{"id":12413,"date":"2017-06-02T10:05:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T14:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/"},"modified":"2017-06-05T10:18:23","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T14:18:23","slug":"disney-xds-marc-buhaj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney XD\u2019s Marc Buhaj"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Marc Buhaj, the senior VP of programming and general manager of Disney XD, talks to<\/em> TV Kids<em> about how the channel has been rolling out shows around its core brand tenets of fun, comedy and action adventure.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>From shows inspired by the Star Wars and Marvel Comics universes to beloved anime to original concepts, both animated and live-action, Disney XD is thriving by hyper-targeting boys 6 to 11.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/newsletters.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/img\/2017-06-02-Buhaj-Marc.jpg\" alt=\"***Image***\" width=\"167\" height=\"210\" \/><strong>TV KIDS:<\/strong> What\u2019s driving Disney XD\u2019s viewership?<br \/>\n<strong>BUHAJ:<\/strong> We have a portfolio of content offerings including both animation and live-action series that work well together. Within each of those, we have comedy and action-adventure storytelling, which offer our consumers a range of programming to choose from. On the animation side, <em>Star vs. the Forces of Evil<\/em>, <em>Milo Murphy\u2019s Law<\/em>, <em>Star Wars Rebels<\/em> and our Marvel animated series are good examples of both original stories as well as those linked to heritage or known IP. On the live-action side, we have <em>Walk the Prank,<\/em> a sitcom that has real hidden-camera pranks, and on the other end of the spectrum, we have a serialized action-adventure series called <em>MECH-X4<\/em> that delivers high stakes and much more drama. So we\u2019re seeing a range of content working. What\u2019s really important is, no matter what format, genre or visual style you\u2019re going with, great characters cut through. A show with a really strong creative point of view, that is relevant, always wins the audience. The approach isn\u2019t rocket science, but the trick is in the execution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV KIDS:<\/strong> What\u2019s been your approach to international co-productions and acquisitions?<br \/>\n<strong>BUHAJ:<\/strong> We\u2019re able to work with our talented colleagues around the world who are producing original series regionally. And then we have a centralized acquisitions arm that also works with local producers, studios and storytellers. We are open to hearing ideas from traditional studios and digital creators, and we work with our colleagues at places like Maker and ESPN as well. In addition to casting a formal net, we also just make sure to stay aware of talent locally or internationally who have unique creative voices, regardless of whether or not they are connected with a traditional studio.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV KIDS:<\/strong> Technology and consumption habits have altered dramatically since you first entered kids\u2019 television. What have been some of the biggest changes in how you approach your job?<br \/>\n<strong>BUHAJ:<\/strong> The thing that has changed is the number of options available. It\u2019s been a challenge to track the audience across the increased number of viewing platforms. However, on those same digital platforms, we also view it as an opportunity to find new storytellers. Anyone who has a creative idea can tell their story through these platforms, and they don\u2019t have to go about it in a formal way. I love the fact that the generation we\u2019re working for now are some of the most creative storytellers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV KIDS:<\/strong> Tell us about the work you did with the YouTube channel Bad Lip Reading on <em>High School Musical<\/em>. And are you planning more viral videos like that?<br \/>\n<strong>BUHAJ:<\/strong> <em>Bad Lip Reading Presents High School Musical<\/em> was a great project and very well received by our audience. It gave us an opportunity to work with someone who is the best in their field, and through that project we also paid homage with a wink to an iconic Disney Channel movie franchise. We\u2019re going to continue to work with new people in different ways. Bad Lip Reading is one of our great collaborators, and we plan to jam with them again at some point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV KIDS:<\/strong> Do you think that the kids\u2019 programming industry has really figured out nonlinear storytelling and engagement yet?<br \/>\n<strong>BUHAJ:<\/strong> Everyone is probably in a different place with it. We approach each of our platforms looking at their unique needs because we know that the storytelling, format and content length may need to vary in order to deliver the most engagement possible. Sometimes we can do clips from a series or movie to program the platforms and other times it works well to have completely original content, whether short-form or micro-content.<\/p>\n<p>The platform options are also ahead of where the revenue models are, so it\u2019s not something that you\u2019re generating revenue from. But as a group that wants to reach our audience, we\u2019re delivering [content] on platforms despite the fact that the economic model isn\u2019t yet as evolved as the storytelling is on the platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The senior VP of programming and general manager shares how the channel has been rolling out shows full of fun, comedy and action adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":12414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,21],"tags":[169,2041],"class_list":["post-12413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-disney-xd","tag-marc-buhaj","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Disney XD\u2019s Marc Buhaj - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disney XD\u2019s Marc Buhaj - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The senior VP of programming and general manager shares how the channel has been rolling out shows full of fun, comedy and action adventure.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-02T14:05:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-05T14:18:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2015\/09\/marc.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/\",\"name\":\"Disney XD\u2019s Marc Buhaj - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-02T14:05:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-05T14:18:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/disney-xds-marc-buhaj\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Disney XD\u2019s Marc Buhaj\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\",\"name\":\"TVKIDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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