{"id":18448,"date":"2020-04-24T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2020-04-27T10:00:34","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T14:00:34","slug":"jetpacks-dominic-gardiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Jetpack\u2019s Dominic Gardiner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dominic Gardiner, the CEO of Jetpack Distribution, talks to <\/em>TV Kids\u00a0about comedy\u2019s elemental role in kids\u2019 content, the kinds of laughs with global legs and streaming platforms\u2019 place in providing programming that calls the entire family to the screen.<\/em><\/p>\n

From action-adventure series with tiny heroes battling outsized villains to those with an educational component that tackle science and environmental matters, series made for kids tend to serve up the mayhem and messages with a helping of laughs. It\u2019s long been true and will continue to be true that kids want to laugh, making comedy an enduring high-performer\u2014within its genre and across the genre spectrum. It also has the potential to travel to children the world over, and with the right approach, see parents join in on the fun.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV KIDS: <\/strong>What is the overall demand for kids\u2019 comedy?
\nGARDINER:<\/strong> It\u2019s kind of a truism that comedy is the essential component for most genres. Even if a series isn\u2019t supposed to be funny, it\u2019s good to have comedy in it.\u00a0 In kids, if you look at genres and subgenres\u2014take action\u2014kids\u2019 action almost always has comedy in it. In grownup content, you can have action that is just purely action and you\u2019re going to have genres like horror, whereas in kids, every subgenre will also have comedy in it. It\u2019s sort of essential. Preschool, education, adventure, everything has got comedy in it. Even if you try to do factual. There are a few dramas that don\u2019t [have comedy in it] because they\u2019re dealing with a particularly serious subject, but on the whole, if you\u2019re trying to get kids to pay attention, then comedy is the best way to hold their eyes. Comedy is like the currency of kids, the way kids behave with each other. They\u2019re always laughing, they\u2019re always making jokes or doing silly things. That\u2019s just what kids love to do. There are a few series that are very famous for being educationally driven, but at the same time are very funny too. And I think that\u2019s a testament to how important comedy is.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> What kind of comedy travels best? And what are the potential challenges of translating humor?
\nGARDINER:<\/strong> The really basic gags\u2014the custard pie in the face\u2014if done well, with comedic timing, are universally funny. The pie in the face, regardless of what part of the planet you\u2019re from, that\u2019s a funny gag. You don\u2019t need to explain that or translate that. Then there are other types of humor that are more sophisticated, that are based on parody or situations that may or may not be relevant, depending on where the person lives. You\u2019re thinking about kids from all parts of the planet [and] in terms of how old they are as well. A lot of things can be very funny if you\u2019re a bit older and you can understand the situation that it\u2019s in. But if the situation is alien to you in any way, or maybe it\u2019s a situation that kids associate mostly with grownups\u2014maybe it\u2019s like driving a car. Those things are not necessarily funny for kids because they don\u2019t know how to drive cars so they don\u2019t see the funny side of it. Comedy has got to be really relatable and there are some universal comedies. Obviously, it\u2019s much easier if you\u2019re selling something that\u2019s very physical and doesn\u2019t need any explanation. Some shows have done that very well recently, particularly using global platforms. They\u2019ve hit the mark. While there some shows that I think are hilarious, super funny, expertly scripted and with really cool visuals, but sometimes they just don\u2019t work everywhere because maybe they\u2019re a little bit too sophisticated. Maybe that kind of humor hasn\u2019t quite taken off yet [in parts of the world]. I think humor is quite relative to where you\u2019re from and how old you are, but also just the types of humor that are kicking around on adult shows eventually floating down into kids\u2019 shows.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TV KIDS: <\/strong>What are the different approaches to comedy for preschool, bridge, tween\/YA?
\nGARDINER:<\/strong> One, that it\u2019s relatable. The jokes about mom and dad are hilarious when you\u2019re 4 and 5 because mom and dad are pretty much everything in your world. Then maybe as you get a bit older, the jokes are about your friends or situations your friends are in. They can be quite funny too because your friends become quite important to you. And as you get a bit older, maybe in the world around you things start to feel funny. Plus, once you\u2019ve matured, your ability to differentiate different types of comedy kicks in. Then maybe when you\u2019re 8, you look back at things you laughed at when you were 4 and you go, Hmm that\u2019s not so funny anymore. That terrible knock-knock joke or something that you learned, you\u2019re like, I\u2019m too grown up, too sophisticated, I\u2019m a big kid now. I\u2019m 8, right? Then by the time you\u2019re 12, you\u2019re like, I find it funny again because I don\u2019t have to be worried about being mature. I can be like, Yeah, I\u2019m 12, I\u2019m a big kid, I can see the difference. So those kind of four to five-year developments in kids every five years, six years, seven years, their humor changes. By the time they\u2019re 14, they\u2019re pretty much adults, right? They find the same kind of things funny that we find funny.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> Are you seeing more family-viewing shows with jokes for everyone\u2014 boys, girls, older siblings, even parents?
\nGARDINER:<\/strong> It\u2019s the holy grail. Television is very segmented. We talk very specifically to very narrow demographics. I\u2019m talking about the way we\u2019ve been doing it for the last 20 years, because we\u2019ve got segmented channels, segmented brands with content that\u2019s segmented by gender, by age. And now, as everything is broadening, the world is broadening. The thing the theatrical cartoons and shows for kids have been doing for a long time is getting jokes in for everybody. Right at the top there you\u2019ve got Pixar\u2019s Toy Story<\/em>-type of entertainment that\u2019s for everybody. If you can get that right\u2014and it\u2019s incredibly hard to get that kind of comedy that\u2019s going to hold the attention of a 3- and 4-year-old but at the same time get the parents in\u2014that\u2019s where we want to be. That\u2019s where the newer platforms are positioning themselves, as family-entertainment destinations.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong> Would you say broadcasters as well? Or mostly the new platforms?
\nGARDINER: <\/strong>It\u2019s going to be difficult to undo what [the broadcasters] have done when they talk about how they\u2019re very kid-centric\u2014We know kids, we\u2019re kids, we do everything for kids, we do preschool kids, we do kids in the middle, we do bridge. But never have any of their branded kids\u2019 networks said we also do stuff for mom and dad. That would be weird because it\u2019s a kids\u2019 thing, they\u2019re kids\u2019 content only. The new platforms have come up and gone, We\u2019re a platform for everybody but we also have some kids\u2019 stuff. You can choose who you want to be when you\u2019re logged in, but it\u2019s not like this brand that shouts, We know kids. It gives them a lot broader palette to work with because they can do all of the different types of things.
\nThe new platforms obviously don\u2019t have to worry about daytime and dayparts. They\u2019re just everything all of the time. It creates that opportunity to do something that gets everyone together. And that\u2019s probably more of a family reaction, where the house has become segmented through devices. The single-device family, which existed for 30-50 years, and then there was a TV in the bedroom, and now everybody has a device under their nose. We, as a society, are sort of recognizing that this is driving families apart. Let\u2019s all eat together, let\u2019s entertain together. There\u2019s an element of family entertainment in a lot of what we see in what we call light entertainment. It\u2019s shows for adults but kids can watch. Then there are movies that are made specifically for kids but parents can enjoy too because they\u2019re still funny and well made\u2014layered jokes, characters. Then there\u2019s stuff that\u2019s like, who knows who it\u2019s for? Like the Simpsons<\/em>. No one really knew. For adults, for kids? That kind of stuff that\u2019s just animation so naturally you think it\u2019s for young people but obviously it\u2019s not. There\u2019s a lot of stuff as well that\u2019s just for kids but it\u2019s making it to a degree that parents are like, OK, I can watch this. There are things that people can do to make shows that can engage kids, make them laugh, but at the same time recognizing that there are parents who might possibly want to watch it too.<\/p>\n

This interview was conducted prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Media companies are currently shifting their strategies in the wake of production postponements.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CEO talks about comedy\u2019s elemental role in kids\u2019 content, the kinds of laughs with global legs and streaming platforms\u2019 place in providing programming that calls the entire family to the screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1033,"featured_media":18449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,21],"tags":[3386,958],"class_list":["post-18448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-dominic-gardiner","tag-jetpack-distribution","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nJetpack\u2019s Dominic Gardiner - 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\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jetpack\u2019s Dominic Gardiner - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The CEO talks about comedy\u2019s elemental role in kids\u2019 content, the kinds of laughs with global legs and streaming platforms\u2019 place in providing programming that calls the entire family to the screen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-24T13:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-27T14:00:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/Dominic-Gardiner-Jetpack.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"386\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chelsea Regan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chelsea Regan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/\",\"name\":\"Jetpack\u2019s Dominic Gardiner - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-24T13:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-27T14:00:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/2a2c6d8fb3c7c8b4220b8877ecffb79a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/jetpacks-dominic-gardiner\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jetpack\u2019s Dominic Gardiner\"}]},{\"@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\/2a2c6d8fb3c7c8b4220b8877ecffb79a\",\"name\":\"Chelsea Regan\",\"description\":\"Chelsea Regan is the managing editor of World Screen. 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