WarnerMedia Kids & Family’s Adina Pitt

With the launch of the Cartoonito programming block, WarnerMedia Kids & Family has broadened its reach in the preschool space. This means there’s an even wider remit when acquiring top-tier third-party titles to sit alongside the bevy of first-rate originals on Cartoon Network and HBO Max. Adina Pitt, VP of content acquisitions, partnerships and co-productions for the Americas at WarnerMedia Kids & Family, shares with TV Kids what she’s looking for from the marketplace.

TV KIDS: Tell me about the role that acquisitions play on the channels and platforms you oversee.
PITT: My purview is across WarnerMedia Kids, Young Adult and Classics under Tom Ascheim. Amy Friedman is my direct boss. I oversee the content partnerships, acquisitions and co-pros for the linear and nonlinear platforms within the kids’ group, so that’s Cartoon Network and HBO Max.

The role of content partnerships and acquisitions has been amplified quite a bit because the ecosystem is broader and the consumer requires that much more content than what we used to pick up. The frequency is greater, and the volume is greater. Ultimately, we have three studios, so the role of third-party content should be to complement and support the originals that are coming to us from [our] studios. It provides us an opportunity to give our viewers a chance to see stories from all over the world because we’re such a global marketplace.

TV KIDS: How have your buying needs changed?
PITT: One of the biggest changes for us is we’re now venturing into preschool—we launched Cartoonito—and we’re also looking at live-action and tween content. We’re looking at specials, snackable series, serialized series. The portfolio of demos and genres we’re looking for has expanded to such an extent that it’s hard to quantify. What’s exciting for any producers out there is that, where we used to play in one sandbox, one lane—kids 6 to 11, leaning toward boys—it has expanded.

TV KIDS: What are some of the brand values that you must keep top of mind when sourcing programming? Is there anything that’s a total no-go?
PITT: Not only kid-empowerment but also high-quality, great stories. For us, if you look at the preschool lineup, we do have a curriculum associated with that, called Human-Centric Learning. Within that, there are different parameters and qualities we’re looking for. Anything that falls outside of that probably wouldn’t work for us. Those are things like creativity, caring, courage, curiosity. When you do your homework and know the kind of content that each of our brands is looking for, it’s easy to eliminate that thing that won’t work for us. Anything that has imitable behavior that’s dangerous. Anything that is tokenistic instead of being authentically diverse. Anything that doesn’t fall within the brand attributes of any one of our platforms is probably a no-go for all of us. The good news is it leaves a tremendous runway for people to pitch us all kinds of content that we can seriously consider. We’re living in such an extraordinary time; the impact of this pandemic on our viewers is real. It’s important for us to tell stories in which kids can see themselves and allow kids to feel empowered. It’s an important time for kindness, for all kinds of life-enriching words. It’s not our job to do anything but entertain and fill kids’ lives with humor and optimism. That gives producers a wide range of opportunities to come to us.

TV KIDS: In terms of genres, what are you currently on the lookout for? Is there anything you’d like to pick up that you’re not seeing enough of in the marketplace?
PITT: What I wish we would see more of is that diversity is not a one-trick pony. It is inclusive of the LGBTQ community. It is inclusive of diversity behind the camera, not just in front of the camera. We need to encourage and give permission to the producers out there to tell different stories and not be afraid of it and surround themselves with talent that will tell those authentic stories. We’d love to see more of that. We’re starting to see some great stories come from very different places. That’s encouraging. But we still have a long way to go. Hopefully, what people are hearing is that this group of people is completely open to receiving that content and helping build brands for kids that are groundbreaking. That’s an exciting task for all of us to take on.