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June 20, 2011 World Screen

This article originally appeared in the MIPTV 2011 issue of TV Kids.

 Whether they depict everyday situations or fantasy worlds, live-action series are a hit with tween audiences.
 
Something happens to children when they hit their tween years and it’s more than just the onset of hormones. Their tastes change, they become more sophisticated, friends and relationships become more important, and suddenly, being popular and accepted by the “in crowd” is essential. Not surprisingly, viewing habits shift. Silly, irreverent animated comedy isn’t quite enough. Tweens gravitate toward live-action shows because they depict real-life situations and issues that 9- to 12-year-olds can relate to and enjoy.
 
“Boys and girls are moving out of animation earlier and looking for programs that offer a wide viewing choice just as we adults expect; they want great stories and engaging characters,” says Bernadette O’Mahony, the head of development and production at the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF).
 
For years, from Lizzie McGuire and Drake & Josh to Round the Twist and H2O: Just Add Water, live-action shows have been a mainstay of children’s television channels. Certainly the bar was significantly raised with the creation of highly successful live-action franchises by Disney Channel, with Hannah Montana, and Nickelodeon, with iCarly.
 
“We’ve had so many fantastic live-action properties,” says Caroline Beaton, the senior VP of international program sales at MTV Networks International (MTVNI). “From iCarly to Big Time Rush we have not been short of breakout hits, but Victorious takes it to a whole new level again.” Victorious, created by Dan Schneider, who also gave life to the hit tween series Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly, stars the new teen sensation Victoria Justice.
 
“When you think about what Nickelodeon stood for five or ten years ago, people back then were thinking of the Disney properties and now we’ve absolutely got that part of the live-action market established,” adds Beaton.
 
It’s the success of these shows and others which have cemented the popularity of live-action shows in the minds of broadcasters the world over.
 
“It’s not a fad—live action is here to stay,” says Josh Scherba, the senior VP of distribution at Canada’s DHX Media, the distributor of series such as How to Be Indie and Grandpa in My Pocket.
 
Patrick Elmendorff, the managing director at Germany’s Studio100 Media, adds that this demand for live action is also echoed in the German marketplace. “We have seen an increase in air time, in quantity and in the market share of live-action programs,” he says. “The reason is that live-action shows usually attract larger audiences.”
 
Suzanne French, the VP of children’s and family at the Canadian producer Shaftesbury Films, notes that the result has been a surge in the number of producers embracing the genre. “One indicator of the growth in live action is that it used to be our little niche. When we started with Life with Derek it was just us and DECODE [now DHX] in Canada—everybody else was into animation. Now everybody’s into live action.”
 
The Spanish producer and distributor Imira Entertainment is just one of a number of companies recently moving into live-action production for the first time. Imira is launching a new live-action version of its international hit tween animation series Lola & Virginia at MIPTV with two other new live-action series in the works.
 
Christophe Goldberger, the head of distribution and marketing at Imira, confirms the general opinion: “There’s no doubt that live action is growing in popularity.”
 
Another recent entrant to the live-action market is FremantleMedia Enterprises. Its senior VP of children’s and family entertainment, Bob Higgins, argues that attempting to emulate the success of Disney and Nickelodeon with high-concept series can be a risky business.
 
“Hannah Montana is extraordinarily well written, well cast, well produced and well marketed. The risk is that if you try and take Disney on with a show that isn’t equally extraordinarily well written, cast and produced, it won’t hold up. The risk is being a me-too show, which tries to live up to Hannah Montana but comes off a distinct second best.”
 
“The bar is going up every year when it comes to the level of writing on teen live action—comedy in particular,” DHX’s Scherba point out. “Disney has set the bar high and Nickelodeon is right there with iCarly. The writing on these shows is very sophisticated.”
 
Now kids’ TV producers have to hire the best Hollywood prime-time comedy writers and showrunners, explains Scherba, who is currently developing a series with Andrew Orenstein, executive producer and writer on hit comedies such as Malcolm in the Middle. “There are plenty of high-end L.A. showrunners involved in children’s live action these days. It’s about finding the right writers for the right project and giving them the freedom to do what they do best,” he declares.
 
“Now you are seeing lots of really great writers who have come more from prime-time sitcoms to be showrunnners of sitcoms for kids,” confirms Ira Levy, Breakthrough Film & Tele­vision’s executive producer and partner, who is currently making a 13-part prime-time family comedy for TELETOON, Crash Canyon, with the Simpsons writer Joel Cohen.
 
THE RIGHT FIT
But equally important is brilliant casting, Levy adds. “Casting is crucial, crucial, crucial in kids’ shows, just as much as in prime time. That’s why the Miley Cyruses and Selena Gomezes stand out—they have got it. So even if it takes embarking on a global talent search, it’s worth the effort, because it’s a hugely important part of a show’s chemistry.”
 
Another seemingly essential element of the genre’s biggest hits is the narrative twist, a familiar formula in which the central character is an ordinary teenager with a secret talent, making them stand out, become famous or display superhuman powers.
 
This works because kids and tweens have “stage fantasies,” explains Studio100’s Elmendorff. “They dream about being powerful wizards, celebrated rock stars, TV personalities or even just having something special that distinguishes them from the crowd. Whether they are wizards or princesses, it is about the search for identity and appreciation. There is no doubt that the so-called ‘twist’ may not be mandatory, but it definitely appeals to teens and tweens.”
 
It’s part of the appeal of Power Rangers: Samurai, a revamped version of the ’90s hit Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. “Every show has to have some sort of twist that makes it relevant or exciting—that’s as old as Shakespeare,” explains Fernando Szew, the CEO of MarVista Entertainment, which is handling international distribution of the series. “Kids want that and they want to be kept on their toes from a storytelling perspective. With Power Rangers: Samurai, it’s five regular kids who turn into superheroes.”
 
If anything, the Power Rangers franchise is even more appropriate to the present day than it was during the ’90s, insists Szew. “The world of kids has gotten more complex and the key attributes of the Power Rangers are more relevant than they ever were—fitness in particular is now in vogue, given the problems that a lot of societies are having [with childhood obesity]. The characters are all about good nutrition, active play, action sports and martial arts. They are good role models for kids.”
 
REAL-LIFE APPEAL
Many in the industry, however, are seeing a movement away from needing a gimmick to make a live-action show attractive to broadcasters.
 
“The Disney Channel series Good Luck Charlie changed the game a little bit, because this is a show with no gimmicks; it’s a straightforward family sitcom and it works so well on so many levels with characters kids can relate to and really funny situations,” says Tom McGillis, the president of Fresh TV, which is producing two live-action series, My Babysitter’s a Vampire, based on a successful TV movie, and the sitcom Really Me. (Both are represented worldwide by FremantleMedia Enterprises.)
 
“More and more, the rules that govern adult prime-time sitcoms are now governing kids’ live-action shows. They need to be really, really smart, with really high laugh counts, multiple plot lines, and characters who very consistently surprise you, even though they are very well-defined characters. So the whole gimmick thing is not as powerful a draw as it used to be.”
 
Australian producers have built a reputation for shows that are more in line with the real, daily lives of tweens. “We have explored many themes in our live-action series: family and a child’s place in it; the fun, trials and tribulations of growing up; being embarrassed by your parents; relationships; the use of fantasy and imagination in kids’ lives; superheroes; sport; and history,” says ACTF’s O’Mahony.
 
“We have also dealt with more serious issues such as depression of a parent, first love, puberty, and other teen issues in some programs—always from a child’s perspective. The themes are driven by the concept, and what’s realistic and relevant for that particular project and those characters, as well as what we can do in an entertaining, and sometimes thought-provoking, way.”
 
The Canadian producer Skywriter Media & Entertainment Group is also cutting a different path to the Hannah Montanas and iCarlys with its focus on action adventure, exemplified by its kids’ drama On the Run. “Showrun by Daphne Ballon (Life with Derek, Baxter), it’s a kind of Bourne Identity for kids,” explains Skywriter’s CEO and executive producer, Kevin Gillis, “with lots of chases all wrapped up in a fun cool show with a conspiracy setup.”
 
Skywriter also has Hogan’s Court in development. It stars Hulk Hogan and will target real-life dilemmas in which 6- to 10-year-olds are able to take their siblings to court for misdemeanors such as using their toothbrush or tying up the bathroom for too long.
 
Whether a show is an adventure, a comedy or something else, engaging with audiences online is a crucial part of getting a buzz going about new live-action content, stresses Gillis. Live action needs to focus on the kind of subject matter that can be easily assimilated into kids’ social networks, which is becoming a vital component of the success of any new series, he says. “Shows need Twitterability and have to be Facebook-friendly, because there’s a huge Facebook and Twitter audience out there. So you have to consciously put this stuff in. The trick is engaging with that community and harnessing its power without being exploitative.”
 
Because for sure, tweens not only need to see issues and situations that are important to them reflected in the live-action shows they watch, but, crucially, they need to constantly text, chat and comment about them. The more buzz there is around a show, the more its young fans feel “cool-by-association,” and that’s good for the whole life chain of the show: producers, distributors and broadcasters.