TV Kids Summer Festival Spotlights Teen Live-Action

Successful strategies for teen live-action shows, and the crucial role of partnerships in getting them off the ground, took center stage as day two of the TV Kids Summer Festival kicked off today with a session featuring ZDF Studios’ Oliver Grundel, Cottonwood Media’s David Michel and ZDF’s Nicole Keeb.

The Live-Action Appeal session, moderated by TV Kids’ Jamie Stalcup and featuring Grundel, Director Junior at ZDF Studios; Michel, president and co-founder of Cottonwood Media and managing director of Federation Kids & Family; and Keeb, head of international co-productions, development and acquisitions for children and youth at ZDF; can be viewed here.

High-profile live-action dramas for teens are in strong demand now, Keeb said. “Times are quite hard. Escapism is a big topic here.”

Grundel noted that this demo is “dynamic and emotionally intense and they are curious about a wide range of topics. That opens a spectrum of storytelling opportunities.” Further, Grundel added, shows like ZDF Studios’ own H2O, Dance Academy and Find Me in Paris can resonate so strongly that audiences want to interact with and be part of the brand. He referenced a Mako Mermaids YouTube video that generated more than 22 million views in the first four weeks. “That’s on a show that is more than ten years old. It’s quite impressive how intense the interaction with the audience is.”

Well-written teen shows with high production values are in short supply, Michel noted, namely because they are “incredibly hard to finance,” he said. “You need your key broadcaster and then at least one, if not two, major broadcasters. You need gap financing. You need a minimum guarantee. All this makes it hard to produce that premium content.”

Live-action tween and teen has become a bit of a specialty at ZDF, Keeb added. “That’s why we love to have these long-term partnerships like with Cottonwood, with Jonathan Shiff. You know how to talk to each other; you trust each other. In the construction of a complicated co-production, in development, adaptation and execution, you need confidence and trust in each other. It’s really costly and time-intensive, but if you do it right, you have a long shelf life with your properties.”

The conversation then moved to handling sensitive topics in these shows and the importance of ensuring diverse casts and crews. “Diversity has moved from nice to have to a need to have,” Grundel said. “It has to be authentic in storytelling.”

The panelists noted that book adaptations are paramount in the teen live-action space. Of note, ZDF Studios and Cottonwood Media partnered on Theodosia and Find Me in Paris, both based on books.

“There are two types of book adaptations,” Michel said. “There are the books that have very good bones. You know what it’s going to look like, you know what it will take to adapt it, but it’s pretty clear. There’s another type of book where there’s one thing about the concept that’s exciting, or something about the title and the concept that you just know it could be a great series, but you need to work from scratch. It takes more work, more time, and it takes very, very good writers.”

Known IP helps on the distribution side too, Grundel said, “especially in this very risk-averse situation at the moment. It’s a good indicator of strong market potential.” The company is bringing the adaptation of the Alea Aquarius books to the market. “These kinds of books come with devoted and highly active fan bases, which is beneficial, and that will help the series gain early attention and traction.”

Collaboration is essential for getting these shows made, the panelists noted. “These high-profile live-action shows are costly, and we couldn’t afford to do it on our own,” Keeb said. “And it’s much more fun anyway to do as a co-production!”

Michel added, “As you know, the market is not going up as far as license fees go. We love teen live action, and it’s a micro market. We’re talking about 15 buyers in the world, and five to six buyers who can make the show happen and pre-buy or co-produce it. The market can only absorb a couple of these shows every year. The financing is so hard to put together. You don’t just need to have a buyer that’s interested, you need them to be interested for this fiscal year! It’s probably competing against animated shows or older shows or YA shows. It’s always a little bit of a miracle pulling these shows off the ground.”

And there’s plenty of upside, with live-action teen shows finding audiences across a broad spectrum of platforms. “It’s amazing to see how a teenage brand can resonate on various platforms and side by side,” Grundel said.

The biggest appetite is coming from pubcasters, Michel said. Indeed, The Lady Grace Mysteries is being made by Cottonwood Media for ZDF, the BBC and France Télévisions.