I.M.P.S.

The Smurfs

“The values thatthe Smurfs repre-sent are universaland timeless—they appeal to people all over theworld and to all

generations.”—William Auriol

www.smurf.com

With the football World Cup just a fewmonths away,Malaysia’s Inspidea will be talk-ing to its clients about a new season in itsMustang Mama animated shorts franchise,Mustang Mama Football Fever.This will beaccompanied by Mustang Mama DiehardSports Fan and Mustang Mama X3.AndrewOoi, Inspidea’s managing director, notes:“The Mustang Mama series are poised to cap-ture the programmers’attention when they’relooking for hilarious sports-based shorts.”The company is also launching Mat Kacau,co-produced with Malaysian kids’ net-work Astro Ceria.

Ooi is feeling optimistic about MIPTV.“As always, our shows will not dentbroadcasters’ pockets, so we aim to sell alot at MIPTV.”

• Mustang Mama Football Fever• Mustang Mama Diehard Sports Fan• Mustang Mama X3• Mat Kacau

Inspidea

Mat Kacau

“We are confidentthat our shows willappeal to more buyersat MIPTV because theyare all about sportsand 2010 is a giganticsporting year.”

—Andrew Ooi

www.inspidea.com


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The new series Yummy Toonies, whichMediatoon is launching at MIPTV, teachespreschool-aged children about the impor-tance of eating fruit and vegetables through104 one-minute interstitials.The companywill also be showing the CANAL J 3-Danimated comedy Contraptus, based on thecomic-book series Leonard by Turk and DeGroot, which has sold more than 6 millioncopies worldwide. For the preschool set,the company is offering up a second sea-son of The Magic Roundabout, a propertythat has already been licensed into morethan 50 territories. Jérôme Alby, thedeputy general manager, also lists TheGarfield Show, with a second season underway, and Chumballs.

• Yummy Toonies• Contraptus• The Magic Roundabout• The Garfield Show• Chumballs

MediatoonDistribution

Yummy Toonies

“Mediatoon Distribution managesthe Dargaud Media, EllipsanimeProductions, Dupuisand Storimages properties.”

—Jérôme Alby

mid.mediatoon.com

At Moonscoop, Lionel Marty, the presidentof worldwide distribution,is expecting a pos-itive 2010 for the company.“We feel in goodshape for the year ahead,”says Marty,pointingto the breadth of the company’s slate.Toppingthe list is the new animated series Tara Dun-can for the 8-to-12 set. Also new is TheDaVincibles,which Marty describes as a “clas-sic cartoon comedy adventure caper”for kids7 to 11.Another show featuring a comedyangle is Zevo-3, about teens who developsuperpowers. Capping off the Moonscooplist of highlights are second seasons of DiveOlly Dive and SamSam.“Both of these areperforming extremely well internationallyand the quick commission of further seasonsis testament to their success.”

• Tara Duncan• The DaVincibles• Zevo-3• Dive Olly Dive• SamSam

Moonscoopwww.moonscoop.com

SamSam

“We have a strong slate of shows, with new series beingwell received, and established programming continuing to bepopular with buyers.”

—Lionel Marty


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From the funny preschool series VanDogh and Boom & Reds to the slapstickcomedy of Glumpers, the educationalcontent of LMN’s and the activity-encouraging Telmo & Tula Arts and Crafts,Motion Pictures is stressing the highquality of its animation production.“Wefocus on non-violent content, with spe-cial preference for fun and comedy,” saysTony Albert, the commercial director.

Motion Pictures is able to serve a widebreadth of broadcasters’ needs,Albert says.“We address all kinds of targets, from pre-school to tweens, and we combine edutain-ment with comedy.Right now,our contentis being broadcast in five continents and weexpect to expand it to more territories.”

• Glumpers• Boom & Reds• Van Dogh• LMN’s• Telmo & Tula Arts and Crafts

Motion Pictures

Telmo & Tula Artsand Crafts

“Our animation offeris wide anddiverse, withthe aim thatany networkthat broadcastsanimation can find content that fitstheir needs in our catalogue.”

—Tony Albert

www.motionpic.com

Nerd Corps Entertainment put itself on theworldwide map with two properties: theaction-adventure show Storm Hawks and theaction comedy League of Super Evil.Both willbe available at MIPTV,with a second seasonof League of Super Evil and 52 episodes ofStorm Hawks still available for certain territo-ries.Also on the roster are two developmentprojects: Subterrainea and Endangered Species.All target the 6-to-11 set.“Broadcasters arelooking for shows that deliver for this agegroup,” says Ken Faier, the company’s pres-ident.Discussing his goals for MIPTV,Faiernotes:“We’re looking to keep the momen-tum going on our finished productions,and move our new projects forward, get-ting them through the development phaseand into production.”

• Subterrainea• Endangered Species• League of Super Evil• Storm Hawks

Nerd CorpsEntertainment

Subterrainea

“These seriesdeliver great comedy

and action for kids 6to 11, and it’s all donein a very character-driven way.”

—Ken Faier

www.nerdcorps.com


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Formed last year, PGS Entertainment ispositioning itself as a key supplier to thekids’ market by delivering something “foreveryone’s schedules,” says Philippe Soutter,the founder and managing director.Themix includes shows based on well-knownbrands, such as Iron Man:Armored Adventuresand The Little Prince of St Exupery, as wellas new properties, like the Flash-animatedI.N.K.: Invisible Network of Kids. In addition,Soutter sees strong potential for “innova-tive short-form formats,” such as StudioHari’s Gulli co-production The Gees andToobo, a weather forecast for kids.“Our mis-sion is to represent a benchmark of qualitywith the kids’ properties we are involvedwith,” Soutter notes.

• Iron Man:Armored Adventures • I.N.K.: Invisible Network of Kids • The Gees• The Little Prince of St Exupery• Toobo

PGS Entertainment

Toobo

www.pgsentertainment.com

Several episodes of Portfolio Entertainment’snew preschool series The Cat in the Hat Knowsa Lot About That! will be available for buyers toscreen at MIPTV.“Our sneak-peek of Cat atMIPCOM generated tremendous interestfrom buyers across the globe and we’rethrilled to have the opportunity to demon-strate how well Dr. Seuss’s Cat has transi-tioned from the page to the screen,” says JoyRosen, co-founder and co-president.“Thehigh-quality animation style makes itlook as though the books have liter-ally come to life. Actor/comedianMartin Short provides the voice of TheCat, endowing the character with hissignature playful voice.”

With Treehouse Canada and PBS Kidsin the U.S. on board for a fall 2010 launch,Portfolio will be using MIPTV to continuesigning up new partners.

• The Cat in the Hat Knows a LotAbout That!

PortfolioEntertainment

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!

“The series is engaging, funny andfilled with extraordinary adventures ofscientific discovery.”

—Joy Rosen

www.portfolioentertainment.com

“PGS represents well-known brand-focused properties, shows with world-class broadcast partners attached, innovative short formats and new formats.”

—Philippe Soutter


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24 TV KIDS

A veteran of Disney, National Geographic Kids Entertain-ment and Entertainment Rights, Karen Vermeulen recentlyjoined RDF Rights as VP and head of global TV sales andco-production for its kids’ and family division. In this role,she is driving the exploitation of properties such as Waybulooand Mister Maker, preschool series for CBeebies; Yo GabbaGabba!,a hit show for Nick Jr. in the U.S.; the CBBC/ABCAustralia adventure game show Escape from Scorpion Island;and the Nick U.K. sitcom Summer in Transylvania.All theseshows,Vermeulen explains, have “universal relevance andappeal to an international audience.”

In addition, she says,“We are coming to MIPTV with avery strong development slate. We are eager to talk toprospective co-production partners to come on board ontwo particular projects: one is an adventure comedy forolder preschoolers and the other one is a kung–fu slapstickcaper for 6- to 9-year-olds.”

• Waybuloo•Yo Gabba Gabba!• Mister Maker• Escape from Scorpion Island• Summer in Transylvania

RDF Rights

Sesame Workshop’s flagship series Sesame Street turned40 last year and continues to deliver fun, educational con-tent to children the world over.“We have a long historyof creating an award-winning series that resonates withfamilies,”says Renee Mascara,VP of international televisiondistribution. “From that, we’ve spun off short stand-alones in which the beloved Sesame characters retain theirwit and humor, but in new and different formats.”

These include Abby’s Flying Fairy School, with AbbyCadabby; Munchin’ Impossible, which addresses “healthyeating, but in a really fun way”; and Elmo’s Backyard.“It’sall about nature and appreciating your community,”Mas-cara says.“These topics are incredibly relevant and thequality of the production is first class.”

Rounding out the slate is the preschool block 3-2-1Let’s Go, hosted by Abby Cadabby; and the new versionof The Electric Company.

• Abby’s Flying Fairy School• Munchin’ Impossible• Elmo’s Backyard• 3, 2, 1 Let’s Go• The Electric Company

Sesame Workshopwww.sesameworkshop.org

“All of our program-ming tries to bringsomething slightly dif-ferent to the marketnorm and boasts highproduction values andquality story lines.”

—Karen Vermeulen

www.rdfrights.com

Yo Gabba Gabba!

The Electric Company

“We’re fortunate that buyers andviewers the world over love SesameStreet.”

—Renee Mascara


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26 TV KIDS

Shaftesbury recently received an order from Canada’sFamily Channel for the new half-hour teen comedyseries Baxter, which is slated to launch later this year. Itfollows Baxter McNab and his friends on their journeythrough the unique, high-energy environment at North-ern Star School of the Arts.The show is the latest in aslate of live-action youth series from Shaftesbury.Thecompany has also produced three seasons of Overruled!,also for Family Channel, which has sold into a numberof territories—as has another Family Channel commis-sion, Connor Undercover, recently licensed to Gulli inFrance and Boomerang Latin America.

Shaftesbury built its reputation in the live-actionkids’ sector off the back of the long-running Life withDerek. Shane Kinnear, the VP of sales, marketing anddigital media, says he is excited to be launching atMIPTV a follow-up TV movie, Vacation with Derek.

• Baxter• Vacation with Derek• Overruled!• Connor Undercover• Life with Derek

Shaftesburywww.shaftesbury.ca

Skywriter Media & Entertainment Group made itsinternational debut last year at MIPCOM.The company,co-founded by Kevin Gillis, will be introducing severalnew brands at its second market, led by the live-actionshow Life from Earth.The show, says Gillis, executive pro-ducer and CEO at Skywriter, reflects the company’scommitment to assembling strong creative teams to driveits productions.Also new for MIPTV are Echo Planet,which Gillis refers to as a “kids’ adventure, environmen-tal science mash-up series,” and Vivi, about a little girl’sadventures as captured in her scrapbook. Skywriter is alsorepresenting Atomic Betty and Miss BG, Gillis adds.

He says of the slate: “The concepts are strong, well-thought out and we have researched the audience, theirtastes,and broadcaster trends.”MIPTV will serve as a “majortesting ground for the creative content we’ve been devel-oping and hot-housing the last few months.”

• Live from Earth• Vivi• Echo Planet• Atomic Betty • Miss BG

Skywriter Media& Entertainment Group

Vivi

“We’re a new company made up of experienced individuals from acrossthis industry who bring unique talents and fresh ideas.”

—Kevin Gillis

www.skywritermedia.com

Baxter

“New for Shaftesbury Kids in 2010 is Baxter, following kids in a school forthe arts, and Vacation with Derek, themovie follow up to the very popular Life with Derek. ”

—Shane Kinnear


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28 TV KIDS

The classic German series Vicky the Viking is beingremade by Studio100 using 3-D CGI animation for acontemporary kids’ audience.“We are seeing a returnto traditional characters and programs, mainly in thearea of preschool programming,” says Patrick Elmen-dorff, the managing director of Studio100 Media.“Renowned characters are starring in newly producedadventures that intentionally keep up the ‘retro’-appeal.”Studio100’s other top shows include the preschool seriesFlorrie’s Dragons and Kerwhizz; the kids’ title Enyo, a fan-tasy adventure; and Zeke’s Pad, a comedy.

“Studio100 Media now has an extensive library of newand existing programming which we will be offering tobuyers and we expect to sell our key properties into anincreasing number of European markets and internationally,”Elmendorff says.

• Vicky the Viking• Enyo• Florrie’s Dragons• Kerwhizz• Zeke’s Pad

Studio100 Mediawww.studio100media.com

Toei Animation is behind such hits as Dragon Ball and OnePiece.At MIPTV, the company aims to cement its existingworldwide partnerships and develop new ones.Accord-ing to Kenji Ebato, chief manager of the internationaldepartment, the lead property for this market is SailorMoon, which the company hopes to presell to Europeanbroadcasters.Toei will also be placing an emphasis on Dr.Slump,Arale, Marie & Galie, Master Hamsters and the ani-mated movie One Piece Strong World.

“Toei Animation is focusing on increasing broadcastand merchandising sales for our programs, buildingawareness about our new and existing properties, andgetting more deeply involved in digital distribution,”Ebato says.“Buyers will be especially drawn to our pro-grams because we have many shows being renewed for2011 in the U.S., Italy,Europe and Asia due to their pop-ularity with audiences.”

• Sailor Moon• Dr. Slump,Arale• One Piece Strong World• Marie & Galie• Master Hamsters

Toei Animation

“Our in-house producedprograms are filled withaction, adventure andrelatable characters thathave really resonated withaudiences worldwide.”

—Kenji Ebato

corp.toei-anim.co.jp/english

Enyo

“We have character-driven stories offering comedy, fantasy, action and adventure with strong story lines targeting both girls and boys.”

—Patrick Elmendorff

Master Hamsters


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30 TV KIDS

India’s Toonz Animation has stepped up its internationaloperations with the launch of Toonz Entertainment.TheU.S.-based distribution arm is being led by Matt Cooper-stein as executive VP.“Toonz Animation India had reacheda point in its development [that it needed to] launch the nextphase of growth by distributing its own series and features,”Cooperstein notes.“P. Jayakumar,the CEOof Toonz Anima-tion India, and I see the opening of the U.S.office as a criti-cal step towards [being] a fully integrated media company.”

The company’s properties include two seasons each ofWolverine and The X-Men and Speed Racer,The Next Gener-ation, as well as Speed Racer Classic, the Halloween specialsMostly Ghostly and the action-adventure show Freefonix.

“Toonz Entertainment will use MIPTV to launch ournew distribution company with eight products,” Cooper-stein says.The mandate also includes acquiring third-partyanimated series for distribution.

• Wolverine and The X-Men • Speed Racer,The Next Generation • Mostly Ghostly • Speed Racer Classic• Freefonix

Toonz Entertainment

Formerly the managing director of Nickelodeon Germany,Markus Andorfer joined Your Family Entertainment (YFE)this year as senior VP of program sales and marketing. Inhis new post,Andorfer is leading the exploitation of a cata-logue of 3,500 half hours. At MIPTV, Andorfer lists Oscarthe Balloonist as one of the lead highlights, alongside Wakka-ville,Li’l Larikkins,My Dad’s an Evil Genius and Ninjured!

“We see a growing demand for entertaining,non-violentand educational programs,”Andorfer says of trends in thebusiness.“This confirms YFE’s main focus and strengthensour position in the marketplace.”Andorfer is particularlykeen to raise YFE’s profile in markets such as Central Europe,China,India,South America and the Middle East.“Telecomsand VOD platforms and also independent DVD labels areof interest,” he adds.“With a track record of over 28 years,YFE continues to maintain its reputation for deliveringworld-class entertainment for the whole family.”

• Oscar the Balloonist• Wakkaville• Li’l Larikkins• My Dad’s an Evil Genius• Ninjured!

Your Family Entertainment

Wakkaville

“Our expert-drivenresearch makes usacquire and producefresh, educational andnon-violent entertainingprograms that parentstrust and kids enjoy.”

—Markus Andorfer

www.yf-e.com

Freefonix

“Our programs will appeal tobuyers because of the high-profile brands along withhigh-quality animation.”

—Matt Cooperstein

www.toonzentertainment.com


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While Avatar has taken thefilm industry by storm, televisionexecutives debate the costs and

feasibility of 3-D on the small screen.

By Bill Dunlap

Digital animation and 3-D just seem to go together. First, ifyou happen to be among the millions who donned 3-Dglasses for a screening of Avatar in recent months, you saw alot of it—CGI video in the movie and a lot of 3-D trailers for

upcoming animated movies from DreamWorks Anima-tion and Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios.

Then, at about the mid-point of Avatar’s run asnumber one at global box offices in January, theConsumer Electronics Show convened in Las Vegasand the hot topic there was 3-D, too.Multiple man-

ufacturers announced that they would be selling TVsets and DVD players with 3-D capability this year.That’s the kind of confluence that makes people in the

children’s animation business sit up and take notice.It’s nota “perfect storm” by a long shot, though.There’s a big

piece still missing. In the U.S., ESPN and Discov-ery have unveiled plans for 3-D channels for sports

and documentaries, respectively, but none of the majorkids’ broadcasters have followed suit. In the U.K., BSkyB isputting up a 3-D service, but so far it’s aimed more at sportsfans watching in pubs.

Although most kids’ animation makers aren’t convertingto 3-D production yet, most of them are thinking about 3-D,many are planning for it and a few are already working on itwith future broadcast in mind.

Further into 3-D than most independent animation housesis HIT Entertainment in London.“HIT has been very inter-ested in 3-D for quite some time,” says Lenora Hume, HIT’sexecutive VP of programming and production. “When Ijoined, in 2006, one of the first things we did was a 3-D test.We did a tiny 30-second piece with Bob the Builder in ourown production facilities, and we did one for Pingu. At a

company summit in 2007 we showed those.That was to getthe company thinking about 3-D in the future.”

Hume,who went to HIT from The Walt Disney Com-pany, sees 3-D much like the transition to high defini-

32 TV KIDS


HIT’s Bob the Builder.

Make Way for

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tion, which HIT adopted in 2006 even though there was lit-tle demand at the time.

“You knew it was the way of the future,” she says.“SomeTVs out there are already 3-D ready. It’s something that HITwill do, providing it’s not significantly increasing our costs,so that we are on the leading edge.”

HIT’s first 3-D project, though, is not for television.Thecompany is working with the Los Angeles-based SD Enter-tainment on Bob the Builder and the Roller Coaster, a 10-minutemovie for Legoland theme parks.

THE WAY FORWARDAlso jumping into 3-D animation is Cyber Group Studiosin Paris.“We’ve been looking very seriously about putting3-D into our shows,” says the chairman and CEO,Pierre Siss-mann.“We are in the advanced stages of production on oneseries and parts of a movie in 3-D.”

The movie is Ozie Boo! The Magic Shell, based on CyberGroup’s popular preschool CGI series Ozie Boo!, which fea-tures a group of cuddly penguins. Because the 75-minutemovie is aimed at preschoolers, who may not have thepatience for a full-length feature watched through glasses,the film is only partially 3-D.“The scenes we’ll do in stereo-scopic vision are the eight songs in the movie,” Sissmann says.“They are about a minute each and they convey a verydifferent feeling.”

Cyber Group is also in production on a serieswith 3-D elements that mixes animated char-acters with actual scenery from U.S. NationalParks, called Tales of Tatonka. “We figured itwould be interesting because of the style of ani-mation and the richness of the background,”Sissmann says.“The series will be delivered nextyear.We’re doing it to gain some kind of expe-rience in handling the technical tools and seewhat kind of artistic impression we can deliverto our audience.When we deliver the series, outof the episodes there will be a few 3-D images.”

Sissmann acknowledges that there is zerodemand for 3-D series, but still thinks it’s timeto start producing them.“I think it’s importantfor us as producers to gain some kind of insighton how to produce with this technology, for thefuture.We have to be ready,” he says.

The Paris-based Moonscoop Group is just beginning todabble in 3-D, according to Bill Schultz, a co-CEO ofMoonscoop U.S. in Los Angeles.“We are working on some-thing that will require us to do some trailblazing,” he says.“We’re just at the beginning of the process.We’re workingon a theatrical trailer that will run in the fall, a 30-secondshort featuring characters from the Wild Grinders.The prop-erty is already established, but it’s a 2-D flash property.The goalis to make it stereoscopic 3-D. It hasn’t been done. All thestereoscopic 3-D that’s been done has been CGI.We’re noteven thinking ahead to television for it.”

Schultz places himself at the beginning of the learningcurve on 3-D, examining such issues as possible headachescaused by extended use of the glasses.“I’m looking at it froma content perspective and I think there is definitely a valueadded for the consumer when they can see something in animpactful 3-D,” he says.

Steven DeNure, the COO of DHX Media and the presi-dent of DECODE Entertainment, says his company is devel-oping some new projects and debating whether to do oneof them in 3-D.“We haven’t budgeted it out, though,”he says.“It has to be a business decision. Unless there is somebodywilling to pay a premium for a show in 3-D then probablyfrom the production point of view it doesn’t make a lot ofsense.What broadcasters do will dictate what we do.They’reour customers.”

Genevieve Dexter, a partner and the commercial director atCAKE Entertainment in London,has taken notice of the “mete-oric rise” of 3-D in the cinemas, but questions how muchdemand there will be for 3-D kids’ television.“At the momenteverybody is still trying to find an HD market for children’s ani-mated and live-action programs on television,” she says.“We allshoot in HD but we don’t get much call to deliver in HD.”

What CAKE is doing is beginning to assess the cost ofgoing back into the elements of some existing shows toupgrade them to 3-D.“We have started to analyze the costof transferring some of our existing shows into 3-D to be ableto offer them to 3-D channels in the future.We’re in theprocess of trying to cost that.”

For now, CAKE is not considering development of anynew 3-D series, Dexter says.“We’re putting our efforts muchmore into multiplatform entertainment than into stuff thatthere may or may not be a demand for.”

34 TV KIDS

Popping out of thescreen: Cyber Groupproduces and distributes a numberof series in 3-D CGI,including Fish n Chips.


Floating to the top: Amberwood, which is currently working on the CGI seriesRob the Robot, expects to expand into 3-D within the next few years.

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Nor is Amberwood Entertainment taking the plunge justyet.“It’s definitely on our minds, but we have yet to strate-gize how we’re going to go about doing it,” says Craig Young,Amberwood’s VP of production.“We’d love to be one of thefront-runners with it.We have several productions that wouldlend themselves quite well. RollBots has a lot of characterszooming around on these roller-coaster-type tracks. It wouldlend itself perfectly to 3-D.”

EASY DOES ITThe general consensus at this early stage of development isthat 3-D animation doesn’t require totally new skills or mas-sive investments in personnel, equipment or software.

Jonathan Dern, a co-founder of SD Entertainment, whichdeveloped the 3-D animation in HIT’s Bob the Builder Legolandmovie, says it’s very important to understand 3-D before youdeliver it.“Once you do, it’s not rocket science. It is the future;it’s really important for my company that we embrace it and takethe lead in producing in 3-D.” He pegs the incremental costincrease at 10 to 15 percent.

Cyber Group’s Sissmann says it’s “not difficult, just differ-ent. For a director of a series or movie it presents more chal-lenges, but it’s exciting because it’s a new way to create. Itdoes have a cost, which is not massive.At this point we esti-mate it at 10 or 15 percent on top of what we are spending.”

Moonscoop’s Schultz sees the cost similarly.“3-D will bemore expensive because you will be rendering the sameimage twice,” he says.“Rendering can be a time-consuming,expensive part of the process.When we went from standard to

HD it probably added 10 to 20 percent to the cost. Theincrease to 3-D could be comparable to that, unless there’ssome new plug-in that does it automatically.”

DeNure at DECODE says CGI animation, already com-monly called 3-D but not of the stereoscopic variety, is thesimplest medium in which to do true 3-D.“Doing 3-D com-puter animation is probably the easiest, because it’s all done ina virtual world anyway,”he says.“There’s a way to create thoselayers you need to create a 3-D show.”

Canada’s Nerd Corps Entertainment has set itself up as a lead-ing provider of 3-D CGI animation.“It’s just something thatwe felt would give us a strategic advantage when we were start-ing the company eight years ago,” says Chuck Johnson, co-founder of Nerd Corps and its senior VP of production.“Wewanted to try and create a scenario where we weren’t just anyother animation studio on the block.At the time we started,3-Danimation was not considered to be the best new thing.Thebroadcasters had found some failures early on and at the time3-D was not necessarily the shining star of the industry.Wewanted to come in and prove that it could be done better.”

With series like Storm Hawks and League of Super Evil, John-son says, Nerd Corps found that it could “manipulate theprocess, the pipeline, to create something that was reliable andquite different.3-D animation has in the past employed a processof overdoing everything. Layering on more detail, morecomplexities, and it really takes a surprising amount of creativecontrol to [stop] yourself from overdoing it.We took a lot ofprinciples from classical animation and other art forms andreally put those into the pipeline and found ways to make itviable long term.”

Hume points out that HIT’s internal 3-D demonstrationfilms were done when Bob the Builder and Pingu were bothstop-motion properties but that the current CGI animationsare more amenable to 3-D. HIT is one of several animationhouses thinking about upgrading existing animation to 3-Dwhere possible.“Those files exist,” says Dern, referring to theHIT properties.“If you separate them and put them into twoeyes, and you have the expertise, you can go back into thosedigital files and dimensionalize a library. Even 2-D animationlooks pretty cool in 3-D.”

FINDING THE RIGHT AUDIENCEOne unanswered question about 3-D animation is whichage groups can appreciate it. Amberwood’s Young doesn’tthink younger preschoolers will sit still for a show viewedthrough glasses.“Trying to get a three-year-old to sit with apair of glasses on probably is not going to happen,” he says.“But kids are very sophisticated these days. From about theage of five I can see it being somewhat appealing to them,definitely a novelty. I can see 5 to 11 eating that up and beingmesmerized by it.”

HIT and SD are both doing research with advisory groupson the subject.“A good proportion of our library is preschool,”Hume says.“We are always cautious about doing things that areage-appropriate for our audience.With the Bob the Builder moviewe wanted to make sure we weren’t going to terrify a child.You have to be careful about how you use the 3-D,and I believewe were very sensitive to our audience and that this 10-minutefilm is age-appropriate and works for a preschool audience.”

Cyber Group’s Ozie Boo! movie is also aimed at preschool-ers,which is why the 3-D elements are short and tied to musi-

World Screen

36 TV KIDS

310 4/10

Head of the class:Angelo Rules is amongthe CGI series beingrolled out by CAKE.

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cal numbers.“You can’t put glasses on the eyes of preschool-ers for 90 minutes,” Sissmann says.“So people who do 3-Dmovies have to be careful which audience they direct it to.Eight, ten, twelve years old and up, there is no problem.Wethink it will enhance the movie.”

DeNure sees the sweet spot for kids’3-D audiences in the 7-to-12 range.“We’re thinking it’s not going to be important inpreschool,”he says.“In terms of the older,boys’action-adventureor action-comedy genres,7 to 11 or 7 to 12, there would prob-ably be high interest.We think less so for live-action tween-,teen-targeted shows, but that remains to be seen.”

3-D OR NOT 3-DBut the real question still on the table is whether the wholeconcept of 3-D television will catch on and become part ofthe mass viewing experience.

There are many true believers. Sony, which is partneringwith Discovery and IMAX on a 3-D channel, says that in itsfiscal year starting in April 2012, 3-D televisions will make up30 percent to 50 percent of its sales.

Similarly, Samsung Electronics America, DreamWorksAnimation and Technicolor have formed a global partnershipfor the delivery of a complete 3-D home-entertainmentpackage this year.DIRECTV says it will launch three U.S.3-Dchannels in June, offering pay-per-view events and movies,video on demand, and a variety of free sports, music and otherentertainment.At the same time, skeptics questionwhether consumers are ready, in a tight economy,to shell out money for another high-end display andDVD player just a few years after HD sets and Blu-ray gained traction, and they wonder how the glasseswill be accepted.

And more specifically to animation, no plans havebeen announced for a 3-D kids’channel.Cartoon Net-work says 3-D animation is on its radar, but it’s tooearly to identify any projects or airdates. Disney says ithas no plans for 3-D on Disney Channel or Disney XD.

At Nickelodeon,meanwhile,“The buzz around 3-Dat the moment is big,” says Steve Grieder, the exec-utive VP of Nickelodeon and program sales forMTV Networks International. “Nickelodeon iscommitted to developing breakthrough creativeacross all the mediums and technologies that kidsand families are excited about—so we’re absolutelyworking on plans to enter the 3-D space shortly. It’s

such an exciting phase, and I know our shows willtranslate phenomenally well into 3-D.”

Many others in the animation community agreeit’s coming.“I worked 12 years at Disney and they’realways thinking five or seven years ahead,” Sissmannsays.“It starts with market penetration by the man-ufacturers of TVs. Let’s talk around Christmas fouryears from now and look at the sales. I think we’llbe in a different economic cycle; the recession willbe over.The first things are going to come from thebig broadcasters. It’s moving very fast in the cinema.I think, on the television side, we’re three to fiveyears behind.”

Hume calls Avatar the catalyst that will drive 3-Dtelevision.“SD and HIT were rolling along on a fairlyaggressive plan, and it seems everybody is interested

now,”she says.“It seemed a novelty prior to Avatar,but now peo-ple are looking at it differently. I think people will be askingabout it at MIPTV.”

Amberwood’s Young expects to see animators pitching 3-Dshows in the next couple of years.“It’ll take someone with agreat series idea with broadcaster backing,” he says.“It wouldn’tsurprise me if in the next year or so Amberwood starts plan-ning a project with that in mind.”

CAKE’s Dexter remains somewhat doubtful.“3-D televisiondoes seem quite a way away. In addition there is quite a bit ofskepticism about the application of 3-D TV to the children’sarea. I think it’s applicable for event television for older children,but I can’t see anybody sitting down and watching it with specs.I can see it for event programming on television for animated fea-tures. People will want to experience the same thing when theybuy the DVD that their friends experienced in the cinema.”

But Dern from SD, who calls himself a zealot on the subject,says it is coming:“Sooner than you think.Anybody who’s seena 3-D movie in the last year will feel cheated if they don’t see itin 3-D in the home, once it hits the downstream. Just like stan-dard def to high def, there will be a break point, whether it’s inthree years or seven years. It’s a natural progression. Studios areinvesting billions.When Warner Bros. announces that the nexttwo Harry Potters are going to be in 3-D, the wave has been set.Ultimately the technology will come along and you’ll be look-ing at a glasses-free environment and 3-D as the standard.”

World Screen

Skating ahead: Moonscoop is working on a stereoscopic 3-D trailer featuring characters from the 2-D shorts Wild Grinders.

Seeing red: NerdCorps has carved aniche in the production of 3-D CGIseries such as League of Super Evil.

312 4/10

38 TV KIDS

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The big boys of the global kids’ channel space are all push-ing 30—indeed, that’s a milestone that Nickelodeon passedlast year.With maturity has come tremendous expansion:Dis-ney Channel,Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network all reach inexcess of 160 territories. But as they have moved from beingthe new kids on the block to established majors, the interna-tional children’s channel brands have also had to adapt to aradically different landscape. In addition to facing competitionfrom each other,Disney,Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network,and their sister kids’ brands, are up against strong local-marketservices like France’s Canal J and the U.K.’s CBBC, up-and-coming independents such as CBeebies, KidsCo and Jim-Jam, and all the other things that can take up a child’s time,from video games to social-networking sites.

“You’re constantly trying to reinvent how to do everythingyou do better and smarter,” says Cecilia Persson, the VP ofprogramming, acquisitions and presentation for Europe, theMiddle East and Africa at Turner Broadcasting.“That’s anongoing challenge for all kids’ channels.”

STANDING OUTThe key, channel executives agree, is having a point of distinc-tion that is reflected in all of your programming.“We are laser-focused on our brand identity and work hard to make sure allof our content supports our brand,” states David Levine, the VP

of worldwide programming strategy, acquisitions and co-productions for Disney Channels Worldwide.

Levine notes that at the heart of Disney Channel’sstrategy is delivering “fun, relevant programming that

connects with kids and tweens—they feel it’s made just forthem.The messages and themes in our content are always pos-itive—express yourself, believe in yourself, follow your dreamsand celebrate your family.”The Disney brand, Levine adds,means that the channel can “appeal to families as well.”

Reaching a broader audience is also important for Nick-elodeon, says Jules Borkent, the senior VP of global acquisi-tions and international programming.“Research has shownthat a lot of our shows now seem to be attracting a lot of co-viewing.We’re growing [our audience] a little broader, whilenot forgetting that we still are at our core a kids’ channel.”

40 TV KIDS


By Mansha Daswani

Baby Antonio’s Circuson JimJam.

Hanging Tough

From the established majors to up-and-comingindependents, the global kids’ channels arerelying on creative programming initiatives

to remain fresh and relevant.

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For Cartoon Network, meanwhile, the “class clown” imagestill stands,Persson says, thanks to the channel’s slate of comedicanimation. “It’s the channel you have fun with,” she notes.“Now,with Ben 10,we’ve added that adventure, fantasy aspect.”

Angling for its own piece of the pie, two-year-old KidsCois positioning itself as the “fourth global network,” states PaulRobinson, the managing director. Launched in September2007, KidsCo is now present in 85 territories.

“We’ve designed ourselves to be complementary to the exist-ing channels,” Robinson says.“We have huge admiration forDisney, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.What we’re try-ing to do is something different.We’re filling a gap in the mar-ket internationally, and this is for boys and girls six to ten.Over-all, our strategy is to super-serve that audience with fantasticshows: family safe, no violence, no inappropriate content.”

Given the stiff competition for the 6-to-12 set, two upstarts,CBeebies and JimJam, are targeting a much younger demo-graphic.“CBeebies uniquely targets just the preschool audi-ence,” says David Weiland, the senior VP of programming atBBC Worldwide Channels, which has rolled CBeebies out toAsia, Australia, Latin America, the U.S. Hispanic market,Poland and Africa.The channel’s slate,Weiland continues, isdesigned to “stimulate interest in a diverse range of subjects,such as storytelling, make and do, music and movement, sci-ence, natural history and puzzle programs, all of whichencourage children and parents to continue playing and learn-ing when the channel is switched off.”

“We came into this market very late,” admits WayneDunsford, the general manager of JimJam, which made itsdebut in late 2007 and has since expanded to about 50 terri-tories.“We needed to have something very, very different thatwould allow us to launch, allow us to survive and to stand outfrom the competition.We’ve focused in on how JimJam cancontribute to the positive development of a child through atrusted, safe environment.”

Dunsford explains that JimJam has been able to do that asa result of its ability to draw on the programming library ofco-owner HIT Entertainment, which supplies 60 percent to70 percent of the channel’s schedule.“The HIT content hasbeen a driving force for the channel because when you sitdown with a [platform] and you mention Bob,Thomas, Bar-ney, the door opens and you’re taken quite seriously.Thosebrands are critical to the channel’s success.”

CREATIVE WELLSPRINGFor all the global channels, tapping into an established, provenportfolio of content has been crucial. KidsCo takes much of itscontent from its three joint-venture partners—Corus Enter-tainment,Cookie Jar and NBC Universal—while Cartoon Net-work, Nickelodeon and Disney are all looking to the originalshows from their sister U.S. channels. It’s a strategy that works—Ben 10, iCarly and Hannah Montana are among the U.S. showsthat have proven to have universal appeal.Nonetheless, some ele-ment of localization is a must for all global brands.At the verybasic level, content is dubbed, local presenters are used to intro-duce programming throughout the day and shows are inter-spersed with original interstitials from the market in question.Disney, for example, developed interstitials in Europe, the Mid-dle East and Africa featuring local kids performing songs fromCamp Rock as part of the “My Camp Rock” competition.

“Our goal is to present stories that reflect kids’ real lives andDisney core values,” says Levine.“We look at trends, ratingsand have a great research resource.Our research team is in thefield with viewers on a daily basis, all around the world. Fromthere, our global creative team works to deliver content—sto-ries, characters and music—that connects with kids and theirfamilies.A key element is to insure that there are universalthemes to which all kids can relate—not every kid mighthave exactly 104 days of summer vacation like Phineas andFerb but all kids can relate to their exciting adventures, theirbig dreams and sense of adventure.”

For Levine, the best examples of Disney’s localization strategyare the original series commissioned by its feeds in marketsaround the world. In Japan, for example, Disney Channel hasfared well with the locally produced Stitch, an offshoot ofthe U.S.-originated Lilo & Stitch. Based on the Japanese suc-cess, the animated series has been re-versioned for the inter-national market and has since premiered in Australia andSoutheast Asia, with more territories to follow.

Disney is also rolling out versions of some of its biggesthits—most notably High School Musical. In Latin America,there are three versions known as El Desafío, produced inArgentina, Mexico and Brazil.“The Argentinean and Mexi-can versions are rolling out throughout Europe in 2010 tosupport the High School Musical brand,” Levine says. “It’salready delivering high ratings in Poland and Romania.”

This collaboration between Disney Channel programmersworldwide is essential, Levine says.“We have one brand andone vision, so we work very closely with our colleaguesaround the world every day—video conferencing has madethe world a lot smaller!”

At Nickelodeon, Borkent, too, has an international groupof commissioners to correspond with on a regular basis.“Iwould identify seven to eight people that sit with me in agroup” to discuss programming ideas. “We really use thisworldwide net of programmers that we have.”

42 TV KIDS


On the lot: Live-action tweendramas are still important for Nickelodeon, whichhas just begun rollingout Big Time Rush.

KID_410_CHANNELS 3/23/10 8:22 PM Page 4

KID_410_FITZROY 3/22/10 5:03 PM Page 1

One area the Nickelodeon team is pursuing is formats.“We haveinvestigated where it would make sense to look at some of our live-actionproperties, particularly the game shows,” Borkent notes. He is also lookingoutside of the Nickelodeon portfolio to see if there are innovative con-cepts on the market that could work for some of Nick’s global feeds.

A LOCAL SPINNickelodeon has also been co-producing with partners worldwide aspart of its efforts to develop locally relevant content. NickelodeonLatin America, for example, is working with Televisa and Illusion Stu-dios for a coming-of-age telenovela, Sueña Conmigo.The series willbe produced in HD in Spanish with an adaptation in Portuguese forNickelodeon Brazil. “We’re looking at rolling that out on some ofour international networks as well,” Borkent says.

For Turner Broadcasting EMEA, where the portfolio of channelsincludes Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Cartoonito and the free-to-airBoing, only about 10 percent of the schedules consist of co-productions.The company does,however,commission a fair bit from the region,Pers-son notes, and has set up its own production hub in the U.K., CartoonNetwork Development Studio Europe. The Amazing World of Gumball,which Turner commissioned from its sister British production arm, isdue to roll out on Cartoon Network worldwide this year.

CBeebies, meanwhile,which has since launch acquired 100 percent ofits content—half from BBC Worldwide and the rest from independentproviders—has just dipped its toes in the original-production waters,withPenelope K, By The Way.“It’s set to launch in April in Australia beforerolling out to the other international CBeebies channels and the U.K.channel,” Weiland says.“We are planning to get much more active inthis field in 2010 and are interested in a number of different models fromstraight commissioning to co-producing and more pre-buying.”

KidsCo, too, is expanding its original programming remit, with recentexamples that include the crafts show Jass Time! and the animated Boo & Me,produced with Malaysia’s Inspidea.

At JimJam, meanwhile, Dunsford explains that “the business, finan-cially, is not at the point where we’re in a position to start commis-sioning our own programming.And we don’t feel the actual need to dothat just yet.We’ve got a sufficient range of programs that we don’tneed to be augmenting it with commissioned programming.We’restill only two and a half years old and we’ve been focusing more onhow we can market the channel.We’ve put money into a refresh ofthe channel on air and following that through with off air, so that thechannel looks fresh, it looks appealing, it’s got a relevance to the audi-ence, and I think those are more important than spending huge sumsof money on our own commissions.”

The channel is, however,working with the team behind The Wiggleson Baby Antonio’s Circus. “That’s gone on to all of our feeds, but it’s

Watch this: Cartoon Network’s Burbank studios have churned out anumber of global hits, among them Ben 10.

KID_410_CHANNELS 3/26/10 9:09 AM Page 10

_410_MOTION 3/22/10 4:55 PM Page 1

effectively a program that we are premiering, but it will be availablefor other broadcasters as well.”

For the acquisitions that fill the 30 percent to 40 percent of JimJam’sschedule that is not derived from HIT,Dunsford says that he and his teamare looking for properties that will work across multiple markets.“The onlydedicated feed [we have] for a single territory is the Italian feed, the rest—Asia,Middle East, pan-European—cover so many different territories.”

At KidsCo, a focus for this year will be content for its Western Euro-pean feed,Robinson says.“We’re going to be expanding, particularly incountries like Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the U.K. So ourspending will be up this year.”

Persson at Turner has her eye on comedy animation for kids 6 to 11 forCartoon Network.“That’s a global need,” she says.“We’re all working veryclosely together on trying to fill that pipeline.And for Boomerang, from aEuropean perspective, we’re looking again for comedy, probably along thelines of classic remakes.We’ve had a lot of success with Garfield and Straw-berry Shortcake and things like that.”

Levine at Disney is on the lookout for content for both the DisneyChannel and Disney XD brands.“All of our acquisitions need to fit ourbrand identities—they need to sit next to our programs on our sched-ules and deliver the same quality to our viewers; this is especiallyimportant as we build a brand, as we are with Disney XD.Any showthat is not adding to our overall effort is, in effect, taking away—so weneed to be vigilant about the shows we acquire for our platforms.”

Disney XD’s buying mandate includes “character-driven comedies witha boy skew,” Levine says.“The storytelling should reflect that life is aboutthe journey and getting to the next level no matter how big or small, it’sshowing boys that you may not at first succeed, but you try again.”

For Disney Channel, meanwhile, acquired content should “skewmore towards contemporary, high-concept comedy,” with stories that“provide navigational guidance to kids and tweens.”

Levine adds,“We are looking for more co-production opportuni-ties for all of our brands to support our own content.” In fact, DisneyChannels Worldwide has entered into its first global movie co-production,for Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.

At CBeebies,Weiland says he is looking for shows that are “struc-tured in a way that makes them easy to dub in multiple languages andhave a range of characters and environments that are understood bychildren in different cultures.”

Borkent is keen to spot some new live-action shows at MIPTV, aswell as “companions for our animated series. Comedy is my numberone priority. I’m also now looking for a little more in the boys’ actionarena, for Nicktoons in the U.S.”

As they look out for new programming concepts, all the major kids’channels will be figuring out ways to expand their market share and keepkids tuning in day after day.At the end of the day, JimJam’s Dunsford says,“You’ve got [to have] a proposition that is sufficiently compelling to stopyou from just being another kids’ channel.”

Wild wonder: KidsCo is stepping up its original programming efforts followingthe success of shows like Boo & Me, produced with Malaysia’s Inspidea.

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One of the effects of the recent global downturn has been asurge in interest in international co-productions. In timeswhen broadcasters have been busily reducing the license feesthey are willing to pay, and financing has been harder to find,more producers have been forced to look at co-productionpartnerships to get their projects off the drawing board.

Nowhere is this more evident than in children’s programming,where there has been a surge in international co-productionsin recent years. Ira Levy, a partner and executive producer atBreakthrough Films & Television, estimates that a third ofthe company’s output is co-produced.“It’s always been a cru-cial part of our strategy in animation and live-action kids’programming. But now more than ever a lot of projects justwouldn’t get off the ground unless we did them as co-pros,”he says. Breakthrough’s currently slated projects include MyBig Big Friend, a 52x11-minute co-pro with 2D Lab in Brazil.

MarVista Entertainment also has a good track record inco-producing.“One of the highlights of the early stages ofMarVista was our co-development arrangement with Brook-well McNamara Entertainment,which led to the co-production

between us and MTV Networks on the series Beyond theBreak,” says CEO Fernando Szew.The series aired on The N(now known as TeenNick) in the U.S. and sold to majorbroadcasters around the world.“That was a successful creativeand business deal for us as well as for all the partners,” contin-ues Szew.“Each one of us needed the other parties to make ithappen. From our perspective, I would venture to say that, asan incipient independent, we were able to make the serieshappen by aligning ourselves with strong partners.”

Now MarVista has teamed up with Disney Channel to co-produce 16 Wishes, starring Debby Ryan, who was in theseries The Suite Life on Deck, and Jean-Luc Bilodeau of KyleXY fame.The TV movie will premiere in the U.S. this sum-mer and later on Disney channels around the world.

It would be naïve to suggest that the interest in interna-tional co-production wasn’t largely about money. If produc-ers can leverage 20 percent to 50 percent of the cost of a

48 TV KIDS


By David Wood

PairingUpFor many in the kids’ business, co-productions remain

a favorite way of sharing creative and financial resources.

ZDF Enterprises’Dance Academy.

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project through co-production partnerships, thenit’s little wonder that they are an increasingly crit-ical part of children’s TV production.

“Co-productions bring different creative forcestogether that collaborate to produce better con-tent,” says MarVista’s Szew.“That’s the benefit onthe creative side, but they often also help on thebusiness side by mitigating risk and sharing on thepotential upside, which is inherently necessary intoday’s increasingly globalized market, where mostcontent is aimed at foreign exploitation as well asdomestic consumption.”

As any experienced co-producer will tell you,successful co-production partnerships are aboutmore than money.“It’s just as important to lookat the organic unions that are going to contributeto the creative side of the project and raise every-one’s game,” says Joan Lambur, Breakthrough’sexecutive producer of animation, live action, fam-ily and children.

Some co-productions lend themselves to particu-lar territories, adds Lambur.“So if it’s about girls andhorses, it makes sense to reach out to Australia or theU.K. for partners. Sympathetic cultural approachesare what make [co-productions] work.”

Kevin Gillis, the CEO and executive producer atthe Skywriter Media & Entertainment Group, adds, “Youmight find a better director in France or Brazil.The beauty ofco-pro is you can sit down with your partners and look atwho can bring the most creative talent to the project.” Gillis iscurrently reaching out for co-production partners for his newlive-action series Live from Earth, among other projects.

Another big advantage is that co-producing can makethe final product more commercially viable, adds

Gillis.“These days TV shows have to work cultur-ally in many different territories, and that takesco-production. It’s all about being able to tap intothe best in each territory, allowing you to expand

the show’s cultural reach.”It’s a point backed up

by Arne Lohmann,the director of

co-productions and development for children and youth at Ger-many’s ZDF Enterprises, who currently has 15 co-productionson his slate, including Dance Academy, a 52-part teen dramaco-produced with ABC in Australia and Screen Australia.“We have partners we have worked together with foryears—in Australia, Canada and Europe.We benefit fromtheir editorial input and get a show which has an interna-tional appeal.”

Doug Schwalbe, the executive VP of production and pro-gram sales at Classic Media, is adding to his current MIPTVproperty list Casper’s Scare School, a three-way co-productionwith producers Moonscoop in France and DQ Entertain-ment in India.“The advantage is you get a preapproved cre-ative concept—I know I like it, I know the French like itand the Indians too, which probably means it’s saleable in theU.S., France, and throughout Asia. We know it’ll have a globalappeal, which projects that aren’t co-produced don’t neces-sarily have.”

THE ART OF CO-PRODUCTION If there is an art of successful co-production, it’s—not sur-prisingly—all about picking the right partners, deciding whocan offer different editorial perspectives as well as differentstrengths and assets that they can bring to the table.

The right partner will vary depending on the type of co-production relationship. Often, partners can bring structuralfunds or tax breaks, other times they might have a relationshipwith a broadcaster or access to retail outlets.

4Kids Entertainment’s executive VP of international, BrianLacey, admits,“If somebody brings us a project that we likeand they have a big broadcast partner on board, that raisesour interest substantially. It helps us appreciate the likelihoodthat there will be wider exposure, which will contribute toother revenue streams.That’s important with production costsaround $250,000 to $300,000 per half hour or maybe more.”

50 TV KIDS


Bright spots: 4Kids aligned with Microsoft for the colorful animated seriesViva Piñata.

Ball of fun: Breakthrough’sslate of kids’ co-productionsincludes the animationMy Big Big Friend,with Brazil’s 2D Lab.

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The most successful co-productions are the ones whereall partners share complementary skills and a common goal.Not all, however, work.“The pitfalls are similar to those inany collaboration or any relationship,” says MarVista’s Szew.“There is the possibility for conflict and divergent viewsand interests, which can lead to projects that do not fulfilltheir vision.”

That’s an area that John Vandervelde, the senior VP of busi-ness development and international co-production at Canada’sCookie Jar Entertainment, knows all about. “I have beendoing co-pros for 20 years, and more than ever it’s aboutpicking the right partner,”Vandervelde stresses.“It’s not aboutprice but finding somebody that you trust and want to be inbusiness with long-term. Getting them up to speed is a lotof work and you don’t want one-off relationships.”

But there’s no avoiding the fact that while co-pros areincreasingly popular, they can be a headache.“In the last yearwe have had two co-pros fall apart and we had to scrambleto fix them because our co-production partners ran out ofmoney,” says Vandervelde.

The current financial climate can cause problems, and onlyserves to underline the fact that with co-productions you arereliant on somebody else.“We have got some on-going issuestrying to get co-pro partners to file their paperwork,”Van-dervelde continues. “If they fail to file, we lose two ways;first, we don’t get the government funding, plus it doesn’tcount as Canadian content to our broadcaster—which won’tamuse them.Try selling another show to those guys!”

When it comes to co-productions treaties, which alwaysinvolve plenty of paperwork, making sure your co-producerhas good administrative backup is key, advises Skywriter’sGillis. “Sometimes territories don’t quite understand theimportance of co-production treaty administration. Gettingdocuments signed, certifying them as co-pros, is vital becausethe Canadian producer needs that to release Canadian funds.”

Get it right and co-production treaties can be a very effec-tive way of leveraging finance. Canada, for example, is wellknown for building up a major international co-productionbusiness based around a combination of soft funding, taxbreaks and broadcaster license fees, which the funding bodyTelefilm Canada reported added up to 77 international pro-jects in 2008 worth a total of C$387 billion ($379.7 billion).

TOO MANY COOKS? A typical co-production will involve two or three companies,with most producers working on the basis of the fewer thebetter. One way to minimize the potential for things goingwrong is to reduce the number of partners to two or a max-imum of three, says Vandervelde, who currently has a num-ber of three-way co-pros going on, including DoodlebopsRockin’ Road Show with Argentina’s Illusion Studios andGermany’s Optix Entertainment, and the boys’ comedy-action series Kung Fu Dino Posse with Sunwoo Entertain-ment in Korea.

“Where we work with an Asian animator I try to throwin a European post-production partner so the project getsEuropean content status.Three is the max, though.You hearabout those feature films with five, six or seven co-producersand nothing good ever comes of that!”

Lohmann of ZDF Enterprises insists that the best struc-ture is often fewer partners investing more.“That can makethings run more smoothly,” he says.

Skywriter’s Gillis adds,“It’s true that with too many cooksyou’ll end up with a burnt pie. I try to keep the numbers toa minimum, as it’s difficult enough to get two people in bed.With a ménage-à-trois somebody’s going to feel left out!”

Of course, the more partners you have on board the morepotential there is for creative disagreements—the singlebiggest problem with co-productions.“We try to ensure thatat the outset we share the same vision,” insists Lohmann.“You

4/10 World Screen 325

51TV KIDS

Head of the class:Casper’s Scare School

is a collaborationbetween Classic

Media, Moonscoopand DQ Entertainment.

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have to discuss things such as production design and charac-ters, otherwise it will be really horrible.”

Breakthrough’s Levy agrees.“Making sure all partners buyinto the creative concept at the outset is key.You need likeminds with the same sensibility—it’s like a marriage.”

Although co-productions are business agreements, it’s veryimportant to like your co-pro partners, says Stephanie Betts,the director of development and licensing at Breakthough.“You’ll be together for four years and you’ll have to agree[on] everything together.When designs come in you have toagree [on] them.We set up approval marks every step of theway, with color, rough cut, voices and music. At every stagewe go back and forth between co-production partners.”

BUILDING TRUST Face-to-face meetings are the best way forward, althoughwhen partnering with producers on other continents, thisisn’t always possible, increasing the potential for miscom-munication and misunderstanding.“Everybody has to beon the same page, so Skype gets used a lot,” says Betts.

Skywriter’s Gillis recommends actively seeking out part-ners who demonstrate flexibility and an ability to collaborate.“Your partner needs to be collaborative or it will be a night-mare from the start,” he declares.

“What I do is to send over some basic creative overviewnotes to see how they respond,” reveals Gillis.“If they aretoo defensive or say, ‘No, we can’t change that because wehave our own deal with the writer,’ then you begin to think:Hang on, this is going to be a struggle.”

But in any co-production—as in any kind of TV pro-duction—you should anticipate creative conflicts, warnsClassic Media’s Schwalbe: “I really think that people who

complain about having to make creative compromises withco-productions just aren’t working with the right partners.”

Sometimes it can get more complicated, says Gillis. “Atthe end of the day, the broadcasters call the shots, and if weagree on something with our broadcaster that their broad-caster doesn’t like, the only way out is to compromise.”

Typical areas of contention are the script, music and cast-ing.“But as time goes on, the clock is ticking, the animatorshave to work and the shows have to get delivered,” adds Gillis.“We find that these pressures push the parties towards a meet-ing of the minds.”

One way of managing conflict is to give all partnersjoint approval, no matter what the split in terms of finan-cial contribution, which is what Gillis recommends. “Ourphilosophy has always been no matter if it’s fifty-fifty ortwenty-eighty, there has to be joint approval, because if oneparty has got more say it tends to create resentment.”

4Kids’ Lacey has another tip for successful co-pros: avoidbeginners.“If you are working with people for the first timeit can be a huge, huge challenge—in some cases a nightmare.Especially if people don’t understand the marketplace interms of broadcast license fees and different media platforms.”

He adds,“My experience has been if the people who aresitting across the table from you haven’t done this before, thelikelihood is that you’ll want to walk away from the tablebecause the kinds of things that emerge when you get goingcan just get worse and worse.”

Perhaps the best rule of thumb for finding the best part-ner is to go with your gut instinct. Skywriter’s VP of distri-bution and acquisitions, Paula McLaren, recommends pay-ing a lot of attention to red flags when you see them.“Theinstinct to know when not to work with someone—eventhough you love the project—comes with experience, andit’s an instinct that’s really important to listen to.”


Going green: Skywriter is lookingfor co-productionpartners on its newseries Live from Earth.

52 TV KIDS

Dino-mite: On the comedy-action series Kung Fu Dino Posse,Cookie Jar partnered with Sunwoo in Korea.

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For 25 years the BBC has been providing children’s program-ming as a dedicated branded block—a block that was so suc-cessful it was spun off into separate digital channels: firstCBBC, aimed at school-age children, and then CBeebies, forpreschoolers. Joe Godwin has spent the past 20 years workingin children’s media and last November was appointed directorof BBC Children’s, a division that the BBC sees as one of itsfive key priorities.

TV KIDS: BBC Children’s has been serving children formany years. In the U.K.’s crowded TV landscape for children,what are CBeebies’ and CBBC’s mission?GODWIN: The mission for both is very similar. CBeebies isfor preschool children and CBBC for children aged 6 to 12,and both are an extension of the mission the BBC has hadsince the 1920s,which is to educate, entertain and inform. It’svery much about public service; it’s about encouraging chil-dren to be good citizens. It’s about inspiring them and theirnatural curiosity and opening their eyes to the world, becausechildren are hungry for knowledge and want to understandthe world, and both entertainment and factual programmingcan satisfy that curiosity. Our mission is very much to creatememorable and inspiring content for children, which hope-fully will stay with them forever and shape their outlook onthe world and their lives. And within the context of thecrowded market, it’s therefore about complementing thechoice that they’ve got from other channels, and we’ve obvi-ously got a key part to play in providing U.K. content.

TV KIDS: I often hear producers say that educational pro-gramming is fine for preschoolers, but once children startschool the last thing they want when they turn on the TV isto see something educational. But where is it written thateducational can’t be entertaining?GODWIN: I would absolutely agree with that. I would alsoagree that it’s also about semantics.After working in children’stelevision so long I know that if you label a program “edu-cational” it will be a turnoff.We’re not talking about educa-tional with a capital E, we’re not talking about pedagogictelevision,we’re talking about programming that is entertain-ing and inspiring, but which has got facts that children useas currency:“Mum, did you know that…?” It’s a powerfulthing, acquiring facts, and it’s just about how you dress it up.I think children want that, and at other times of the day theywant to kick back and watch something that is just funny. Sofor us it’s about making sure they’ve got enough choice sothat in their different moods, on different days, when they’vegot different needs at different points in their lives, they’ve gotthat range of programming to choose from.

TV KIDS: And is that range one of the things that the BBChas been able to offer that the competition has not?GODWIN: We offer a huge range of programming that isdesigned primarily for British kids,which will help them growup in Britain today, but also complements the large amount ofnon-British entertainment that our competitors offer.

Now, to be really clear about this, what our competitors doI think is fantastic. I worked at Nickelodeon, and the qualityof what they do is amazing. I am not one of those people whosay there is too much American TV for kids in Britain. I thinkit’s important that they’ve got choices that will fill their differ-ent needs, and we provide a lot of British content, and therange we offer is huge. On one end we do a daily news showfor children, Newsround. It’s been airing for 40 years, and wenow do several bulletins every day on our digital channel, andit’s got a fantastic website.We have our classic magazine pro-gram Blue Peter, which is all about exploring the world from akid’s point of view.We do games shows. Now, why do we dogame shows when the competition does game shows? Becausethese are about British kids, and I do believe that part of ourmission is to reflect children’s lives back to them. So if you area kid growing up in London or Manchester or Glasgow orCardiff, it’s really important for your development as a Britishsocial being that you see people whose lives are like yours.Now, Hannah Montana is great, but her life probably isn’t verymuch like yours. It’s really important that we offer the childrenof Britain the chance to watch their own lives reflected back.

We also offer factual programs, really challenging factual pro-grams.We’ve won awards for a program we did about childrencoping with bereavement. I don’t think there are many broad-casters in the world who make programs like that for children.Weare the leading purveyor of programs like that in the U.K., andthat is vitally important. Children need serious factual informa-tion and support, because life isn’t always easy being a kid, some-times it can be quite challenging. It’s a big part of our missionand a big part of our remit to provide the factual informationthey need.We also do a lot of factual entertainment programs,which bring information and knowledge to children in a muchmore entertaining way.We do a lot of comedy,which isn’t friv-olous although it is very funny and very high quality. Learning

A Big Vision for Young Viewers

The BBC’sJoe Godwin

54 TV KIDS

By Anna Carugati


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to understand comedy is a big part of growing up.Throughcomedy you can understand how relationships work, how theworld works, and comedy in a very soft way can be a veryimportant aspect to a child’s development.

At the other end of the spectrum we do lots of drama,ranging from fantasy dramas—The Sarah Jane Adventures,which is a spin-off from Doctor Who—to a fantastically suc-cessful drama called Tracy Beaker, based on the hugely popularJacqueline Wilson novel.We also do very serious dramas aswell, like Dustbin Baby, which has also won awards.

So our range is huge. Most of our programming isBritish—about half of it is made in-house by the BBC, abouthalf is made by independent producers in the U.K.—and [therest is] acquired. Given that there are 25 other children’schannels in the U.K., we offer a huge and completely com-prehensive choice for kids.

TV KIDS: In what ways are you reaching children away fromthe TV screen, whether online or on mobile devices?GODWIN: Online is very important for us and we are tryingas much as possible, where appropriate, to commissionmultiplatform concepts, so that a brand can exist on boththe web and on television. It’s not only TV programs withwebsites and information on them, but real immersive expe-riences on the web. We have a brilliant program calledBAMZOOKi, which is a TV game show but it starts on theInternet, where kids can create their own creatures that canthen take part in the TV show.There is a huge online com-munity around the show that gives it a life beyond the tele-vision screen and also serves to create a whole lot of buzz.And to me that is the ideal of the multiplatform idea, where

one brand has relevant executions on two platforms.We arealways looking for new ways to do that.

TV KIDS: The BBC has announced that it will be investingsome £25 million ($37.5 million) in children’s programming.Where is that money going?GODWIN: We haven’t got the money yet, but it is going to[several] places. One, I would hope that we would use it toreally enhance our drama, to do more episodes of existingseries like Tracy Beaker and M.I. High, but also hopefully todo some new drama, especially about citizenship.A big part ofour remit is about promoting positive, active citizenshipamongst children, and I would hope we would use the moneyto commission some drama that has really got that as part ofits mission. I’d also like to use some of it to enhance our fac-tual programming.We do lots of fantastic factual program-ming. I personally would like us to do more about showingthe wide world to children, to really explore what the lives ofchildren in other parts of the world are like.And we’ll alsouse some of it so we don’t have to ask producers to find somuch third-party funding in such a depressed economy.

TV KIDS: Are you seeing children gravitate more towardthe digital channels and away from BBC One and BBC Two?GODWIN: Yes, absolutely. There was a time when I firstworked here 20 years ago, when there weren’t digital chan-nels and we used to get huge, huge audiences on our BBCOne afternoons. Nowadays, partly because of the fragmenta-tion of the market, and the explosion of digital and partlybecause of the change in consumption patterns—TV isn’t allchildren consume now, it’s just one part of it—digital chan-

nels are by far the growing place.

TV KIDS: You’ve been in the chil-dren’s business many years.What doyou enjoy most about it?GODWIN: It’s a fantastic audience towork for.They are possibly the mostcritical. They are the most honest.They are the most open to newthings. Like a lot of people who workin children’s television, I have extremelypowerful memories of the impor-tance of television to me as a child,and I’m a great believer that to adeveloping mind, high-quality tele-vision, whether it’s entertainment orfactual programming or drama, can beextremely important. I find theprospect of doing that for today’sgeneration extremely exciting, and ifwe get it right, we have the potentialof having a real impact on people’slives. I haven’t gone on to a prime-timejob because I’ve never been of theview that children’s programming isa stepping-stone to prime time, butit’s absolutely an end to itself, it’sthe most satisfying—CBeebies andCBBC are amongst the greatest thingsthe BBC does.


56 TV KIDS

Inner child gone wild:British content is atthe heart of the CBBC schedule, withlocal commissions like Big Babies.

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When Carolina Lightcap was appointed president of Disney Chan-nels Worldwide last fall, she came to the post with an impressiverésumé. A 20-year veteran of the media-and-entertainment indus-try, she had been with The Walt Disney Company since 2000,where most recently she served in the dual roles of senior VP ofprogramming and creative affairs at Disney Channels LatinAmerica and chief marketing officer for The Walt Disney Com-pany, Latin America. Wearing those two hats, she not only ledthe successful creative transition of Disney Channel from a pre-mium to a basic service, she also spearheaded the Latin Americanlaunch of High School Musical, which was the most-watchedmovie in the channel’s history and became a key Disney franchisewith local feature films in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, HighSchool Musical–themed talent competitions and a five-countryconcert tour. Lightcap shares with TV Kids her vision and pas-sion for Disney Channel.

TV KIDS: What were some of the keys to the successfulgrowth of Disney Channel in Latin America? What did youlearn from your experience in Latin America that you cannow apply to Disney Channels Worldwide?

LIGHTCAP: Overall, our growth in Latin America is a directresult of being in tune with the market we operate in, and intaking great pride in our leadership role when it comes tounderstanding kids and families. In fact, throughout our globalorganization, we know what our viewers want because weask them on a regular basis, and those insights are used to helpinform all our strategies, including programming, branding,marketing, digital media and other key programs, such as ourenvironmental and healthy-kids initiatives.

As far as learning experiences that I can apply to my rolenow, I think back to 2003, after our largest customer filed forbankruptcy in Latin America and pulled Disney Channel offthe air.At the time, Disney Channel was a premium servicewith more than 80 percent of its distribution coming from onesystem, so we lost most of our revenue overnight and had vir-tually no presence in the region.This move forced us to refor-mulate our business, from the bottom up.As a result, DisneyChannel relaunched as a basic channel, regional operationswere moved from Miami to Buenos Aires, and every part of thebusiness was rethought to become more efficient. It was a verytough process, but also one that yielded amazing results.

The key [lesson] is that from a great challenge cancome great reward. Once relaunched as a basic chan-nel,Disney Channel became the number one channelpan-regionally among households and in its key tar-gets, surpassing all other cable networks, and has beennumber one for the last four years.Working with anincredibly talented team on this turnaround process,with such exciting results, was the most rewarding-experience ever.

TV KIDS: What does your appointment as head ofDisney Channels Worldwide say about the impor-tance of international growth to the success of Dis-ney Channel?LIGHTCAP: International growth is one of thethree strategic priorities for the entire Walt DisneyCompany—along with creativity and innovativetechnology.Disney channels around the world serve asthe company’s daily touchstone with consumers—bringing the Disney brand into hundreds of millionsof homes through content and characters that are rel-evant to their lives and cultures.We’re not just export-ing content from the U.S. into other markets, we’reactively developing local talent and content aroundthe world. As such, Disney Channels Worldwide isvery focused on international growth—driven byhigh-quality creative content and effective use of thetechnology that our viewers use most. It’s been a win-ning strategy, and we’re going to continue to focuson bringing the best in kid-friendly entertainment tofamilies everywhere.

TV KIDS:What are some of your programming pri-orities for the next year or so, and what new live-action and animated properties are in the pipeline?LIGHTCAP: Our priority is always to bring thebest entertainment experience to kids every-where. We’ve had several years of success withoriginal programming and we expect to contin-ue to build on that momentum.

Extending the Magic

Disney Channels’Carolina Lightcap

58 TV KIDS

By Anna Carugati


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[On April 4 we premiere] Good Luck Charlie, an originallive-action comedy series, on Disney Channel. It’s about afamily whose lives are turned upside down with the arrival ofa new baby sister, and it features Disney Channel stars JasonDolley (Cory in the House) and Bridgit Mendler (Wizards ofWaverly Place). It’s a lot of fun, viewers will find the storiesare kid-relatable and told from the teen siblings’ point ofview, yet they’re more nuanced towards the family, with atone that is more authentic than our other comedies.

We employed a “family sitcom” strategy because ourresearch tells us that our viewers want to see more portrayalsof the common ground between parents and kids—because itreally does exist, even when tweens and teens challenge theirparents.What we gleaned from the research is that we can bemore effective programmers by delivering experiences thewhole family can enjoy together, and Good Luck Charlie is agreat example of that effort.

We’re especially excited by the success of our animated hitPhineas and Ferb, and are looking forward to Phineas and Ferb’s104 Days of Summer, which will be event television on DisneyXD with full promotional support from Disney Channel andDisney.com.After years of live-action success,Gary Marsh [thepresident of entertainment and chief creative officer at DisneyChannels Worldwide] and his fantastic team—and certainlyour Phineas and Ferb creators Dan Povenmire and SwampyMarsh—have cracked the code with this animated hit thatconnects across all demos, including parents. It is truly thesmartest, funniest, most original family comedy on televisionand, with the entire Walt Disney Company supporting it, wehope Phineas and Ferb will be the next worldwide sensation.

We’ll cap off the summer with the premiere of the DisneyChannel original movie Camp Rock 2:The Final Jam on Dis-ney Channel.The original Camp Rock movie was a big hit forus, and this one is even better in terms of the creative content,especially the music—and our global team has a great planto launch it around the world.

In the fall of this year, the ani-mated comedy series Fish Hookswill join our Disney Channel line-up—it’s very clever and boasts avoice cast of stars who are alreadypopular with our viewers: KyleMassey (Cory in the House),ChelseaStaub ( JONAS ) and Justin Roi-land (The Sarah Silverman Program).

On Disney XD, we’ll premierethe live-action series Pair of Kings. Itstars Mitchel Musso of Hannah Mon-tana fame and Doc Shaw of TheSuite Life on Deck.We’ve just startedproduction and are very pleasedwith the early results.

We’re also in production on sev-eral movies and will be announcinggreenlights of some new excitingprojects soon.

TV KIDS: Which properties arebeing rolled out internationally?LIGHTCAP: Our strategy is to pre-miere all original series and movies

on the 94 channels/feeds that make up Disney ChannelsWorldwide. More and more, we are narrowing the windowwherever we can. We’re also committed to global contentinspiring local content and vice versa.

TV KIDS: Disney XD celebrated its first-year anniversarywith record viewing levels.What are the plans to build onthat success?LIGHTCAP: We’re very proud of Disney XD’s first-yearperformance. Going forward, our priority is to introducemore comedy into the Disney XD schedule to comple-ment our current and upcoming original series.The plat-form targets kids 6 to 14, especially boys, so the team islooking for character-driven comedies with a boy skew.We’re also looking at movies that are kid-driven and family-inclusive and that provide kids with strong, positive rolemodels who have room to grow. The storytelling willreflect that life is about the journey and getting to the nextlevel no matter how big or small. It’s showing boys that youmay not at first succeed, but you try again.That’s been ourstrategy from the beginning, and the first year’s results cer-tainly tell us it is working.

TV KIDS: You are widely respected as a very effective man-ager and executive.Where do you get your drive, and howdo you motivate the people that work with you?LIGHTCAP: I love what I do, and one of the best parts ofleading Disney Channels Worldwide is that the people Iwork with love what we do as well. I thoroughly enjoyassembling teams, and find that the answer to most chal-lenges in our business is helping people discover and lever-age their unique, special talents in the right positions.Beyond that, for me it’s about looking ahead, fostering theteam’s competitive spirit externally, and collaborative spiritinternally, recognizing their contributions, and leveragingthose successes to lead them to even higher heights.


60 TV KIDS

Teen dreams: Disney Channel’s hitoriginal movies franchise continueswith the upcoming Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam.

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In 1985, CANAL J launched as the first kids’ channel inFrance’s nascent cable-and-satellite industry. Today, at 25, theLagardère Active–owned service is a market leader among chil-dren 6 to 12. Its sister service, TiJi, meanwhile, has been delight-ing preschoolers for ten years. Both channels have been drivingtheir ratings gains with a mix of local co-productions andacquired fare from the international market. Pierre Belaïsch, themanaging director of programming and networks at LagardèreActive, tells TV Kids about how far CANAL J and TiJi havecome, and what lies ahead.

TV KIDS: CANAL J turns 25 this year.What have been thekeys to the channel’s success?BELAÏSCH: For all these years we have given kids a lot ofconsideration.They’ve always been at the heart of the sta-tion, stimulating their activity, their creativity, and [hav-ing] them be part of the show. So during these 25 yearswe’ve always been very selective about the programmingthat we were putting on the air. It’s for those reasons thatthe station is still here after 25 years. It was actually thevery first cable and satellite station [for kids] launched inFrance in 1985.

TV KIDS: How has CANAL J evolved over the years?BELAÏSCH: The market has changed a lot, and the situa-tion has evolved a lot; 25 years back, there were only a fewcable and satellite TV [channels] and analogue [free-to-air]TV such as TF1. Now, we have something like 80 channels

in cable and satellite, 17 free DTT channels, and still thebiggest [broadcasters], who are analogue [terrestrials]. Itmeans that what we’re looking to be today is a brand. For aTV channel to survive, considering the fact that it’s a cableand satellite channel, it has to be considered a brand, with acrystal-clear image and purpose and promise to kids, becauseif you’re not that, then things become tougher and tougher.

TV KIDS:You are also celebrating a milestone at TiJi.BELAÏSCH: TiJi was the very first channel for preschool-ers ever in France. It launched in December 2000, so it’sgoing to be ten years now.The thing about that station isthat mothers were asking for it.They would say, we have alot of channels for our older kids, with live-action andadventure shows, but there’s nothing for the little ones, [achannel] that would help them in discovering the worldand being tender and gentle and nonviolent—creating asafe environment for them.That was the reason we builtthis station.We have shows such as Peppa Pig, Noddy in 3-D.We have a lot of French shows that we commissioned as aco-producer. T’Choupi is a little penguin [based on a bookpublished by Éditions Nathan].We also have shows such asFranklin, the little turtle, Berenstain Bears and StrawberryShortcake.

Now we’re going to do something really new in the mar-ket. It’s a co-production [with Cyber Group, called] GuessWhat? [Devine quoi?]. It’s something that we developedupon our channel packaging.There were two little rabbitsin 2-D, one of them is yellow and the girl is purple, and itwas really a huge success.We’ve seen so many times chil-dren stating that they were coming to the station because ofthe packaging rather than the programs, because they wereso amused and amazed by the little rabbits in 2-D.Yearsafter that we said, what can we develop as a strong intel-lectual property that will be ours? We have made a showabout these two rabbits as a co-production in 3-D CGI.It’s really beautiful 3-D. In each episode you have to[answer a riddle].Thanks to different clues, viewers mustsolve little enigmas and guess what the solution is. It’s using[the viewers’] participation.The children have seven min-utes to discover what it is. It’s always about the air, the sun,the rain, how things work. It’s really doing well, so we’rethinking about doing a second season.

TV KIDS: Gulli, the first kids’ channel on DTT in France, hasalso been a success for you.BELAÏSCH: As you said, it is the first—if you think aboutit, we’re always the first to do something! So Gulli is thefirst national [DTT] network that is dedicated to kids, butalso to mothers and families. Meaning that you have onGulli a lot of animated shows during the day, 100-percentdedicated to kids, and during weekends in the afternoonand weekdays, after 7:30 p.m., you have really strongprime-time shows, such as movies,TV movies, documen-taries, game shows, reality shows.We need to [offer thisvariety]. In that kind of market, being only focused on kidswouldn’t be enough. Differently from CANAL J or TiJi,this is not a channel that lives on subscription [revenues],it’s living only thanks to ad revenues, and to really gatherenough ad revenues, you have to enlarge the target. Sothat’s the reason why some dayparts are exclusively for kids

CANAL J and TiJi Reach New Milestones

Lagardère Active’sPierre Belaïsch

62 TV KIDS

By Mansha Daswani


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and some others are dedicated to family [viewing].We getshows from everywhere in terms of animation, it could bePokémon or French co-productions, or more [classic shows]such as Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker. And we also pro-duce our own shows for the whole family: game shows,cooking shows, singing contests…live on stage, etc. Gulliis part of the top three DTT channels in France.

TV KIDS: How much are you co-producing in France?BELAÏSCH: CANAL J is pretty involved in co-productions.The major part of what’s on the air are French co-productions,such as Titeuf, Martin Mystery, Marsupilami, Spiez, Genie in theHouse, Linus & Boom—it has been years and years of co-productions. Of course, we’re also acquiring programs.Webought Yu-Gi-Oh! for CANAL J and Jackie Chan. I would saythat today a major part of the budget goes to co-productionand the rest goes to acquisitions.

TV KIDS: What elements go into a successful co-production?BELAÏSCH: First of all, we often commissionshows that are coming from [successful] comics orfrom toy licenses. If you have a property with solidawareness, that helps the co-production, becauseeveryone benefits from that. It’s a brand. If you look, for

instance, at Titeuf, it had millions of comic books sold. Gor-miti is [huge in terms of toys].That really helps build a co-production because you’re not starting from scratch—you’re coming with something that is strong on aEuropean basis. And that helps.Today, my feeling is thatmore and more producers—and I think I agree with themand they’re right to do so—are focusing their efforts onstrong properties that come from something very strongand visible for kids.That helps awareness, and, to me, is oneof the most important things.

TV KIDS: Do you expect to launch any additional brandsfor the youth sector?BELAÏSCH: The next level is really to create nonlinear servicessuch as catch up, video on demand, mobile. New media hasbecome more than fiction—it’s real.Telecom operators gotinto the business and created a lot of services, whether it’sADSL or IPTV, and so the next step is to create low-costservices that those telecom operators could offer to their cus-tomers. You can build something around learning, boys’action, a service for girls, a cooking service.Any kind of thingthat would be different from what we’ve done in the past 25years. Something that would be more about low-cost servicesto extend our [brand].


64 TV KIDS

CANAL J and TiJi Milestones1988Expanding across France, CANAL J soon reaches from50,000 to 100,000 subscribers; by 1989 the basecrosses 160,000 subscribers, and by 1990 it passes300,000 subscribers.

1991Building its base to 550,000 subscribers, CANAL Jalso broadens its programming remit, embarking onco-productions and expanding beyond animation toinclude fiction, films, magazine shows, documentariesand games.

1992CANAL J reaches a new distribution milestone once itrolls out as one of seven channels on the satellite plat-form CanalSatellite.

1994CANAL J passes the 1-million-subscription mark.

1995 The channel celebrates its tenth anniversary as itreaches 1.5 million homes.

1996Canal France International begins offering two hours ofCANAL J programming in Africa, the Middle East andAsia.

1997The channel expands online with the launch of its website.

1998CANAL J's distribution passes the 2-million mark.

1999Pierre Belaïsch joins CANAL J as the director ofprograms.

2000In its 15th year, CANAL J remains the only youth serviceavailable on both cable and satellite. By year’s end,CANAL J spins off TiJi as a service for kids under the ageof 7 and it quickly reaches 1.2 million subscribing homes.

2001CANAL J is ranked as the third-most-popular thematicchannel in terms of ratings.

2003Distribution for CANAL J reaches 3.5 millionsubscribers, with TiJi not far behind at 2.2 million.Also this year, TiJi launches its website, deliveringgames and information for kids and their parents.

2004CANAL J and TiJi consistently rank as the most popular thematic channels for kids.

2005Gulli launches as the first free-to-air kids’ channel inFrance.

2007Reaching 5.5 million subscribers, CANAL J launches a new on-air look.

2009CANAL J again refreshes its look to illustrate itscontent pillars of adventure, comedy and action.

2010CANAL J turns 25, TiJi turns 10 and Gulli turns 5.

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In 1964, Orlando Corradi began his career in ani-mation by acquiring Japanese cartoons andselling them in Italy and Europe. In 1985he founded Mondo TV, which remained activein distribution but also began producing ani-mated series of its own. Corradi is now in his70s but remains the soul of the company, while his sonMatteo is COO and head of sales. Mondo has grown sig-nificantly from a company that operated only in the Italianmarket to one that has subsidiaries in various countries—Mondo Igel Media in Germany; Mondo TV France; Mon-do TV Spain, which also deals with Latin America; as wellas offices in Athens, Seoul, Mumbai and Sydney. Today,Mondo TV co-produces with major broadcasters in Europeand is active in the areas of production, distribution, mer-chandising and licensing. Matteo Corradi grew up in the tele-vision business and started attending MIPTV and MIPCOM atage 6. He oversaw Mondo TV’s IPO in 2000, which opened newfinancing opportunities and marked the beginning of the com-pany’s expansion. He speaks to TV Kids about what’s ahead forMondo TV.

TV KIDS: What has been your strategy for growth?CORRADI: I say that Mondo TV is a “pocket-sized” multi-national that is growing very fast but must be very cau-tious and humble in its growth.As we know, while someof our competitors today are [struggling with] badeconomic times, and while Mondo TV is gain-

ing market share due to this fact, we do not celebrate theirdifficulties and still must be very careful in this difficult eco-nomic climate.

Mondo TV’s strategy has had three main areas.The first,which today is the most important, is the one of developinghigh-quality product that also has high licensing potential.Currently we have three properties, each targeted to a spe-cific group: girls, boys and preschool. Angel’s Friends, basedon an idea by Simona Ferri, is a top property for girls. It hasalready sold in 50 countries and has an important licensingprogram in Italy and Spain, which are the first two countrieswhere toys and licensing have rolled out. Our co-productionpartner is Play Entertainment and Giochi Preziosi is theEuropean master toy licensee.We have made deals for Angel’sFriends in all major territories: Italia 1,Telecinco,Télétoon inFrance, RTL in Belgium,Turkey, Greece, all of the MiddleEast,Africa and Asia, and we are starting to sell it in LatinAmerica, where licensing is handled by Exim. In Italy, thelicensing agency is Starbright, headed by Giada Paterlini.

Virus Attack is a boy-targeted series that we are co-producingwith Suk Entertainment.We have closed a deal with TurnerEntertainment Networks for Italy, and starting in January2011, the series will air on Cartoon Network,Boomerang andBoing in Italy, and we are in discussions with Turner to haveVirus Attack air on Cartoon Network outside of Italy.TurnerCN Enterprises Italia will handle licensing in Italy.

The third series is a very important one for us and is part of asignificant deal we have signed with the

U.S. toy company MEG and GiochiPreziosi for the co-production of ananimated series based on the famous

toy property Puppy in My Pocket,which is cur-rently distributed in 54 countries around

the world.The TV series will air in Italyand Spain in the fall of 2010 and in

the rest of the world betweenspring and back to school 2011.Our cooperation with Giochi

Preziosi and MEG is very impor-tant for us.

At MIPTV we are preparing anextraordinary launch for these threeproperties.The two outside stairways andthe entrance to the main auditoriumwill be dedicated to Angel’s Friends andVirus Attack, and the panel at theentrance of the Palais will be entirelydedicated to Puppy in My Pocket.

We do a considerable amount ofresearch before developing properties,which start as mere ideas or sketchesand some then become major produc-tions.This is another role we play today,that of a product scout on the market.

So production is the first area ofour strategy.

Animated Expansion

Mondo TV’sMatteo Corradi

66 TV KIDS

By Anna Carugati

Standing tall: Farhat,Prince of the Desert isamong Mondo’s shows

for MIPTV.


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TV KIDS:And what are the other areas?CORRADI: The second is to increaseour co-productions with nationalbroadcasters in Italy, France and Ger-many. Today we co-produce severalimportant productions with RAI, suchas the second season of Farhat (26 26-minute episodes) and we are starting onanother important series called Ants(104 3-minute episodes), and soon wewill be launching Treasure Island,whichis another major production with RAI.

In Germany we are producingLauras Stern (Laura’s Star) with MondoIgel Media, based on a strong pre-school property in Germany.

In France, Mondo TV France isheaded brilliantly by Eve Baron. In amove to develop Mondo TV France,we had high growth in the last years that brought two impor-tant productions,which are Lulu Vroumette with France 3 andfor which TSL is handling worldwide licensing, and the otheris SherlockYack with TF1 and ZDF Enterprises is handlinglicensing.Both shows will premiere in 2010–2011 in France andboth are high-quality series financed by the CNC.

The third area of our strategy is our library sales.When Isay we are a pocket-sized multinational company I say itbecause in many territories we have offices that consist of oneor two salespeople, therefore micro-offices with sales repswho are motivated and whose earnings are based on the rev-enues they generate.

Mondo TV Spain,headed by Maria Bonaria Fois, distributesin Spain and Latin America. However, the rest of the world-wide sales is headed by Micheline Azoury, based in our headoffice in Rome.

This has allowed us to break into many important marketsin the world. In particular, in the Middle East and in Africawe sell country by country.We have also acquired third-party

libraries.We have made important distribution deals with RaiTrade, CAKE Entertainment, the Australian Children’s Tele-vision Foundation,Your Family Entertainment, and we willmake more deals, so we are also buyers on the market.Ours isa very simple strategy, one that in 2009 brought us to doubleour revenues and post a profit, and by end of 2010 we’ll makeanother significant increase.

We have grown but we always have to be mindful of therealities of the market. Even if there are some great opportu-nities on the market nowadays, we are not happy that ourcompetitors are having problems, because as we say in Italy,“You swim better in a lot of water.”The problem is that todaythe water is very shallow,but for sure, the quality of our prod-uct, the segmentation of our sales efforts and the possibility ofco-producing with major broadcasters in Europe allows usto face this economic crisis well and to be much strongerthan we were when the crisis began.

TV KIDS: Do you feel the worst of the economic downturnis over?CORRADI: I think the economic situation will continue tobe difficult for another two years, and in our sector, in addi-tion to the general economic downturn, there is also an on-going phenomenon that free-TV stations are losing marketshare to cable and satellite channels, so it is always more dif-ficult for producers to get the license fees that were availablea few years ago.

It’s clear that the key to overcoming this crisis is to haveproduct that has ancillary businesses such as licensing thatcan create revenue streams beyond TV license fees—revenuesthat come directly from the end users—the boy or girl whowants a toy or doll or trading cards or books connected to ashow.There is no doubt that this is the key to success.

Our motto is “Parlare poco e fare molto” (“Talk little and domuch”), keep our feet on the ground and be very humble,which is quite rare in this business, where everyone thinks he’sSteven Spielberg! But I think ours has been a winning strategy.

We work very hard, we are liked in the broadcast world,we are liked in the licensing world and we have madeimportant deals in the toy world.We are on the right path,but we always have to be careful because it’s always possibleto veer off course.


68 TV KIDS

Founding father:Orlando Corradi

established Mondo TV25 years ago.

Taking flight: Mondo TV is focusing on the global rollout of Angel’s Friends, a girl-skewing series that is accompanied by a strong consumer-products campaign.

KID_410_MONDO 3/23/10 8:33 PM Page 4

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Phone: +001 818 522 0040 Email: [email protected]

R- 31. 34

Matt Cooperstein

The distribution division of Toonz Animation India Pvt LtdToonz Entertainment USA Inc, 2503, 20th Street

Suite C, Santa Monica, CA 904505, Phone: +001 424 744 8320, www.toonzentertainment.com

KID_410_TOONZ 3/25/10 7:37 PM Page 1

Marvel Animation brings to life some of the most famous comic-bookaction heroes of all time on a variety of platforms and devices. Tap-ping into the Marvel Universe library of more than 5,000 characters,including Spider-Man, The X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man and many more,Marvel is satisfying longtime fans and introducing these iconicheroes to young viewers. Eric Rollman, Marvel Animation’s presi-dent, oversees the company’s animation slate as well as its partner-ships with key broadcasters and home-entertainment studios.

TV KIDS: What is the strategy for bringing well-known char-acters into today’s multiplatform world? ROLLMAN: We are rooted in more than 70 years of comicbooks, and our characters have been redesigned, rewrittenand reinvigorated by thousands of different artists and writ-ers over the years. Because those are our roots we’ve createda very flexible approach to our characters. As long as werespect their core integrity and the worlds we create forthem, we are able to successfully translate them across aninfinite amount of platforms.

We’re always trying to create interesting ways to bringour characters to life, and spin them across video games,where we have been extremely successful, or television ani-mation or direct-to-DVD animated features, or live-actionfeatures, or even fun short-form webisodes.We do several funthings on marvel.com and marvelkids.com. If we are having

fun doing it, then the fans are having fun watching it. It’svery important for us to respect our fan base, because theycan make or break anything out there.

TV KIDS: Would you tell us about a recent multiplatformproperty?ROLLMAN: We have a new series called The Super HeroSquad.We are taking the entire Marvel Universe and mak-ing it available in one show.We decided we would make theshow target a little bit of a younger audience, make it moreappealing to 5- to 8-year-olds, but equally as fun andengaging for older kids 6 to 11 as well. But most impor-tantly, it was going to be a show that was Mom-friendly. Soit’s cute and comedic, but it’s full of our traditional andexpected action adventure with great storytelling that hasalways been part of the Marvel Universe.We’ve rolled thatout on every platform, including television, mobile, online,home video, as well as hundreds of licensed products acrossstores everywhere.

TV KIDS: What benefits will Marvel Animation derive frombeing part of The Walt Disney Company?ROLLMAN: It’s a great opportunity for us. Disney is theworld’s greatest animation company, and we are very luckyto have them bring us under their umbrella.There are a lotof benefits for us, and distribution is one of the greatestones. Disney has channels all around the world, and Marvelhas already been a part of the Disney content catalogue formany years.They got a big influx of Marvel content whenthey bought Fox Family Worldwide back in 2001 fromSaban Entertainment and News Corporation. Disney hasexpertise in everything from production to distribution.And there are a lot of fans of Marvel at Disney, so all in allit’s a great opportunity for all of us to really embrace some-thing that was already set in motion many years ago.

TV KIDS: What new projects are in the works?ROLLMAN: We have more than 300 episodes of televisionanimation in production right now. In the U.S. alone we havemore than 40 hours of Marvel animation on the air everyweek across Disney XD, Cartoon Network and Nicktoons.We also have great partnerships internationally, everywherefrom Canada to France to Mexico, and beyond.We’re con-tinuing to work on those relationships and solidify homes forour projects, and certainly our relationship with Disney givesus the ability to do that and to commit to more productionbecause we know we should have a home for the shows. TheAvengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is coming in fall 2010.Wealso have a prime-time initiative called Marvel Knights, wherewe are taking our greatest comic books and bringing them tolife using a proprietary animation technique.We are alreadypreviewing it on iTunes. More Marvel Animated Features arecoming later in 2010, and a new season of Iron Man:ArmoredAdventures... is in production.

We are localizing our programming in some markets.Thefirst of these initiatives is a partnership with Madhouse Stu-dios in Japan, and that’s the Marvel Anime project.We haveanother with a company called KEN Creative in India wherewe are doing a project that is directed first and foremost at theIndian market. We have another initiative we’re doing inTurkey—it continues to grow.

Animated Legends

Marvel’sEric Rollman

70 TV KIDS

By Anna Carugati


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When the animated Winx Club’s teenage fairies first hit the Ital-ian airwaves, employing their supernatural powers in fantasticadventures to save the world, young viewers were enthralled. Itdidn’t take long for Winx fever to spread to other countries. Infact, the show has sold to more than 100 countries, includingthe U.S. Winx Club is just one of the series produced and dis-tributed by the Italian company Rainbow. CEO Iginio Straffitalks about his commitment to quality and how it has been thedriving force behind his business.

TV KIDS: What factors have contributed to Rainbow’s cur-rent level of success?STRAFFI: We have remained very focused on strong con-tent.To give you an example, if some of our competitors have$10 they might decide to invest $2 [each] on five projects,instead of spending $10 on only one project. [The latter] is asomewhat risky choice, because if that one project doesn’t

work, you have to pay the consequences. By spreading themoney over five projects, there is a chance that one will workand four won’t—that is less risky,but the quality will be inferior.

We, however, believe that it is necessary to put the properamount of effort and resources into every project. It’s uselessto present 100 projects instead of five if enough attention isn’tpaid to the development of the story lines, or the characters,or the graphic design, or to the marketing—all elements thatare vital to at least aspiring to reach an international success.

TV KIDS: Why have girls in so many countries found WinxClub appealing?STRAFFI: It’s a unique product, starting with the stories,which are much more detailed and multilevel compared tothe more simple plotlines of average cartoons.The plotlinein Winx carries over from episode to episode, with manymini-stories that make up the total story that stretches outnot only for an entire season of 26 episodes, but over 100episodes and also over a feature film that deals with the ori-gins of Bloom [one of the main characters]. Winx representsan entire world, rich and complex, and the content of the sto-ries is similar to those in series for adults.

On the graphic and design side, the Winx girls change cos-tumes and hairdos up to three or four times per episode,depending on whether they are at school, or involved insports, or on a mission.This required a huge amount of extradesigns and animation, because we couldn’t reuse anything,compared to a cartoon with characters that are always dressedin the same costume with the same hairdo.But clearly, today’syoung female viewers, who pay close attention to detail, haveunderstood that Winx is a special series, and they really enjoybeing able to identify with these characters who are a bit older—the Winx girls are teenagers—and wear fashions that ordinaryschoolgirls do not. Plus, Italian fashion designers oversaw theoutfits in the series, and this helped contribute to the origi-nality and uniqueness of Winx.

Another key factor that contributed to Winx’s success, andwas a big investment that paid off, was that every series con-tains 15 or 16 original songs. We composed these songsbecause we know that music is an important element in thelives of teens, and now increasingly even for children, andour audience enjoys the songs very much.

Not everyone does this.Those producers I mentioned whohave to create five series with the same amount of money thatwe use to create one cannot afford to compose and recordsongs. Dubbing is expensive on its own, but to find singers

with the same young and fresh voices in Turkish,Russian oreven Hebrew is quite an investment of time and money.

All of these efforts yield the type of detail that con-tributes to a special project and an international success.

TV KIDS:What new projects are you working on?STRAFFI: We are developing the second seriesof Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, and with 52episodes we can start a licensing plan, which is

not possible with only 26 episodes.Since PopPixie started with an important

licensing campaign, we have 52 episodes r ightfrom the start, and the first 26 will be ready inthe fall and the second 26 at the beginning ofnext year.

Quality Comes First

Rainbow’sIginio Straffi

72 TV KIDS

By Anna Carugati


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PopPixie cannot be considered simply a spinoff of Winx.There is only 5 percent of the Pixie world in Winx. Pop-Pixie is full of pixies as well as elves and gnomes and mag-ical animals and fantastic creatures. It’s a brand-new serieswith a lot of fast-paced comedy. Despite the fact that theshow’s look is appealing to girls, we are sure the series willalso pull in boys because it is very funny and there aremany male characters. It’s a comedy series consisting ofself-contained episodes.

TV KIDS: As license fees continue to fall, does merchandisingbecome increasingly important?STRAFFI: It’s very important for us and it always hasbeen. Nowadays maybe even more so, because despite thefact that there has been a proliferation of channels for chil-dren, license fees have become ridiculously low. Broad-casters just keep cutting both the time slots dedicated tochildren’s programming and the budgets to produce andacquire shows.This is a very difficult time for all of us pro-ducers and even more so for those who aim at only sell-ing TV and home-video rights.The television industry isalso facing the challenge of all the content that is avail-able for free on the Internet. Clearly the main problemnow is that many broadcasters, compared to ten years ago,are paying one-tenth of what they used to pay in licensefees, and in some cases with Japanese product based on

toys, some broadcasters have gotten used toreceiving programming for free. This is a bigproblem. Because if a producer has to make thebest possible content he has to finance itthrough broadcast sales. If there are no slots andthere aren’t sufficient budgets and broadcastersare getting product for free, the children’s busi-ness will suffer, or it will be subject to the majorstudios that have the leverage to impose theirconditions on broadcasters and make them pay.

TV KIDS: What growth opportunities do you seein the next 12 to 24 months?STRAFFI: Our main growth opportunity will bein the area of movies.We were the first in Italy, andamong the first in Europe, to produce animatedfilms, even in stereoscopic 3-D.The experience ofa 3-D movie is not something that can be replicatedwith a movie downloaded from the Internet ille-gally.The box office has shown the potential of 3-D, and thanks in great part to Avatar, movies areenjoying a newfound energy.

We have two films coming out: the second Winxmovie will be released this fall, and a film aboutancient Rome is slated for next year.We believethat Rainbow will take a big leap forward in the-atrical movies.

Of course,TV series and licensing remain ourcore businesses, and with the properties we havewe seem to be protected from the economicdownturn. Winx is always number one and hasbeen growing exponentially in some markets.PopPixie already has numerous presales andlicensees, starting with Bandai for toys and fol-lowed by some 60 or 70 companies. Huntik will

have a licensing plan next year with 52 episodes available,and clearly we feel we are well positioned for the nextfew years.

TV KIDS: Where do you find thedrive to keep initiating newprojects?STRAFFI: That’s a goodquestion that I often askmyself! We’ve had severalaccomplishments we areproud of, but every day I findmyself wanting to reach someother, more ambitious goals. Infact, next year we will be open-ing Rainbow Magic Land, atheme park outside Rome thatwill be the largest in Italy.

We won’t stop at TV andmovie content. My drive stemsfrom a desire to do things andthe satisfaction of working withmany young, talented and dedicatedpeople who, like me, want to createsomething in Italy and in Europe thathasn’t been done before.

4/10 World Screen 347

73TV KIDS

Fairy-tale ending: Winx Club put Rainbow on the global kids’-TV map,selling worldwide and spawning a lucrative merchandising campaign.

Pretty in pink: One ofRainbow’s newestbrands is PopPixie,which has already

secured several presales, as well as

a toy license with Bandai.

KID_410_STRAFI 3/26/10 3:35 PM Page 3

When Total Drama Island, an ani-mated reality show for kids, pre-miered on TELETOON in Canada,neither the producers at Fresh TVnor the distribution executives atCAKE Entertainment ever imag-ined that the series would resonateso well with kids across the globe.In fact, after the series was pickedup by Cartoon Network in theU.S., it became a huge hit, andinternational sales quickly fol-lowed. With season three about toair and the fourth already in theworks, its creator, Tom McGillis,who is also the president of FreshTV, talks about the successful fran-chise and other upcoming series.

TV KIDS: What sparked the idea for Total Drama Island?McGILLIS: Way, way back, we were talking to TELETOONand we were working on an animated show about kids at sum-mer camp called Escape from Summer Camp.They suggested,Why don’t you try doing a reality show? We did a research proj-ect and asked 8- to 12-year-olds across Canada what realityshows they watched, which ones they liked or hated, and why.That gave us a good sense that they were all watching certainshows, and there were some that they really loved and othersthat they hated. [We used that input] to ramp up the excitingparts they enjoyed and also make fun of what they hated.

TV KIDS: Why do you think it resonates with kids in somany different countries?McGILLIS: Total Drama Island, the first season, is a direct hit at Sur-vivor.That was the number one show our research told us that kidswere watching.We also learned from our research that among 8-and 9-year-old kids,their understanding of the level of fakery in real-ity shows is really high.How media savvy these kids are is one thingthat really shocked us.These kids knew exactly what they wereseeing when they were watching these reality shows, sometimesmore than their parents.There are quite a few conventions that areuniversal to all of these reality shows,and if we took a show that theyreally recognized and parodied the conventions, the kids got it. So,for instance,we took all the stock characters that you would find inSurvivor, the overly athletic single-minded African-Americanwoman and the overweight happy-go-lucky guy who always losesout and the conniving,nasty juvenile delinquent.We took all thosearchetypes and aged them down till they were 16 years old andthey more closely resembled kids that you would see at school.Wethen stuck them all on an island together and watched the mud fly.

TV KIDS: Which reality shows did the other Total Dramaseries parody?McGILLIS: The second is Total Drama Action. It took place on afilm lot with big stuntmen.That was kind of On the Lot. Ourresearch showed us that kids are the biggest consumers of the

extra features on a DVD, such ashow the show was made andcommentaries. They want toknow what is really going onbehind the scenes.

We just completed productionon season three, which is TotalDrama World Tour, where the con-testants fly around the world in theTotal Drama jumbo jet.We have anelimination ceremony like they doin all these other reality shows—in season one it was a campfireceremony, but in season three it’sthe drop of shame,a dramatic para-chute ceremony. So if you arevoted off the plane,you are pushedoff! And there are talking heads ofthem in free fall saying, “I can’tbelieve this is happening…!”

Where season one parodiesSurvivor, season three is The Amaz-ing Race, because that was one ofthe favorite reality shows among

our audience.They love seeing people going around the worldscreaming and yelling at each other and working things out. Sothis season every episode is in a new part of the world.

TV KIDS: What other projects do you have in the works?McGILLIS: We’ve just begun production on our live-actionTV movie and series called My Babysitter Is a Vampire, and weare making ample fun of the Twilight franchise.You cannot talkto 11-year-old boys about Twilight without them rolling theireyes and saying,“OMG, that stupid movie!”This is primarilyfor a boy-led audience. It’s a TELETOON original produc-tion, and the movie is about a 13-year-old guy who is just aterrible babysitter for his sister, who is 8. [So the parents hirea babysitter] but she’s a smoking-hot 16-year-old girl fromschool that he’s always had a crush on and she’s transitioninginto a vampire because her boyfriend bit her. So he has tosave her and the town in 90 minutes.

Then the series itself takes on more of a Buffy the VampireSlayer take, where in every half-hour episode a new supernat-ural threat descends upon their town and he and the babysit-ter and best friend have to get everything back in order allbefore Mom and Dad come home.We have a second show indevelopment. It’s in pilot stage with the Family Channel inCanada. It’s a live-action girl-skewing sitcom about a girl whois the star of her own reality show.

TV KIDS: From your research with kids,what have you learnedabout what they most want when they turn on the TV?McGILLIS: For years we have been hearing that they wantrandom humor; they want to be surprised. Even girls are totallyhappy being grossed out [as long as it’s the] kind of humor thatstems from well-developed characters.They’ve become veryimpatient with shows that have a low gag count.You have toset up your stories very quickly.They still like multiple plot-lines, two, even three, are good, but you’d better line them upfast and get your jokes going and don’t slow down for aminute.That’s the new expectation.

74 TV KIDS


Total Fun, Total Entertainment

Fresh TV’s Tom McGillisBy Anna Carugati

KID_410_MCGILLIS 3/23/10 8:29 PM Page 2

KID_410_AL JAZEERA 3/22/10 5:00 PM Page 1

TM & © 2010 Marvel.

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