{"id":29779,"date":"2025-06-04T09:37:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T13:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-spotlights-teen-live-action\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T10:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T14:02:51","slug":"tv-kids-summer-festival-spotlights-teen-live-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/tv-kids-summer-festival-spotlights-teen-live-action\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Kids Summer Festival Spotlights Teen Live-Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Successful strategies for teen live-action shows, and the crucial role of partnerships in getting them off the ground, took center stage as day two of the TV Kids Summer Festival kicked off today with a session featuring ZDF Studios\u2019 Oliver Grundel, Cottonwood Media\u2019s David Michel and ZDF\u2019s Nicole Keeb.<\/p>\n<p>The Live-Action Appeal session, moderated by TV Kids\u2019 Jamie Stalcup and featuring Grundel, Director Junior at ZDF Studios; Michel, president and co-founder of Cottonwood Media and managing director of Federation Kids &amp; Family; and Keeb, head of international co-productions, development and acquisitions for children and youth at ZDF; can be viewed <a href=\"https:\/\/worldscreenevents.com\/festivals\/live-action-appeal\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>High-profile live-action dramas for teens are in strong demand now, Keeb said. \u201cTimes are quite hard. Escapism is a big topic here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grundel noted that this demo is \u201cdynamic and emotionally intense and they are curious about a wide range of topics. That opens a spectrum of storytelling opportunities.\u201d Further, Grundel added, shows like ZDF Studios\u2019 own <em>H2O<\/em>, <em>Dance Academy<\/em> and <em>Find Me in Paris<\/em> can resonate so strongly that audiences want to interact with and be part of the brand. He referenced a Mako Mermaids YouTube video that generated more than 22 million views in the first four weeks. \u201cThat\u2019s on a show that is more than ten years old. It\u2019s quite impressive how intense the interaction with the audience is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Well-written teen shows with high production values are in short supply, Michel noted, namely because they are \u201cincredibly hard to finance,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need your key broadcaster and then at least one, if not two, major broadcasters. You need gap financing. You need a minimum guarantee. All this makes it hard to produce that premium content.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Live-action tween and teen has become a bit of a specialty at ZDF, Keeb added. \u201cThat\u2019s why we love to have these long-term partnerships like with Cottonwood, with Jonathan Shiff. You know how to talk to each other; you trust each other. In the construction of a complicated co-production, in development, adaptation and execution, you need confidence and trust in each other. It\u2019s really costly and time-intensive, but if you do it right, you have a long shelf life with your properties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The conversation then moved to handling sensitive topics in these shows and the importance of ensuring diverse casts and crews. \u201cDiversity has moved from nice to have to a need to have,\u201d Grundel said. \u201cIt has to be authentic in storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The panelists noted that book adaptations are paramount in the teen live-action space. Of note, ZDF Studios and Cottonwood Media partnered on <em>Theodosia<\/em> and <em>Find Me in Paris<\/em>, both based on books.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are two types of book adaptations,\u201d Michel said. \u201cThere are the books that have very good bones. You know what it\u2019s going to look like, you know what it will take to adapt it, but it\u2019s pretty clear. There\u2019s another type of book where there\u2019s one thing about the concept that\u2019s exciting, or something about the title and the concept that you just know it could be a great series, but you need to work from scratch. It takes more work, more time, and it takes very, very good writers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Known IP helps on the distribution side too, Grundel said, \u201cespecially in this very risk-averse situation at the moment. It\u2019s a good indicator of strong market potential.\u201d The company is bringing the adaptation of the <em>Alea Aquarius<\/em> books to the market. \u201cThese kinds of books come with devoted and highly active fan bases, which is beneficial, and that will help the series gain early attention and traction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Collaboration is essential for getting these shows made, the panelists noted. \u201cThese high-profile live-action shows are costly, and we couldn\u2019t afford to do it on our own,\u201d Keeb said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s much more fun anyway to do as a co-production!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michel added, \u201cAs you know, the market is not going up as far as license fees go. We love teen live action, and it\u2019s a micro market. We\u2019re talking about 15 buyers in the world, and five to six buyers who can make the show happen and pre-buy or co-produce it. The market can only absorb a couple of these shows every year. The financing is so hard to put together. You don\u2019t just need to have a buyer that\u2019s interested, you need them to be interested for this fiscal year! It\u2019s probably competing against animated shows or older shows or YA shows. It\u2019s always a little bit of a miracle pulling these shows off the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s plenty of upside, with live-action teen shows finding audiences across a broad spectrum of platforms. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see how a teenage brand can resonate on various platforms and side by side,\u201d Grundel said.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest appetite is coming from pubcasters, Michel said. Indeed, <em>The Lady Grace Mysteries<\/em> is being made by Cottonwood Media for ZDF, the BBC and France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Successful strategies for teen live-action shows, and the crucial role of partnerships in getting them off the ground, took center stage as day two of the TV Kids Summer Festival kicked off today with a session featuring ZDF Studios\u2019 Oliver Grundel, Cottonwood Media\u2019s David Michel and ZDF\u2019s Nicole Keeb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":29780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[258,9938,5803,8967,10985,463,6434],"class_list":["post-29779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-cottonwood-media","tag-david-michel","tag-nicole-keeb","tag-oliver-grundel","tag-tv-kids-summer-festival-2025","tag-zdf","tag-zdf-studios","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - 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