TV Kids<\/em>. She opened the session by asking Brennan and Falcone about the considerations that go into finding the right concept and moving it through development.<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re constantly looking for the thing that will stand out,\u201d Falcone noted. \u201cThere\u2019s always a constant push and pull between what we know works for children\u2014and that can tend toward the pedantic and be obvious and insult a child\u2019s intelligence\u2014and moving toward something new, fresh, that a child hasn\u2019t seen. That involves risk, and it\u2019s much harder to bring to market. You\u2019re looking for the sweet spot between those two. So nvothing too condescending to children and something that is fresh and was obvious all along, but we somehow missed it. It\u2019s a hard thing to find.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething to believe in,\u201d said Brennan. \u201cIf someone believes in it for a children\u2019s audience, that\u2019s going to be the greatest thing.\u201d But there are many other factors, Brennan said, including insights into audience behavior. \u201cIt\u2019s also: What do our clients want? What is the capability of production? What\u2019s the financial viability of these projects? What\u2019s the platform fit? When you\u2019re coming up with a content strategy and finding those projects, our role is to bring all of those factors into those decisions about what goes into development. It\u2019s creativity as a business as well as that spark of, what is going to make a child smile?\u201d<\/p>\n
Given how quickly trends can shift, and animation\u2019s long production timelines, committing to an idea can be tricky. \u201cAnimation has to speed up its ability to get to market because otherwise, your visioning for the future has to be that much stronger,\u201d Falcone said. \u201cYou have to anticipate what [kids] might want to watch in those two or three intervening years from the pitch to completed project. It\u2019s not easy. But heart and soul usually outlive the data to some extent, and the data can sometimes be a set of handcuffs on us. We have to be wary of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brennan noted, \u201cWe\u2019re seeing people wanting to lean toward known IP because it feels like there\u2019s more in the bank with that than something original. The struggle within our industry is trying to say, go for the original idea, go for something unique and interesting because it\u2019s worth the swing. When there\u2019s investment and reputations on the line, sometimes that can be more challenging. But in the fast-changing nature of children\u2019s audiences, some trends work on a faster cycle, and they require short-term production time frames.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carugati asked the panelists about attracting and nurturing diverse talent. At WildBrain, there\u2019s a set of content creation guidelines \u201cwith the aim of getting more diversity and inclusion on screen and off from the beginning of a project,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cThey\u2019ve also been doing a lot of workshops and initiatives around finding new talent, giving them the opportunity to gain experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Falcone said that inclusion has long been part of the Guru company culture. Among the talents mentored at the studio is Ghanaian Canadian artist Gyimah Gariba, who created Big Blue<\/em>. \u201cHe wanted to represent his family. His only request was, \u2018I want the two lead characters to be Black.\u2019 We wrote that into his agreement. It got through with CBC\u2019s support, and we ended up with a beautiful show that is funny and true to his goals. It\u2019s finding the human connection and avoiding too much ticking the boxes. That\u2019s when you end up with unsuccessful content that actually has a negative effect on representation. There\u2019s nothing worse than a show that ticks all the boxes for representation that nobody watches. It ends up just proving the point for the skeptics who say, \u2018See, it doesn\u2019t work.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\nThe conversation then moved to the factors evaluated when finding the right platform for a property. \u201cWe\u2019re careful to not pitch every project to everyone,\u201d Falcone said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to know what the project\u2019s goals are, if something has an L&M component, if VOD is the right place\u2014you have to think about those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is such a level of knowledge now about what the [financing] model means for the future of a show,\u201d Brennan added. \u201cBefore, it was more about the creative fit of it. Now, it\u2019s part of development. What is the right home? Where can the show thrive? Where can it connect best to audiences? There are so many choices. The distribution mix is extraordinary. But often, it comes back to finding people who believe in what you\u2019re trying to do and the story you\u2019re trying to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
When building a new brand, Falcone added, sometimes going with a global streamer for all rights isn\u2019t the wisest move. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s about ubiquity\u2013seeing it in as many places as possible.\u201d The streamers, he noted, still have limited audience reach. \u201cFor independent producers building shows that don\u2019t have a legacy, it is important to get onto as many platforms as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panelists then weighed in on the challenges of discovery today. \u201cDiscoverability came into our lives as a word four or five years ago. It\u2019s as much of a challenge if not more so now,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cThe line between distribution and marketing is so blurred now. Knowing the incredible opportunities we have through YouTube, the greatest connection to kids as a platform today, I have to use the distribution mix and all the tools I have to connect to kids wherever they are. Very few people have the marketing budgets at scale to cut through in the world we live in now. All that feeds into the distribution strategy from the very beginning. It\u2019s connecting and engaging with audiences, not promoting to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the age of TikTok,\u201d Falcone added. \u201cYouTube is becoming a dusty bin of content as we speak, and TikTok is where the energy is. YouTube requires commitment. Playing and having fun is an important part of marketing. If your brand can be played with, then the marketing can take of itself. If it\u2019s too top-down driven, too programmatic, you end up with a lot of marketing material, but is it reaching people and engaging people? Marketing has to be respectful of the audience. And since we can control both the content and the marketing, it\u2019s a great opportunity to speak to the audience again. It\u2019s a chance to continue the conversation with your audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
IP owners have had to take on more marketing responsibilities, Falcone added. \u201cThey can\u2019t rely on the broadcast partners to do that for them. There\u2019s too much in the market. You\u2019ve got to take that responsibility seriously. You have to think about what\u2019s going to make your kids\u2019 show or characters stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no road map anymore,\u201d Brennan noted. \u201cGuerrilla marketing and opportunities to experiment, we still have that protection of children that underpins everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deirdre Brennan, the COO of WildBrain, and Frank Falcone, the president and executive creative director at Guru Studio, discussed navigating the complexities of the kids\u2019 business in the last session of day two of the TV Kids Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":22359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[906,3880,5723],"class_list":["post-22358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-deirdre-brennan","tag-frank-falcone","tag-tv-kids-festival","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
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