{"id":15182,"date":"2018-10-13T06:34:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T10:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-creative-process\/"},"modified":"2018-10-13T06:47:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T10:47:16","slug":"top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Kids Producers on the Creative Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Shiff, Angela Santomero, Tom McGillis and Ben Bocquelet weighed in on the keys to creating successful shows for kids at a session at MIPJunior today moderated by World Screen<\/em>\u2019s Anna Carugati before each receiving a Kids Trendsetter Award.<\/p>\n

The fourth annual World Screen Kids Trendsetter Awards were presented to these leading creators in recognition of their contributions to the children\u2019s programming business.<\/p>\n

Santomero, the creator of Blue’s Clues<\/em> and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood<\/em> and chief creative officer at 9 Story Media Group, came to television after gaining a Master\u2019s degree in child development and psychology and instructional technology and media. \u201cI studied for this job,\u201d she said. \u201cI really wanted to take what was wonderful about children\u2019s education and curriculum, because I wasn\u2019t a fan of much of what was on TV at the time, and put that point of view into storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bocquelet, the creator of the Cartoon Network hit The Amazing World of Gumball<\/em>, said his background was more \u201crun of the mill,\u201d having gone to animation school and working his way up to a showrunner and director. \u201cI just had to wing it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiff is behind the tween live-action hits H2O\u2014Just Add Water<\/em> and Mako Mermaids<\/em>, among others. \u201cI was actually running away from something!\u201d Shiff quipped about how he entered the content business. The former property lawyer decided, after his daughter was born 30 years ago, that there wasn\u2019t much for her to watch, leading him into a post as a legal advisor on a prime-time show \u201con the basis that they would train me as a producer.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGillis founded Fresh TV with Jennifer Pertsch after working at Nelvana, and together the duo created the hit Total Drama Island<\/em> franchise, among several other series.<\/p>\n

Carugati asked the panelists about the elusive sparks of creativity that birthed their shows.<\/p>\n

For Santomero\u2019s first series, Blue\u2019s Clues<\/em>, it was about answering the question of what a preschool game show would look like. \u201cA lot of times I approach things as, Why this show, why now? For Blue\u2019s Clues<\/em> it was, could preschoolers be contestants? That started the idea. For Daniel Tiger\u2019s Neighborhood<\/em>, it was about bringing Fred Rogers\u2019 legacy to the forefront. And then in\u00a0Super Why!<\/em> we wanted to marry reading with superheroes, the power that you have when you learn to read.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Bocquelet, the creative spark mostly comes from \u201ceveryday experiences. I have a weirdly dysfunctional but very happy family. I have had a whole bunch of weird stuff happen to me and keeps happening to me! I\u2019m basically making money off their pain and misery!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy process,\u201d said Shiff. Ideas can come from looking at gaps in the market, but ultimately \u201cstories come within, an emotional connectivity to the story, a passion for the story. In the case of H2O<\/em>, I had done Ocean Girl<\/em>, so I had a passion for underwater. I work very closely with Nicole Keeb at ZDF and often she\u2019s whispering in my ear about something that might spark [an idea]. But generally, it comes from within. These are your babies for a couple of years, so you want that passion, you want to be connected to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGillis also pointed to the importance of \u201ctalking with broadcasters. Total Drama<\/em>, for instance, came as a request from Teletoon. They said,\u00a0We want an animated reality show. [Jennifer and I] collaborate a lot. The spark is always weird and different and surprising. She and I will bat things back and forth and either kill them or suddenly they come to life right in front of us. Definitely, the broadcaster aspect is crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation then moved to the importance of comedy in kids\u2019 TV. \u201cIt\u2019s a bonding tool,\u201d Santomero said. \u201cWe can all laugh together. That can bring more viewers in. For little ones, it\u2019s more about surprises and silliness. As they get older it\u2019s more about joint embarrassment or a situation that makes everybody laugh together, rather than laughing at [someone].\u201d<\/p>\n

Bocquelet said that slapstick is key for kids\u2019 comedy. \u201cAlso, we wanted the show to be something that a kid brother and a big brother could bond over. Or something they could watch with Mum or Dad and have a laugh. The same way I was watching The Simpsons<\/em> with my parents. We try to have something funny for everyone. Humor is comfort food for the soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a slightly different situation for Shiff\u2019s live-action tween shows. \u201cI\u2019ve always found it better if the characters are facing dark adversity with a little bit of sass. It\u2019s not about slapstick but more about wry or empowering humor\u2014particularly as a counterpoint to what they might be dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Total Drama<\/em> in many ways has set the gold standard for kids\u2019 comedy. \u201cAs a rule of thumb, fart jokes always work,\u201d McGillis quipped. \u201cJennifer reaches into pop culture for the references. A lot of you have said that you like a joke that a young child and an older child or a parent can enjoy together. We don’t tend to do that. We tend to be very specific about demographics. We like jokes where the parents will say, \u2018What was that?\u2019 and the kids can say, \u2018Mom and Dad, you won\u2019t get it.\u2019 That\u2019s when we feel we\u2019ve succeeded. And we never speak down to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up for discussion was ensuring that shows have a raft of multiplatform extensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always think [about a show] as a brand,\u201d Santomero said. \u201cCould this be a theme park, a live experience? The characters have to be ones kids want to hang out with and be part of. For the smaller screen or bigger screen, we’re always trying to make sure the intent and soul of the project is there, and how do we maximize it. The most important thing is we are everywhere kids are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiff noted, \u201cI don\u2019t generally think multiscreen use when I\u2019m coming up with stories. However, you\u2019ve got to be aware that kids are rarely watching on the television, so the framing for live action has changed dramatically. The design of the stories has to work because sometimes kids are watching in smaller bites. Social media is important for young teens. Doing behind the scenes and involving kids in how we\u2019re making shows has become almost a job function for the crew we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJennifer and I don\u2019t tend to think in screens and platforms; we think story,\u201d said McGillis. \u201cThe platform will often dictate the format: are we doing 11s or 22s? The rule of thumb keeps getting thrown out the door. We\u2019re developing a 22-minute [format] for 5- to 7-year-olds. Really we rely on the commissioning broadcasters to tell us this is what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carugati then asked each of the creators to discuss their shows in greater detail, querying Santomero on how much she drew from Mister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood<\/em> for Daniel Tiger\u2019s Neighborhood<\/em>. \u201cThere are little nods of love that, if you\u2019re a super fan of Mister Rogers\u2019<\/em>, you will see within the show. For instance, Daniel Tiger wears a red sweater. All of the\u00a0characters from the Neighborhood of Make-Believe of the original show have grown up and all have preschoolers of their own. We incorporated the Main Street that Fred had, so we can go and talk to adults about problems Daniel has. It\u2019s a preschoolers\u2019 fantasy world. As a crazy Fred Rogers fan, I just love to play in that world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bocquelet talked about the technical challenges of Gumball<\/em>, which features a mix of different styles. \u201cIt was a mistake!\u201d he quipped. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to maintain for a long run. I was working in commercials, very unsuccessfully. I was experimenting with a lot of techniques and styles, and then I rage-quit commercials because I was utterly unsuccessful. When Cartoon Network hired me and asked me to present a show, I pulled these characters out of my drawers and sold them again. To unify this bunch of styles I put them on photographs. And the concept of these characters having a second chance and living in the world felt quite exciting. But it\u2019s a hard, complex pipeline to put together.\u201d The effort was worth it though, as the range of styles \u201chelped the show stand out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shiff\u2019s shows\u2014\u201cfearless stories for fearless girls,\u201d is his mantra\u2014also present a range of challenges given their use of CGI and underwater filming. \u201cI keep pushing the envelope, that\u2019s what drives me. We use CGI and shooting underwater is extremely difficult\u2014and at times extremely dangerous. We have 22 stuntmen and stuntwomen from James Bond [movies] to help us. There are real sharks. We use electric prods from the Navy. Sometimes I think, this is nuts! But it takes us into the imagination, into a frontier that is a wonderful canvas, whether it\u2019s a jungle or a magical world. Overcoming my fear is part of the fun. The stories themselves are often driven by empowering particularly young women. I think young women today face as much if not more of a need for empowering stories in a world that is so set on disempowering them, constantly. There\u2019s a never-ending search for stronger and stronger female roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGillis talked about the relaunch of Total Drama<\/em> with the new series Total Dramarama<\/em>. The original, Total Drama Island<\/em>, was aimed at tweens. The request for a reboot came from Cartoon Network, which had huge success with the show around the world. \u201cKids assumed it was a Cartoon Network original, which it wasn\u2019t. They came to us many years after the show had run its natural course and said, Let\u2019s try something new. At first, Jennifer and I tried to age the show down a little. [The characters] were 16, so we said, we\u2019ll make them 12 and maybe that will appeal to 6 to 9s as opposed to a tween audience. It didn\u2019t work at all. And then one of us said, let\u2019s age them from 16 down to 4 and put them in a daycare and have them behave incredibly badly. We were betting on the fact that kids wouldn’t be turned off. When you\u2019re 7, 8, 9, do you want to see a preschool again? We banked on the fact that they would look back on that period and say, \u2018When I was a kid, those things mattered, I can laugh at that now.\u2019 The numbers are bearing that out. We had to go to a much sillier, ridiculous place. The writers\u2019 room is ridiculous. It\u2019s a sillier, crazier place than we\u2019ve ever been before for that younger age group.”<\/p>\n

Laurine Garaude, television director at Reed MIDEM, then joined Carugati on stage to present the panelists with their World Screen Kids Trendsetter Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Shiff, Angela Santomero, Tom McGillis and Ben Bocquelet weighed in on the keys to creating successful shows for kids at a session at MIPJunior today moderated by World Screen\u2019s Anna Carugati before each receiving a Kids Trendsetter Award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":15183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[3767,4068,1863,4070,3167],"class_list":["post-15182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-angela-c-santomero","tag-ben-bocquelet","tag-jonathan-m-shiff","tag-tom-mcgillis","tag-world-screen-kids-trendsetter","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nTop Kids Producers on the Creative Process - 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\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top Kids Producers on the Creative Process - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jonathan Shiff, Angela Santomero, Tom McGillis and Ben Bocquelet weighed in on the keys to creating successful shows for kids at a session at MIPJunior today moderated by World Screen\u2019s Anna Carugati before each receiving a Kids Trendsetter Award.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-13T10:34:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-13T10:47:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/KidsTrendsetters-MIPJunior2018-1018.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"522\" \/>\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=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/\",\"name\":\"Top Kids Producers on the Creative Process - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-13T10:34:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-13T10:47:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/top-kids-producers-on-the-creative-process\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Top Kids Producers on the Creative Process\"}]},{\"@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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