{"id":19289,"date":"2023-02-08T08:50:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T13:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2023-02-09T09:13:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T14:13:01","slug":"painless-productions-animal-instincts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/painless-productions-animal-instincts\/","title":{"rendered":"Painless Productions\u2019 Animal Instincts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Casey, president and executive producer at Painless Productions, is getting back to his roots in the animal space, after having made a name for himself with paranormal programming. Casey had previously produced the live dog event AKC Eukanuba National Championship (Animal Planet) for nine years and 130 hours, as well as series such as Pet Plastic Surgery<\/em> (FOX), Cat People<\/em> (Animal Planet), Posh Pets: Lifestyles of the Rich & Furry<\/em> (HGTV), Dog Park Superstars<\/em> (GSN) and more. His latest project, Going Fur Gold<\/em>, debuted last month on Nat Geo WILD.<\/p>\n

\u201cNational Geographic and Nat Geo WILD seem to be the primary outlets focused on animal-centric content right now,\u201d Casey tells TV Real Weekly<\/em>. \u201cWe do occasionally see streamers buying animal programming, but they don\u2019t typically seek it out. The animal and pet space is no different from any other genre; there are successes and failures. A lot of people will argue with me on this, but I believe it\u2019s never a bad time for a good show, and it\u2019s never a good time for a bad show. I believe successful TV shows create trends much more than trends create successful TV shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

He breaks down animal-related programming into two subgenres: natural history and pet-centric programming, \u201cbut they\u2019re pretty similar in their goals. Both rely on giving viewers an up-close, genuine look at animals\u2014one in their relationship to their natural environment and the other in their relationship to their human companions. But adding that human element can be a slippery slope. We\u2019ve all seen pet series try to capture that human-animal bond in contrived formats, but it\u2019s rarely worked. The series that have lasted longest are those that stayed true to that emotional human-pet bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey says that the key to producing a successful production in the animal space is to make it personal. \u201cIn a series like Going Fur Gold<\/em>, it\u2019s always about bringing the story back to the human-animal bond that we\u2019re celebrating. The trick is to also keep it relatable. Let\u2019s face it, most viewers may have experienced a powerful bond with a dog or a cat but not a rabbit or an alpaca, so we need to help them understand that relationship through the journey of our characters. By the end of an episode, we want viewers feeling like, Hey, that could happen to me! In one episode, we feature a \u2018guinea pig dad\u2019 who accompanies his daughter to all of her competitions. Pretty soon, he gets hooked, and every time his daughter\u2019s guinea pig is competing, the dad is pacing like an expecting father. This guy, who looks like a biker, never imagined that he\u2019d get stressed out by a guinea pig competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, Painless Productions took over the AKC dog shows and reworked the presentation of the event. \u201cThe network had previously been emulating beauty pageants, with dogs serenely strutting around a large show ring while commentators chatted about breed characteristics,\u201d Casey explains. \u201cWe transformed the show into more of a sporting event where the dogs\u2019 personalities were front and center, and the bond between dog and handler was critical to the duo\u2019s success. The dogs were no longer showpieces; they were half of a partnership that relied on teamwork. It worked, the ratings jumped, and we ran that series for another ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Painless produced a decade of dog shows until 2010, then produced a very successful special that Casey calls \u201cthe unscripted version of Best in Show<\/em>.\u201d Instead of dogs, it focused on celebrating show cats and the ultra-devoted pet parents who travel the country campaigning for them. \u201cI loved producing that cat show, so once our development department showed me photos of champion rabbits, guinea pigs, alpacas and chickens and shared the stories of their human partners who have that same level of dedication, I was hooked.\u201d And thus, Going Fur Gold <\/em>was born.<\/p>\n

Casey says that there may be fewer homes for animal-centric programming than there were five years ago but is optimistic this will change. \u201c23 million Americans adopted pets during the pandemic\u2014a 10 percent increase in pet ownership. More Americans now have pets than any other time in history, so pet-centric programming should be on every buyer\u2019s radar.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Casey, president and executive producer, talks about producing animal-centric programming, including the new series Going Fur Gold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":19290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,69],"tags":[5201,4698],"class_list":["post-19289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-jim-casey","tag-painless-productions","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nPainless Productions\u2019 Animal Instincts - TVREAL<\/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\/tvreal\/painless-productions-animal-instincts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Painless Productions\u2019 Animal Instincts - 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