Federation\u2019s David Michel, Rainbow\u2019s Cristiana Buzzelli and Lambur Productions\u2019 Joan Lambur weighed in on challenges of financing live-action kids\u2019 fare in a session at MIPTV.<\/p>\n
The panel was part of MIPTV\u2019s Junior strand this week. It kicked off with Michel, president and founder of Cottonwood Media and head of Federation Kids & Family, highlighting Find Me in Paris<\/em>, which was the first-ever Kids’ World Premiere Screening at MIPTV. The series, Federation\u2019s first live-action tween show, is a co-pro with ZDF, ZDF Enterprises, Disney, Hulu, France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions and ABC Australia.<\/p>\n Until two years ago, Michel had never produced a live-action show. Find Me in Paris<\/em> started with a conversation with ZDF. \u201cThey were looking for a show set in the Paris Opera House, with a twist, something to make the show unique. That\u2019s when we met these wonderful Canadian writers and showrunners, who came up with this idea of mixing a show about ballet and hip-hop and time traveling. So a pinch of Doctor Who<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n The first season of 26 episodes was made with a budget of 12 million euros and work has begun on season two. \u201cThat\u2019s a very high budget in kids,\u201d he noted. \u201cIt\u2019s a very expensive show and I\u2019ve never financed a series that fast in my life! It took me triple the time to finance a 4 million euros show. I think there are two reasons. The first is the script. Every time we shared it with a new broadcaster, they would fall in love with it. That\u2019s how the show got financed quite quickly. And the second reason is the fact that there\u2019s very little independent live action for kids. Premium live action for kids is a niche within a niche within a niche. So when you do come up with something that has great storytelling and a great cast attached,\u201d broadcasters and platforms will be interested, he said.<\/p>\n Buzzelli, the senior VP of sales and acquisitions at Rainbow, showcased Maggie & Bianca: Fashion Friends<\/em>. The Italian studio\u2019s first live-action series is now in season three and has spawned two TV movies, a full consumer-products program and a concert tour.<\/p>\n On Rainbow\u2019s move into live action, Buzzelli said that as a European independent producer, \u201cyou always need to put yourself in front of new challenges. We were looking to expand our target demographics to 9 to 12, the tween audience. The time to market for live action is faster. And there was and still is a demand from the market.\u201d<\/p>\n Veteran producer Lambur, who set up her own outfit after leaving Breakthrough Entertainment, spotlighted the Anne of Green Gables<\/em> TV movie trilogy that she has been involved with. The company has recently optioned the rights to Sophie Kinsella\u2019s first kids\u2019 book, Fairy Mom & Me<\/em>, to be developed as a series of TV movies.<\/p>\n \u201cI love doing movies because you have more latitude,\u201d Lambur said, noting that the TV movies will be targeted to \u201cmoms and daughters. We\u2019re hoping for a multigenerational audience. You can do that much more easily with movies than a TV series.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s live action or animation, co-pro is key to securing the financing on projects, Federation\u2019s Michel noted.<\/p>\n Another option is to bypass the commissioning route and find private investment to make a show.<\/p>\n Buzzelli said that at Rainbow, if CEO and founder Iginio Straffi believes in a project, \u201che goes for it. Our business model is based on not giving away equity or revenue shares as much as possible. Normally it\u2019s not more than one co-producer, and we build our revenue model through presales coming from distribution but also from licensing.\u201d<\/p>\n All three producers on the panel have access to tax credits in their markets. The Canadian market, however, does have its challenges. Corus, which owns a large number of kids\u2019 networks in cable and free TV, \u201chas moved away from the kids\u2019 business,\u201d Lambur said. \u201cThat\u2019s a real shock to the community. It\u2019s created a big hole, for animation especially.\u201d She added, \u201cTVO and CBC Kids are back on top.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result of challenges in the Canadian commissioning landscape, producers \u201chave to be more American in our thinking, possibly give up rights or get that private investment,\u201d Lambur said.<\/p>\n OTT platforms have become more important in the financing mix. Maggie & Bianca<\/em> presold to Netflix, Buzzelli said. Hulu boarded Find Me in Paris<\/em>. \u201cThe reason we\u2019re here talking about premium live action is because of the SVOD platforms,\u201d Michel said. \u201cIt really started with Amazon commissioning very high-quality shows, many of them from Canada, like Annedroids<\/em>. Amazon started with this trend of looking for compelling, high-end kids\u2019 shows, and it’s something no one was thinking about at that time. Four or five years ago, most of the kids live action was multi-cam sitcoms coming from Canada or the [big global] networks. Then Netflix started commissioning quite a bit as well. Now hopefully we\u2019ll have Apple as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Lambur said that OTT services \u201care not making brand promises to the parents and children\u201d the way that the kids\u2019 linear networks have to, \u201cso they have more freedom creatively. They\u2019re able to go out on these limbs and do things in a way that\u2019s not going to interfere with any non-existent brand promise they’ve made.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Federation\u2019s David Michel, Rainbow\u2019s Cristiana Buzzelli and Lambur Productions\u2019 Joan Lambur weighed in on challenges of financing live-action kids\u2019 fare in a session at MIPTV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":14201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n