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Margie Cohn, the president of DreamWorks Animation Television, discussed binge-worthy content and girl-centric shows in her MIPJunior keynote, which was followed by a Q&A with World Screen<\/em>\u2019s Anna Carugati.<\/p>\n Cohn\u2019s keynote speech was titled \u201cCreating Timeless Content in Ever-Changing Times,\u201d but she stressed at the opening of her address that \u201cthere never has been, nor will there ever be, a formula for creating timeless content. Indeed, whenever content gets formulaic, you can be pretty sure it\u2019s not going to be timeless.\u201d<\/p>\n DreamWorks Animation Television was founded in 2013 with a business plan that initially consisted of \u201ca piece of paper with a bunch of names on it: titles from DreamWorks IP and the Classic Media library, which mostly consisted of older cartoons and comic-book titles.\u201d From that initial outline, DreamWorks Animation Television clinched a landmark deal with Netflix for 300 hours of animated content. \u201cWe had a staff of about five people at the time,\u201d Cohn said.<\/p>\n While that deal was daunting, Cohn recalled, she knew the business had some clear advantages, notably, \u201cwe had overall series commitments for multiple seasons, not season-by-season orders. This not only gave us a pipeline but also meant there\u2019d be no renewal anxiety. It also enabled us to tell complete, layered, immersive stories with narrative threads that pull through from beginning to end.\u201d<\/p>\n The second major advantage, she added, was the trove of IP. \u201cWhen you\u2019re trying to break through the clutter, having known, globally beloved IP is a huge advantage for creating awareness and paves a path for building franchises. DreamWorks wanted to expand from a feature-film studio with two movies a year to a broad entertainment company. And Netflix not only wanted a deep dive into originals for kids\u00a0but to expand globally.\u201d<\/p>\n The Netflix deal, Cohn continued, allowed the studio to \u201ckeep our brand box big and not be squeezed into a narrow personality. Having no brand style allows our television series to go even further and reinvent what\u2019s already been seen on the big screen.\u201d It also meant the company did not have to \u201ctarget the narrow ad-sales demo, and there would be no commercial breaks in our epic stories. Instead, we could focus on the specific audience we felt was best suited for a given series, from boys to girls to genre lovers and, best of all, we\u2019d make shows for people of all ages who just love animation.\u201d<\/p>\n On linear, animation has been pigeonholed into two groups, Cohn said\u2014edgy adult series or kids\u2019 shows. \u201cWe wanted to make sure that some of our programming existed outside of those boxes. We wanted to create good shows, period.\u201d<\/p>\n The overarching strategy, she noted, was, \u201cHow do we get them to binge?\u201d Kids have been binge-watching for years, Cohn explained, but in the past it was all repeat viewing. \u201cInstead of watching a 90-minute movie again and again, they are being taken on extended journeys of new and surprising storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n Embarking on the output required for the Netflix pact, DreamWorks Animation Television knew it needed to innovate its own production models. As it built its team, the company sought out qualified showrunners \u201cwho could adapt to the brave new world of streaming. We found creators who wanted to make what they love.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the biggest challenges in the streaming world, Cohn noted, is creating awareness. \u201cWe use every tool at our disposal to build awareness. There\u2019s the DreamWorks Animation YouTube channel, the reach of our NBCUniversal parent company, the DreamWorks Animation fan base, the social channels we create for each of our shows, our sister channel Universal Kids, the Comcast Xfinity ecosystem and much more.\u201d<\/p>\n The company has series on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Universal Kids, and a presence on free-to-air broadcasters worldwide, with a slate of new series in production and development. \u201cAfter five years exclusively in the streaming world, we\u2019re now bringing shows to linear. Kids don\u2019t care about the delivery platform, they just like good programming they can watch on the screen of their choice.\u201d<\/p>\n Cohn used her keynote to announce three new originals for Netflix in 2019 and 2020: Archibald\u2019s Next Big Thing<\/em>, Gabby\u2019s Dollhouse<\/em> and Rhyme Time Town<\/em>.<\/p>\n After her address, Cohn sat down for a Q&A with World Screen<\/em>\u2019s group editorial director, Anna Carugati. The interview kicked off with a discussion about what kids are looking for today against a backdrop of infinite entertainment options. \u201cTheir tastes haven\u2019t morphed that much, but they\u2019re looking for what they want, and they\u2019re going to find it.\u201d Cohn talked about the current trend toward shows focused on girl power. \u201cWe thought, we should talk to girls about adventure and who their heroes are. What they want is very different from just taking a boys action show and slapping a girl in the middle. We made a list of attributes: doing the right thing, being a good friend, being smart and sassy\u2014and having good hair is still incredibly important!\u201d (Beyonc\u00e9 emerged as a clear favorite among young girls describing their idea of a superhero, Cohn said.)<\/p>\n Discussing gender-neutral content, Cohn said there\u2019s always been a demand for that kind of programming from linear networks\u2014\u201cit attracts a 50-50 audience and then you get your biggest ratings. And boys and girls often have similar experiences, through a different filter. We try to offer a variety of types of people, boys and girls. You can have a really active girl, but that doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have a super physical boy as well. We\u2019re not just reversing [roles]. We\u2019re representing the huge variety of personality types, body types, ethnicities.\u201d<\/p>\n Carugati asked Cohn about messaging around appropriate behavior and respect. \u201cSocial-emotional issues and learning are where we spend most of our curriculum. And then just quality of life. We have some shows that talk about how failure helps you learn and become better. We have a lot of really good modeling. And most of all, we like to show people supporting each other and not tearing each other down.\u201d<\/p>\n On mining the deep portfolio at DreamWorks and NBCUniversal, Cohn noted, \u201cWe have an amazing franchise group. NBCU is known for Symphony, which is their marketing cooperation where every arm of the company comes in and supports something. So there is a franchise team that oversees everything. There are some obvious suspects, like Fast & Furious<\/em>. When NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks, I couldn\u2019t get into an elevator or our studio without [someone] asking if we were going to develop Jurassic World<\/em>, for example. People are pitching me [potential franchises] all the time. For a franchise, you have to find something that is relevant for the younger end of the audience. It can\u2019t be watered down\u2014it should feel just as vibrant and fulfill all the qualities of the original.\u201d<\/p>\n Talking about building the television animation studio from scratch, Cohn noted, \u201cThe ability to create everything from the ground up, and to do it the right way, was a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n Carugati then asked about the challenges of marketing a show that is on a streaming service. If something is good, it will generally be found, she said, but \u201cthey may find it and forget about it.\u201d Building L&M campaigns has been particularly challenging for streaming shows. \u201cLinear networks have always been able to make something important. It\u2019s not the same environment\u201d as SVOD.<\/p>\n The major challenge going forward, according to Cohn, \u201cis keeping the volume under control and the quality level as high.\u201d The opportunities lie in greater synergies with the wider NBCUniversal group. \u201cWe feel that can open up new IP and relationships and partnerships that will make everything bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The president of DreamWorks Animation Television discussed binge-worthy content and girl-centric shows in her MIPJunior keynote, which was followed by a Q&A with World Screen\u2019s Anna Carugati.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":15203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3286,3969],"class_list":["post-15202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","tag-dreamworks-animation-television","tag-margie-cohn","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n