Finn Arnesen

The Hub, a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro, launched in place of Discovery Kids last October in the U.S. with the aim of providing children and families with a new and different destination for quality entertainment. With a programming mix that includes acquired series and original productions from Hasbro Studios, several of The Hub’s time slots have been delivering higher ratings than the previous ones on Discovery Kids. Many of the original series from Hasbro Studios are based on classic brands, such as Transformers, G.I. Joe and My Little Pony, and Finn Arnesen, the senior VP of international distribution and development at Hasbro Studios, is selling these shows worldwide. He recently closed deals with some of the top broadcasters, such as Corus Entertainment in Canada, Mediaset in Italy and Turner Broadcasting in Europe and the Middle East. Arnesen talks about the Hasbro slate and its international appeal.

TV KIDS: Tell us about the shows Hasbro Studios is producing.
ARNESEN: The first five shows coming out of the studio are all what we call mega brands. We are doing Transformers: Prime and G.I. Joe: Renegades, which are prime-time action series, targeting mainly 9- to 12-year-olds but 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds are going to watch as well. Transformers is a huge brand for us and with Transformers: Prime we are bringing a full CGI action-adventure show to the world. Because it’s such an important franchise for us we’re embarking on this for the long term. It looks incredible and I think it’s going to be a really good complement to all the action lineups [on broadcasters] across the world.

The second show in that genre is G.I. Joe: Renegades. The G.I. Joe franchise is very popular and has a history in America, but with our show, you don’t have to know the mythology of G.I. Joe to actually enjoy the series, which is really important from an international point of view. In G.I. Joe: Renegades there are a bunch of guys—a motley crew of ex-military guys—that are on the run from Cobra Industries, a supposedly benevolent corporation. The Joes are on the run and they travel around the world doing good deeds trying to clear their name and they are chased by Cobra. So it’s action adventure, good versus evil, there is lots of fun, lots of action and lots of humor in the show as well.

Pound Puppies is our third show. It’s got a nice heritage in the U.S. and in certain parts of the world but what I really like about Pound Puppies is that it’s a family sitcom. The premise is dogs that live in the dog pound, they speak English, they are intelligent and they all display human characteristics, while the owner of the dog pound has no idea, all he hears is, “Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff.” The show is being written by the guys that wrote Rugrats. So it’s like Rugrats where the kids are really intelligent and the babies are talking and the parents think that are just going, “Goo-goo, ga-ga.” In our show you’ve got the dogs talking and being really, really intelligent and helping place pups and finding homes for them. It’s really sweet. The motto is, “A pup for every person and a person for every pup.”

Pound Puppies is, on the one hand, a funny talking dog show for a younger audience but for a late-afternoon or early evening family audience it’s a really well-crafted scripted show and it’s like a sitcom. So it attracts a dual audience.

Another one of our younger-skewing shows is My Little Pony. It’s a great franchise. It’s been very popular in terms of the play pattern experience over the years. We have Lauren Faust working on that show. She did Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends for Cartoon Network and she did The Powerpuff Girls so she has a great pedigree and a great eye. She is re-imagining this series of My Little Pony where there are six ponies living in Ponyville. It’s all about how they get on with each other, how they use their friendship, how they use their magic and how they interact and go on adventures. We’re bringing new elements to the show, like responsibility. Ponyville wouldn’t exist unless the ponies actually looked after it and cared for it. I think it’s a really nice message for the kids as well.

My Little Pony is for the 3- to 8-year-olds and it’s just lovely and really well constructed. The animation is beautiful and we got a lot of good feedback on this one. People just want it.

And finally there is The Adventures of Chuck and Friends. It’s a show for young boys. Chuck is a little truck and he lives in a diner with his mum and dad. It’s about building things physically with your friends but also building things with your imagination. Chuck is a young truck and he has five friends and they have adventures in the diner and in the back garden. It’s really, really cute. It’s a boys’ vehicle show. It’s got heart and it’s got soul and the animation is really nice and the character expressions are good; 2- to 5-year-olds will enjoy the interaction of the show using their imagination to play.

TV KIDS: What response have you had so far from broadcasters?
ARNESEN: Broadcasters are really responding to all the shows. They are high-quality family entertainment; that is what we are trying to do here.

What’s really great is our portfolio approach: we have two action-adventure prime-time shows, Transformers: Prime and G.I. Joe: Renegades; we have a fringe prime-time show, Pound Puppies, which is really a family sitcom; and then we have the preschool shows, My Little Pony and The Adventures of Chuck and Friends. This is a really nice opening portfolio for Hasbro Studios to have to present to worldwide broadcasters, and it’s only the beginning!

TV KIDS: You have another side to your job, don’t you?
ARNESEN: Yes, the other side of my job is getting to the studio and sitting with Stephen [Davis, the president of Hasbro Studios] and the team and deciding what we are going to develop and produce next, and what shows make sense from a brand and an international perspective.

TV KIDS: I imagine what you hear from buyers—“we could use this type of show”—gets fed back into the studio.
ARNESEN: Yes, because I am the eyes and ears of international. If we are developing something in the studio and everyone says, yes, this is definitely the way to go, or no, that’s not going to work in Asia or Latin America, it’s a really nice set up.

TV KIDS: You’ve recently traveled extensively, haven’t you?
ARNESEN: I wanted to get around the world and introduce Hasbro Studios to broadcasters and explain, this is our IP, this is what we’ve got coming and have them take a look at our first shows. From my point of view, having been a broadcaster, having relationships with broadcasters is really important, so I went out myself and did that. I’ve been across Europe and I’ve been on a Latin American tour, which was grueling but great fun. I did nine countries in ten days!

TV KIDS: What appealed to you about joining Hasbro?
ARNESEN: I was at Cartoon Network many, many years. The appeal is manifold. I have to say that Brian Goldner [the president and CEO of Hasbro] is an amazing guy. He is very driven. He has a vision for where he wants to take the company and I really like that. Whenever I hear Brian speak or I am in meetings with Brian I think, OK, he is truly inspirational.

Secondly, the opportunity to be on both sides was really appealing to me. I’ve done 20 years in broadcasting and [have been mostly involved in] production and being the actual broadcaster. I think it’s really important to be on the other side at one stage and round out your experience and your career. That was a challenge for me and I’m really enjoying that challenge. Thirdly I’m a massive gamer and toy collector; I’ve lived with this stuff all my life. I’ve grown up with it. I’ve always loved video games, graphic novels, anime and Japanese animation.

TV KIDS: What are your favorite games?
ARNESEN: I have to be loyal to Nintendo. I like the Super Mario series and the Zelda series is just superb!

TV KIDS: Zelda is one of my son’s favorite games. He likes RPGs [role-playing games].
ARNESEN: Yes, I grew up with that multiplatform way of taking a reading on a character. I guess that’s what we do in television. In video games you take a reading on a character like Mario or like Zelda and you create a world and a legend and a story behind them.
So if you are surrounded by all of that in your life—

TV KIDS: Then television is a natural extension.
ARNESEN: It’s a natural extension. At Cartoon Network I commissioned many shows, worked with many shows, but now to put together the broadcast angle, the sales angle, the distribution angle, the toy and game company, the licensing the merchandising, that’s basically everything, and it’s really good fun!