Lessons Learned

April 2008

When a 6-year-old races home—or drags her tired body home—from a long, hard day at school, the last thing she wants to do is learn anything else. She wants to relax. Chances are, the first place she goes to is the TV set, looking for pure escapist entertainment.

While broadcasters and producers are eager to infuse every preschool show with educational content, they are less willing to do so with children who are now immersed in the school system. Children over the age of six are increasingly deciding and controlling what they watch. And they have the uncanny ability to sniff out anything educational, which is “so not cool.”

But today’s media-savvy kids want to look and feel smart and are in such a rush to appear older than they are. The producers who can tap in to this desire and offer up shows where the learning is well-concealed inside the storytelling or encased in an activity that is considered “real cool,” are finding success with educational shows aimed at 6- to 12-year-olds.

LAW OF THE LAND

This is one area of programming where the U.S. is reasonably regulated. In 1990, Congress enacted the Children’s Television Act (CTA) to increase the amount of educational and informational programming for children on television. The Act requires each broadcaster “to serve the educational and informational needs of children through its overall programming” and under the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) rules, television stations must air at least three hours per week of specifically educational programs.

“The early years of regulation weren’t well-enforced,” says Robby London, the executive VP of creative affairs at DIC Entertainment. “Ludicrous claims were made such as The Flintstones educating children about early man. Since around 1996 the FCC started to get serious, pointing out that broadcasters weren’t fulfilling their obligations. Broadcasters had to include legitimate educational content and get an audience that wasn’t inclined to watch.”

DIC has become a leader in the field, producing the Emmy Award-winning Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, whose overarching curriculum is geography—but it is really about heroes and villains and is full of jeopardy. “It takes very skilful writing so children are learning by stealth,” says London.

“The initial challenge is that kids beyond six have a radar that detects when programming is educational,” he continues. “They’ve got learning shoved down their throats. It’s a challenge for program makers. [At school,] educators face the same challenge but they have a captive audience—kids can’t just flip the channel. Our audience is not in the slightest bit captive. They control what they watch.”

London laments the fact that in the U.S., educational/informational shows for kids have to be labelled with a small icon in the corner of the screen, which, after the producers have gone through the effort of trying to hide the educational element, can then encourage the viewer to switch channels: “The parents pay no attention to it and it causes the kids to [switch] off—it’s a totally self-defeating labelling,” he explains.

The company programs CBS’s Saturday morning block, KEWLopolis. London says all the shows, which are aimed at
6- to 12-year-olds, are educational. In partnership with an educational consultant, the production teams always start off with the premise “what’s the lesson going to be?” Shows in the block include the live-action sitcom Cake, which besides teaching arts and crafts incorporates conflict resolution between the lead characters; and Dino Squad, in which a group of teenagers acquire the ability to transform into dinosaurs. In doing so they have to learn to respect differences, and balance their obligations as heroes with homework and other childhood concerns. The block also includes Sabrina: The Animated Series and Horseland. All these shows are instructive about emotional and social development as well as about life lessons, claims London, because “that’s what TV is best suited to, rather than hard information.”

FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Another show that incorporates learning in a fun way is Beyond Distribution’s Backyard Science, aimed at 6- to 12-year-olds. Now in its third season, the program has sold to broadcasters across the globe. “You have to get creative but make sure you are targeting the right demographic,” says Munia Kanna–Konsek, Beyond’s head of sales. “In the series, boys and girls experiment with things the 6-to-8 age group finds interesting and entertaining.

“If you want to hit a higher demographic then you need to concede that in this day and age kids are a lot more savvy than they were 20 years ago,” continues Kanna-Konsek. “We now produce Mythbusters for a mainstream general audience that you would think would attract late teens and upwards but 10-year-olds watch and learn. Although they are unusual experiments, they are in essence science educational—but at the same time extremely entertaining.”

MarVista’s CEO, Fernando Szew, points out how the barriers between education and entertainment have been broken down thanks to three phenomena: the production community getting more creative, changes in curriculum, and the Internet making things that were preachy more interactive, participative and therefore fun.

But like its competitors, rather than go for programming that is directly related to the three Rs—writing, reading and arithmetic—MarVista looks for kids’ content that has a social educational component.

The company is offering 13 new half hours of Mystery Hunters at MIPTV, bringing the total available episodes to 78. In the series, two teenage reporters explore some of the world’s greatest myths and mysteries—for example, can people be frozen and brought back to life?—with the help of a skeptical scientist. They gather facts, meet with experts, debunk common myths and offer explanations for legends, spooky stories and unexplained phenomena. Their adventures include climbing into a mini-submarine to search for a lake monster, sniffing for the skunk ape, unraveling a smelly mummy and undergoing hypnosis.

“It makes learning fun for kids who have inquisitive minds—they don’t feel like they’re learning,” says Szew. “They want more and more—they are exploring and it’s fun. ‘Learning’ and ‘educational’ sound so stuck-up and teacher-like. Broadcasters have been so good at changing and freshening up these terms, so kids are ‘exploring’.”

MarVista is also offering the 52-episode The Zula Patrol, a 3-D/CGI half-hour series for 3- to 8-year-olds that focuses on science and astronomy, while encouraging the core values of non-violence and tolerance. Meanwhile its 52×30-minute cookery match Surprise! It’s Edible! Incredible! for 8- to 12-year-olds educates children about healthy eating.

“The [U.S.] broadcasters have the mandate, they want to be viewed well by parents—as competition has increased rapidly they need to make sure they are standing up in front of the parent,” says Szew.

“Clearly kids are going to separate out when they get older. After [the ages of] 8, 9 or 10 they are usually looking at aspirational programming—escapist shows like High School Musical—and you can’t make the argument that that is educational.”

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

As London points out, the Children’s Television Act is the only aspect of the U.S. TV market that is regulated, and more so than international markets. “When we are selling the shows we have to go the extra length to show they do not ‘smell’ educational,” he says.

None of the shows that comply with the CTA are “educational” in the sense that they follow the school curriculum: they are not teaching children the three Rs. Take PorchLight Entertainment’s My Goldfish is Evil!, which is aimed at 8- to 12-year-olds. It’s about a talking goldfish named Admiral Bubble who goes on adventures with his master/owner and they face moralistic issues as they go. “It’s hard at that age; kids won’t tune in—they’re at school all day. You have to provide them with something entertaining—life lessons are more apt for that age group,” says Ken DuBow, PorchLight’s president of worldwide distribution. “They interact with friends, they are beginning to discover the world, so educational shows tend to be more interpersonal and development related.”

DuBow says it’s very tough selling to free-to-air broadcasters and that his company has more success with local digital channels. Within North America, it is offering the $20-million CGI-animated series Animalia for 6- to 9-year-olds, which is set to air on PBS, CBC, BBC and Network Ten and Nickelodeon in Australia (BBC Worldwide holds all rights outside the U.S.). “It has to do with the alphabet but it’s more about emotional development,” says DuBow.

ENTERTAINING ADVENTURES

Gill Pritchard, BBC Worldwide’s director of children’s, says that all of the BBC’s kids’ shows are deliberately designed to entertain children first and foremost, though they may have educational elements woven in. She points to the Discovery Kids co-production DinoSapien, where two paleontologists were used throughout the show’s development so that the CGI-animated dinosaurs are based on detailed knowledge of movement and sound. Ultimately, though, it is an entertaining adventure series. “We are very careful to make sure it’s factually accurate,” says Pritchard. “We weave in two or three hard science facts per episode such as the speed at which the dinosaurs move, when they became extinct, though primarily it is a story about kids in a summer camp who have adventures with dinosaurs.”

She says the demand for educational/informational programming varies from country to country, but she is noting an increased appetite for natural-history shows, which is where the BBC and its world renowned Bristol-based Natural History Unit are well-placed to lead the way.

The unit has produced four mini-series of Wild Tales, dramas about different species of animals, including leopard cubs, baboons and lions, among others,
tracing their journey from babyhood to adulthood in some of the wildest places on the planet. “They’re quite dramatic and exciting,” says Pritchard. “There are lots of graphics and contemporary music. There’s a cliffhanger at the end of each.”

Clearly, shows that are educational in a factual rather than emotional/social way lend themselves particularly well to the all-important merchandising and online opportunities. For example, for the series Mystery Hunters, there will be a new online avatar-based game, Mystery Hunters Training School, premiering in fall 2008, alongside the fourth season of the show. It presents fans with a chance to become mystery hunters themselves.

Scholastic Media, meanwhile, has a substantial off-screen campaign in the works for its animated series WordGirl, which has been licensed to ABC Australia and TV Ontario, among others. The show, developed by Dorothea Gillim, a former fifth-grade teacher, is geared to the 6-to-8 set and chronicles the adventures of Becky Botsford, a mild-mannered fifth grader who, at the call of duty, transforms into WordGirl—caped crusader and definition dynamo. The series is designed to enrich children’s vocabulary, instill a love of language and foster better reading comprehension.

WordGirl is smart and funny, and kids will leave each episode laughing and learning, says Linda Kahn, the senior VP of international TV sales and merchandising at Scholastic Media. Broadcasters are looking for original, entertaining series and WordGirl fits the bill. The stories are well written, have inventive characters and the animation style is fresh. Villains include a bank-robbing granny, an evil sandwich-making guy, a boy genius and many more. What other series has perilous predicaments, cliffhanger endings and a loyal monkey sidekick? Plus, it’s high time that eloquence was added to the list of super powers.

Related products will extend the shows themes of vocabulary, humor and superhero action, with key categories to include publishing, interactive, home video, electronic learning aids, board games, puzzles, apparel, accessories and Halloween costumes. The consumer-products program will launch later this year.

At BBC Worldwide, Pritchard argues that factual programming for children is a fantastic area to innovate in online and in merchandising. She points to the Planet Earth interactive DVD and board game. It’s great for kids, family and adults. It tests their knowledge of the natural world—you can really get education into a family-fun environment. It’s about children exploring and solving problems for themselves.

WHEN NATURE CALLS

Imira Entertainment, formerly Icon Animation, is also tapping into the appetite for programming about the natural world with The Hydronauts, which is produced by Millimages and Toons N Tales for France 5 and Ki.Ka. Aimed at 4- to 7-year-olds, the 26×13-minute series features an alien astronaut called Neptuna, who comes to earth to explore the aquatic life of the ocean.

“We’ve reached a good compromise between entertainment and education,” says Christophe Goldberger, Imira’s head of distribution and marketing. Neptuna has adventures with animal friends and the audience learns a few facts about the animals and about pollution. She always checks her computer for facts. There’s a two-minute documentary segment in each episode showing the real animal in their environment. It’s a good balance, but it’s difficult. As the target [age] goes up, the entertainment value gets higher and higher.

And as the entertainment value goes higher and higher, the educational parts of these shows can be concealed better and better. And very savvy school-age children won’t even realize they are learning.