The Children‘s Media Conference: Recent Episodes
The Children‘s Media Conference
Session recordings from The Children‘s Media Conference.
For content from 2020 onwards, please go to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/c/TheChildren’sMediaConference
Cash-rich and data-savvy, Netflix, Amazon and YouTube Kids are eating traditional broadcasters’ lunch. Disney+ and AppleTV+ go live this autumn, and they’re hungry too. Warner and NBC have announced plans for their own SVoD services, and things are changing so fast that by the time you reach Sheffield, there may be more.
But while these big, powerful companies are re-shaping kids’ media, they are notoriously shy of public conversations. So we’ve assembled a crack team of independent thinkers and researchers to tell us what the SVoDs want, how they work, and how their business models inform their view of kids — and us.
So whether the SVoDs wow you or worry you, or if you just want to know how to get a piece of the action, this is the session for you.
Your opportunity to come and listen to the creative producers and visionaries behind the animation comeback phenomena of ‘The Clangers’ and ‘Paddington’. Find out what inspired them to return to these Children’s classics, how they set about refreshing and re-creating them, each series over forty years after their first appearance. An experience not to be missed. Please bring your own marmalade sandwiches, green soup and blue-string pudding…
Case studies in online extension for content creators and brands that are pan media which give an understanding of why and how a company expands its offering into online communities – what that brings in terms of fan engagement, new content potential and brand loyalty.
This panel asks what the place of local drama is in a world where the streaming giants are able to throw such huge resources at international stories? What is the value of local stories to audiences, what sorts of stories seem to punch through? What is the role of production value in that and how much does it need to cost? How does local production get funded in a time of SVoD disruption? What is the role of the new BFI Fund to ensure this content is produced? When would a local player see value in partnering with an SVoD? What are the pitfalls and opportunities in a partnership strategy? Is there an opportunity for very local stories to become international hits? Does platform innovation provide a way through?
Brexit, Ofcom regulation and the commercial PSBs, the new Young Audiences Content Fund, the safety of the internet, responsibilities for children’s mental health, the environment, inclusivity and activism, the future challenges for BBC kids and public service in a massively competitive marketplace…
Setting the agenda for the conference ahead, and using questions raised by CMC delegates, politicians, regulators, senior executives and policy makers will answer and discuss the things that matter.
Join us for this whistle-stop user’s guide to demystifying the Public Service Broadcasters commissioning process.
We’ll take you from the moment of initial contact with a PSB, through the pitching process and into the potential development and production of a TV show. Commissioners from Channel 4, CITV, Milkshake! and S4C will lift the bonnet on how they approach the process, telling us what type of content they are looking for in 2019/20, how they will work with the new Young Audiences Content Fund, and who the key people to speak to are.
Come along and find out what’s new from some of the world’s biggest commercial kids’ broadcasters. We’ll hear what’s been working for them, what they’re looking for and how best to approach them. Commissioners from these channels will be available after this session for one-to-one meetings at 2pm in the Workstation Mezzanine.
The world of VOD is changing fast, with established players continuing to grow in popularity while various giants of traditional kids’ TV prepare to launch direct-to-consumer streaming services of their own.
As traditional TV schedules fade into obscurity, we’ll look at how a variety of VoD services are capitalising on children’s changed viewing habits to provide them with programming where, when and however they want it.
This session will see VoD commissioners from the UK and beyond discuss their plans for 2020/21, what’s worked on their platforms in the past, what they’re looking for next, how they see their content evolving and how to get in touch to pitch your ideas.
Ruda is a 20-year-old Brazilian writer and director based in London. He is a BFI & NFTS Film Academy alumni. Ruda has made content for Nike, Channel 4, Adult Swim and Nowness. His narratives often centre around interrelated characters and youth culture. His visual style is characterised by distinctive, long, choreographed Steadicam shots with meticulous transitions and vivid colours. Ruda is represented by Francesca Devas at Independent Talent for Film & TV and Great Guns for commercials.
18 year-old Brandon Relph is one of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs and the world’s leading youth specialist, working with Fortune 100 companies and government bodies to expand their knowledge of Generation Z. He was formally the youngest CEO in the UK, for a year and a half. He is also the co-host of the popular podcast ’The Z-X Spectrum’ and executively produces content for ThinkNation. Described as “awesome” by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, he is one to watch!
Daniel is an eighteen-year-old activist from Manchester. In 2016 he founded the non-profit organisation YouthPolitics UK with aim of providing young people with the skills needed to enact positive social change and to engage them with the democratic process. Since its formation, YouthPolitics UK has expanded nation-wide, with branches in London and Edinburgh. The youth led organisation ensures that young peoples’ voices are heard in the current political climate by offering free training programmes and providing opportunities to discuss issues with high profile decision makers. Daniel is also an ambassador of HRH #iWill Campaign and has been awarded The Diana Award and a National Democracy Award from the UK Government for his work.
Alvin is the founder of TAG (The Advantage Group) and an IWILL ambassador. TAG is a social enterprise that aims to improve the employability and change the narrative of young people from underrepresented groups. Alvin has been able to impact over 600 students by delivering events and workshops in partnership with global companies such as Google and Facebook. Alvin was awarded a Point of Light from Theresa May for demonstrating remarkable commitment to improving career opportunities for young people.
This session aims to explore gambling and gaming cultures and behaviours among children and young people and examines some recent controversies about the increasing reach of gambling into the lives of children through inclusion of gambling mechanics within games (e.g. Loot Boxes). The panelists, who have a range of perspectives, will consider the extent to which gambling and gaming are connected, the impact of gambling on young people’s lives and question whether this is something to be concerned about or not.
Since winning ‘The Great British Bake Off’ in 2015, Nadiya Hussain has written and presented her way to national treasure status in record time. Her refusal to be pigeon-holed has been as striking as her willingness to speak out – including openly discussing her lifelong struggle with a panic disorder.
Ahead of the publication of her first children’s picture book, ‘My Monster and Me’, Nadiya will take to the stage to open the conference on Tuesday 2nd July, and face down the monsters that surround us all: mental health, intolerance, inequality… as she considers what we can all do to inspire young people to feel truly limitless.
Ahead of the cinema release of ‘Horrible Histories The Movie’, key creatives behind one of the most popular franchises in family entertainment take to the CMC stage on Wednesday 3rd July for this year’s Creative Keynote.
First ‘Horrible Histories’ conquered children’s books, with global sales topping 32 million. Then it revolutionised children’s TV comedy, with a multiple BAFTA, RTS, and British Comedy Award winning BBC series. This summer it storms the big screen in a major new family feature film, with a cast including newcomers Sebastian Croft and Emilia Jones, alongside Nick Frost, Kim Cattrall, Kate Nash, Sir Derek Jacobi and many more.
In a very special Creative Keynote, producer/writers Caroline Norris and Giles Pilbrow, director Dominic Brigstocke, and original series author Terry Deary will reveal the secrets to creating kids’ comedy that parents love, how they made learning such a laugh, and the challenges they faced taking the funniest franchise in history on its biggest outing to date.
Shedding light on the ways co-consumption of content really happens within families. With more content available than ever, and with families leading very busy lives (true for both parents and children!), brands and content owners feel the pressure to create shared experiences to facilitate family time together. They don’t have a lot of time, so they must want to do things together, right? Well… it’s not that simple. There is more to these experiences than meets the eye, and they might be moments of delight or, at times, just unrealistic desires of the industry. Kids Industries surveyed UK children and parents, observed their play and viewing experiences and will share – for the first time – new data around multigenerational content, toys and experiences. Presented by Josh Brocklehurst and Maurice Wheeler, Kids Industries
Children’s media use has recently been associated with a direct link to children’s mental health. Do the benefits of social media and gaming outweigh the negative? The children’s media landscape attracts many headlines and has recently been associated with direct causal links to children’s mental health and well-being. But are there benefits? And if so, do these outweigh the negative side of children using social media and gaming? What do children gain from using social networking and gaming sites? What are the effects on children’s mental health through their engagement with online media? For the last 6 months Family Kids & Youth (FK&Y) have carried out on-going peer-to-peer focus groups and friendships groups, and with partner Panelbase a survey with 1,000 young people aged 7-16. The findings challenge some of the scare-headlines, as the research explores how children and young people really use social media and games sites, the benefits, and the drawbacks, the risks they face online and how they manage these. Presented by Dr Barbie Clarke, Family Kids & Youth
16 year old Singer-songwriter, Sapphire, has caught the hearts of audiences all over the world with international fans in the USA, Germany, Poland, Indonesia, Russia, Australia and more, plus a large and rapidly growing following across the UK. Sapphire’s YouTube channel now counts in excess of 530K subscribers and over 120 Million video views, and is rising by the day. Having started on YouTube as a 7 year old, Sapphire has literally grown up in the social media industry and gives a unique perspective of this rapidly expanding world of opportunity.
Not one to limit her talents to the camera lens, Sapphire’s recent live performances have included; Berlin Arena, legendary New York club Bitter End, London’s Wembley Arena, London’s 02 Indigo, Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena and shows at Colognes 17,000 capacity Lanxess Arena.
Sapphire has recently completed a 6 month school performance tour seeing over 10,000 children across the UK to talk about Cyber-Bullying, Staying Safe Online and Mental Health. Sapphire has supported Bars and Melody on their UK & Ireland Academy tour and Union J on their 2018 headline shows. Sapphire is regularly commissioned by Dreamworks Animation, NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Studios, Warner Music, Sony Music, DKNY, LEGO, Shout magazine and has performed on BBC, CITV and ITV.
Examining the kids content strategies used by online video incumbents and encroaching tech-giants to claim a slice of the growing online video sector. Ampere Analysis present analysis of Video-on-Demand (VoD) platforms’ children’s TV show catalogues and announced up-coming titles. This research examines the children’s TV content available via Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google’s YouTube (the FAANG group). Ampere show how the importance and types of children’s content available from Netflix and Amazon has changed as subscriber acquisition strategies have evolved. They also explore the current children’s catalogues of the emergent VoD platforms Facebook, Apple, and Google. Ampere will provide data and analysis of the announced up-coming slate of TV titles from these operators, including children’s titles, to shed light on the type of shows that the FAANG group are interested in, and what opportunities may exist to work with these key players. Presented by Fred Black and Natasha Rugg, Ampere Analysis
Noga Levy-Rapoport, 17, is a youth climate activist who led the London climate strike march on 15 February 2019 and has since become heavily involved with the U.K. Student Climate Network. Her work primarily involves the Green New Deal campaign and school outreach, having travelled to Berlin as a national representative. Her work with the press includes the Guardian and BBC Radio 4. She confronted corporate leaders directly at International Petroleum Week in February, and has spoken at several rallies and events to demand urgent climate action. Noga is one of the founders of T.E.A., an amateur youth-led theatre group based in West London, dedicated to improving teenagers’ wellbeing through free performing arts training. Currently an A level student at Arts Educational School in Chiswick, Noga also trains as a classical singer.
11 year old Finlay has always had a love for the marine environment but especially sharks. Since the age of 10 he has campaigned relentlessly to raise awareness about sharks and why they need to be protected not feared. He has campaigned to stop restaurants serving shark fin soup and even took on Bear Grylls over his shark dive experience at his new adventure park in Birmingham.
In December 2018 he was the first school child in Scotland and possibly the UK to start climate striking, joining the Fridays For Future movement started by Greta Thunberg, as he saw the impact that climate change was having on the marine environment. In the last six months he has travelled to the Scottish and European Parliaments to speak directly with politicians and given numerous television and radio interviews about this issue.
BBC Children’s and BBC Education discuss their commissioning and development process, and reveal new ways of working to maximise public service brands.
An insight into the brand new Young Audiences Content Fund pilot (which is supported by the UK Government and administered by the BFI). The Fund is dedicated to supporting the development and production of public-service programming of all genres and techniques for children and teens up to the age of 18. In this invaluable and unmissable session, Fund Execs Harriet Williams and John Knowles and Head of Fund, Jackie Edwards will lay out the intentions and importance of the Fund, discuss the story so far and offer advice that may be of practical assistance with applications.
Following the session, the YACF team will also host a surgery as part of the CMC speed meetings programme, accompanied by Andy Wright and Christopher Halliday from the Certification Unit at the BFI. The team will offer advice and guidance on applications and criteria for the Fund, and for the tax reliefs, for Children’s Television and Animation.
Bringing the UK classroom to the world – internationalising children’s learning content. Who is making an impact internationally and how does that work with conflicting curricula needs?
Five prospective producers enter the den to pitch their ideas to the dragons. But who will walk away with investment?
Connecting grandparents and grandchildren through digital games. This session will explore what is required to make a digital game appealing and accessible for grandparents and grandchildren, combining previous research with new evidence focusing on smart toys. Presented by Amanda Gummer and Anna Taylor, Fundamentally Children
Investigating kids’ choices in screen entertainment – and what they mean for providers. Understanding what drives children’s choices of screen entertainment is essential for predicting how media habits will change in the future. Using interview data, Ofcom findings and insight from major content providers, d.fferentology examine the viewing habits of 5–15 years old across the UK and the implications of what, where and how they are accessing content for commercial and academic organisations. Presented by Paul Marshall, d.fferentology
With contestable funding and a free kids’ streaming service, this session discusses how New Zealand has introduced innovative ways of supporting local kids’ content. The focus of this research presentation is New Zealand on Air’s system of contestable funding and HEIHEI, the country’s new ad-free streaming service for kids content. Launched in 2018, HEIHEI offers New Zealand children local media content on demand including games. HEIHEI’s local focus provides a welcome disruption to existing children’s media offerings, including those from US-based streaming services like Netflix and YouTube. HEIHEI also eliminates linear broadcasters from the commissioning of local children’s content for the first time, removing previous limits on the distribution of domestically produced children’s content in New Zealand. Working in a small country of only 5 million people, with no dedicated public service media, New Zealand producers of children’s media content are accustomed to having to compete for limited funding, and limited platforms for their children’s content. The analytical research presented here (co-authored by New Zealand on Air Head of Funding) reveals how HEIHEI’s offerings have resonated with New Zealand children and their parents, and what the innovative streaming service has meant for the children’s independent production sector in New Zealand. Presented by Anna Potter, School of Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast
The UK component of a worldwide research project into gender and diversity in children’s television. How does UK fiction content fare? IZI (International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television) recently published research into gender and diversity representation in children’s TV worldwide – 10 years on from their original study and now also incorporating statistics as to gender make-up of production teams. Dr Lynn Whitaker carried out the UK leg of the 2018 research, analysing a 300-hour sample of UK free-to–air children’s TV including CBeebies, CBBC, CiTV and Milkshake. As well as considering both on-screen and off-screen gender representation in both fiction and non-fiction programmes, the fiction programmes were analysed for diversity aspects through nuanced genre-, narrative- and character-focused analysis. For example, questions such as, ‘What skills or resources are used to solve problems?’ and, ‘What groups or settings do main characters operate in?’ were asked, in combination with more representational aspects of characters’ appearance (age, race, ethnicity, body type, hair colour etc.). Lynn will discuss the findings from the UK sample, contextualising them within the bigger international picture and in comparison to the 2008 study, using examples of specific fiction programmes to illustrate the main trends and to reflect on what we are doing well and what we might do better. Presented by Dr Lynn Whitaker, University of Glasgow
Harrison is 13 years old and lives in Bedfordshire with his mum and younger brother, Ollie. Harrison is a BAFTA Kids Young Presenter and has recently launched his own podcast, ‘Harrison Gunn Talks’. This was inspired by his enthusiasm to discuss issues that affect young people. Harrison has a diagnosis of Asperger’s and ADHD and is passionate about breaking down barriers to enable other young people like himself, to dream big and achieve their goals.
Euella is a young presenter and creative producer, working in Bristol. 2017 alumni of Rife Magazine, an online magazine and talent development programme for young content creators, Euella currently works with Rising Arts Agency to help underrepresented young creatives take up space, leadership and strategic decision-making positions in the sector. She is on the board of Encounters Short Film Festival and in 2018, worked alongside Mayor, Marvin Rees, on Bristol’s successful bid for the Channel 4 Creative Hub relocation.
A panel of CMC Changemakers discussed the conference, the wider industry and commitments to diversity.
As school strikes spread, environmental, economic and social futures look increasingly bleak, how are kids’ and youth media responding to a new sense of purpose and action amongst the young? In this first for CMC, hosts Lizzie Hodgson and Brandon Relph quiz CMC Changemakers in a session that will change your outlook of young people today. As they spark change in society – how can you build activism into the content you are creating for the rapidly changing media landscape they inhabit? This session is not to be missed.
In 2017, the children’s book market was worth £46.8 million.
Are you a producer or IP developer/owner? Do you have a brand or licence that you believe is perfect for a children’s book? This creative-focused session talks to publishers, licence owners and consultants about how to generate a publisher-facing concept, what publishers are looking for, how to ‘talk publisher’ and who can help.
The aim is to offer a practical guide to pitching, the tools a licence owner needs, the ‘dos and don’ts’ of project development, how to be on the same page with publishing professionals, and a run down of a publisher’s decision-making process.
The focus of this session is on the creative and strategic process of pitching, not contractual negotiations in detail.
What’s the size of the audience on YouTube Kids? How do you get your brand noticed on the app? This interactive session provides direct insight on what kids watch, what rises to the top and why.
Do children and young people still trust news sources? This research breaks down how trust features in the relationship that British young people aged 9-13 establish with news sources, and explores their awareness of the fake news phenomenon.
Presented by Florencia Donagaray, University of Salford
Exploring the fragmentation of the video games industry and its impact on young consumers and their families. The video game market is undergoing a period of renewal and reinvention driven by increasing fragmentation of hardware platforms and a proliferation of services and payment models targeted at youth families and audiences. In addition what it means ‘to game’ has become increasingly nebulous. Added to this milieu is the increased sophistication of young gamers and their expectations which have more than kept pace with the wide range of video game content available on offer. This session explores how content providers can best address young gamers and their families – catering for the former whilst assuaging the latter. Presented by Daniel Eddy and Sunam Ikhlaq, Trinity McQueen
Providing the complete picture of video consumption for kids aged 2-9 years. Kids have more choice than ever in how and what they watch, with more devices and platforms competing for their attention and technological advances providing new ways to consume TV and online video content. Currently, brands are working across a range of data points and individual measurement systems to be able to understand their audience and most effectively reach and engage with them. ‘Kids & the screen: Changing the channel’ seeks to provide the complete picture of linear and online video consumption for kids aged 2-9 years. Whether it be a 20 minute TV show they watch on live TV, a 2 minute clip on YouTube or a 2 hour film on Netflix, it is captured within this research. Presented by Sadie Buckingham, Giraffe Insights and Stephen Murfet, Sky
Acclaimed children’s novelist, poet, broadcaster, columnist and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen delivered the opening keynote at this year’s CMC, championing creativity and imagination in the face of what he calls “data-driven education”.
After decades working in the world of public service broadcasting, children’s theatre and educational publishing, Michael Rosen has become a YouTube phenomenon, with over 240,000 subscribers and 50 million-plus views of his content. The internet has given him access to an audience he could never have imagined as a young BBC trainee working on ‘Play School’ in the 1970s.
Spending so much time working with children – and as a parent – Michael’s is acutely aware that the relationship with social media has its downside too.
Rosen says: “I’m riding the crest of the digital wave, I thought. Only to discover that what I was riding was a tiger: a tiger with an insatiable appetite and an audience only too eager to be eaten. We want tigers to roam free. Of course we do. But that doesn’t mean we’d give our children to one. So what do we do?
The Opening Keynote begins with a performance by Rio-Leanna and Sam Castle
Ben Towers is one of ‘the most influential entrepreneurs on the planet’ whilst still only being 19 years old. Ben started in business aged 11 and has since carried out a multi-million-pound merger, keynoted at conferences all across the world, invested in a variety of companies, inspired millions and worked with some exciting brands.
From JK Rowling to Facebook, the most phenomenal success stories of our time embrace failure as an essential component to their achievements. For those who can move beyond enduring failure to harnessing it, success will come faster, achievements will be larger and creative output will be greater. This panel of industry leaders and trailblazers will share how to shake off the stigma of failure, welcome risk, adapt and find amazing opportunities when it all goes wrong. Learn to fail the right way whether producing creative products, chasing commercial success or searching for personal growth.
Social platforms in the 21st Century have enabled children to communicate with a much broader and diverse range of people, whilst enabling them to broadcast their own stories, views and ways of living.
This panel will explore the extent to which broadcasters represent LGBT role models, how other organisations tackle the subject and how social platforms enable freedom of self-identification.
This is an opportunity to hear first-hand what the commissioner’s planned hours look like for 2019/2020, what’s worked for them in the past, what are they looking for next and, ultimately, how they see their content evolving. We will also investigate the best ways to get in touch with the commissioners and how to go about pitching your own ideas.
This session begins with a presentation by Changemaker Ben Towers
Zoë is a 19-year-old student and journalist with bylines in The Guardian and Reuters. She is also a filmmaker, broadcaster and ambassador for Girlgaze, a multi-media project which aims to generate visibility and support for the next wave of female creatives. She runs the blog and online website www.zoezine.com which in the future she hopes to use as a tool to amplify the voices of creatives from marginalised backgrounds.
In her 35 years as a screen director, Beeban Kidron has successfully navigated between pop culture hits like ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’, piercing documentaries like ‘InRealLife’, and taboo-breaking stories, such as BAFTA-winning TV drama ‘Oranges are Not the Only Fruit’. She is passionate about the role stories can play in the development of young people’s identities and their sense of what it is to be human.
In her own words, Beeban says: ‘I left school when I was 16. I did not understand school and it did not understand me. But I did grow up in a world of books and a world of stories…’ Starting out as a photographer, including two years working for Eve Arnold, she trained at the National Film School – first to be a camera woman, then switching to directing. At a time when male-dominance across the industry went largely unchallenged, she carved out a career heading up major projects in TV and film, working in the UK and Hollywood. She admits: ‘For the first ten years of my professional life, in a crew of more than one hundred, you could count the number of women on one hand – and that included me’.
Alongside building a body of creative work of dizzying breadth, Beeban has also played a major role in helping to enrich the cultural experiences of children across the UK and ensure their safety in the digital world. She is the co-founder of educational charity IntoFilm, enabling schools nationwide to run curated film clubs for 5-18 year-olds, and encouraging post-movie discussions – Into Film now has more than 10,000 clubs in UK schools. Beeban also founded 5Rights, a campaign to deliver the established rights of children in all interactions with the digital world. In 2012 she was appointed to the House of Lords, where she sits as a Crossbench Peer, and is a member of the House of Lords Communications Committee.
Baroness Kidron is a Commissioner on the UN Broadband Committee for Sustainable Development where she Chair’s a program for global digital literacy, and she is a fierce campaigner for children’s rights in the digital environment.
In her compelling TED Talk ‘The Shared Wonder of Film’, Beeban spoke of the power of movies where story, not sensation, is king; how when children are given films with stories that inspire and challenge them, rather than seeing the films as artefacts, they begin to see themselves. This is sure to be an inspirational and memorable CMC keynote.
A lot has been happening to the BBC over this past year. This session invites key speakers from the public broadcaster to reveal their agenda for the future and how the CMC audience can engage with them through pitching, development and production of TV and digital properties.
With the consolidation of all children’s commissioning under the single umbrella of BBC Children’s, is there a new pitching process? Are projects still distinguished by age-range? What does the future look like for online and digital content for children through the BBC’s platforms? And what’s going on with YouTube?
This session will share insights from in-depth research exploring what kids in the UK want from content and the content brands that they think deliver it. Presented by Emily Keaney, Ofcom
Join us for this whistle-stop users guide to the Public Service Broadcasters commissioning process from the moment of initial contact with a PSB through the pitching process and into potential development and production of a TV show.
Commissioners from Channel 4, CITV and Milkshake will demystify the process, answering questions that include: How do I make an initial approach? Who do I speak to? What do you want to see? What is your commitment to local commissioning? What type of show are you looking for? What happens to my IP rights during the process?
Plus we’ll see if they can shed some light on the UK Government’s £60 million contestable fund due to be up and running in 2019.
Hulme is a transgender award winning performance poet. Aside from his writing and performance work he works with Inclusive Minds to encourage accurate diversity in literature for children and young adults, and teaches poetry across the country.His work for both children and adults has been featured in multiple books and his first foray into children’s poetry was as part of the CLiPPA 2018 nominated Rising Stars poetry anthology, featuring five LGBT+ or BaME poets. In 2015 he won SLAMbassadors, the UK’s biggest youth poetry slam, and in 2016 he was a finalist in the Roundhouse Poetry Slam. In 2017 he was featured in the Nationwide Building Society “voices” advertising campaign.
Holly Churches is a freelance Post Production Co-ordinator currently working on ‘Thomas & Friends’ for Mattel Creations. Holly graduated from Bournemouth University in 2013 with a degree in Television Production, specialising in Production Management. After leaving university, she worked in Bristol for Happy Hour Productions on commercials and corporate videos, before moving to London to work in Preschool Content Development at Mattel, where she coordinated the development of WellieWishers from American Girl. In her years working in children’s entertainment, Holly has become involved in raising money for children’s charities, and this year is working with KEPYR (Kids Entertainment Professionals for Young Refugees), on their Kindred Spirits fundraising campaign for UNICEF.
The Digital Economy Act 2017… the DCMS’ Contestable Fund… Brexit… new online safety and privacy laws… the Dept of Health’s concerns about children’s mental health… Danger Mouse’s youthful good looks… Using questions raised by CMC delegates, politicians and policy makers will answer and discuss the things that matter.
Five prospective producers enter the den to pitch their ideas to the dragons. But who will walk away with investment?
What does it take to become a brand that runs and runs…? We talk to iconic and best loved brands, all hitting big birthdays this year, to find out just how they’ve kept up with and adapted for the ever changing audience. What’s next in their plan to grow even older? Is there a secret formula or is it a mixture of luck and judgement? Producers of the UK’s longest running Children’s TV shows will share experience, advice and the key to their success in broadcasting longevity.
This panel of children’s media financing experts will discuss the variety of ways you can raise or source money for your project. We will cover third-party sources for funding television and film, and address the funding needs of publishing and the non-profit performance sectors.
Brands want fans, but few look at why they have fans and where the value lies. We explore what child fans bring to brands and how to nurture them?
Presented by Maurice Wheeler, Kids Industries
Ask the people around you what they want to achieve for their brand, IP or idea, and the likelihood is they’ll say they want to gain more fans. There seems to exist an underlying perception that ‘fans’ are more commercially valuable than just viewers, readers, players or even buyers, but no real understanding of what a fan really is, how a fan is made and what is the value of having more fans. To help answer these questions, this session explores fandom within the world of children.
Based on insights from 30 families with children aged 5–11, we identified the key features of brands that inspire fandom, as well as some of the surrounding mechanics: how do children choose what to ‘fan’ and what kind of brands inspire this? Can fandom be lasting or do children tend to be fickle? Given children don’t control money in the way adults do, what is the value of their fandom? And finally – can fandom be created, built from the ground up, and how?
Can we replace limitation, lack of expectation and frustration with inspiration, aspiration and personal satisfaction? Are we open to the challenge?
As Lemn Sissay and George the Poet so graphically revealed at last year's CMC, the life of children and young people in the care system, and other marginalised groups, is bounded by prejudice, pessimism and reduced opportunities. And it’s not getting better, as the world closes its eyes to the marginalised.
Some people are working to make a difference. Inspired Youth is a multi award-winning social enterprise embracing the creativity and vibrancy of arts, media and high quality video production to inspire, educate, challenge and inform. They specialise in putting real people at the heart of a creative process to create powerful campaigns around social issues - from the perspective of those who know. Show Me That I Matter is York’s children in care Council. It was founded to stress the importance of listening to young people’s voices and providing a platform for them to be heard on the issues that most affect them.
They’ll show the work of young people challenged to express themselves and empowered to open up their world to others.
And they’ll ask – are we really listening? What should we do, as an industry, and as individuals who communicate with kids, to open our doors to difference and open the eyes of the young audience to the authentic issues in the world around them?
In this Masterclass Terry Kalagian, VP, Creative for Animation at Gaumont, shares her 20 years of experience across the entertainment industry, looking closely at the realities of the commercial world and what it actually takes to sell a show. She considers the choices we, as creatives, need to make for our IP and how much we should compromise to create a success.
This session aims to demystify the Public Service Broadcaster commissioning process, from the moment of initial engagement with a PSB through the pitching process and into potential development and production of a TV show.
The panel of experienced commissioners will tackle the oft-asked questions, such as: How do I make an initial approach? What do you want to see? What type of show are you looking for? What does a potential development deal look like? What happens to my IP rights during the process?
Each organistaion will also have a platform to explain its needs and processes, and impart their stories of best practice and what makes them proud for their output.
With the predicted tipping of the scales in favour of VOD we explore the appetite for long- and short-form content, what the commissioners’ budgets look like, and what they believe will happen to the overall format of one-off and episodic content.
This will be an opportunity for the commissioners to tell our audience what’s hot at the moment and how they see their content demands evolving. In turn it will provide the creatives with a clearer focus in the development process of their content and to what budget levels they can expect to work.
Social-curriculum producers have long sought to imbue their content with messages that teach empathy, resilience and respect for others, but the timing has never felt more apt for activism. In a post- truth world, we need more than ever to raise the banner for tolerance, diversity, inclusiveness and de-stigmatisation of all things ‘different’. This broad discussion panel assembles professionals from the television, gaming, advocacy, education and broadcast sectors with a vision to make the kids’ content landscape a kinder, more empathetic place, where lazy character stereotyping is a thing of the past.
The object of this session is to demystify the BBC commissioning process, from the moment of initial engagement with them through the pitching process and into potential development and production of a TV show.
The panel aims to answer oft-asked questions, such as: How do I make an initial approach? What do you want to see? What type of show are you looking for? What does a potential development deal look like? What happens to my IP rights during the process?
Each department will be given its own time to explain its needs and processes, and along the way we’ll hear their stories of best practice and what for their output makes them proud.
BookTrust commissioned Discovery to explore kids’ attitudes to and behaviours in reading in the new digital world.
Presented by Kelly Walsh, BookTrust and Renuka Gupta, Discovery Research
Reading has the power to transform lives and open up the world of possibilities for kids of all ages. But in the chaos of the new connected world, where so many things are vying for kids’ attention, how does reading for pleasure fit in? To answer this BIG question, Discovery and BookTrust want to take delegates on a tour of what we found when we opened up what the reading world of 0–16 year olds, and what BookTrust is doing to ensure the love of reading continues with the next generation.
Hailing from the Midlands Yasmin graduated from the University of Aberystwyth with a degree in English Literature. Her passions lie in storytelling and community building through up-skilling the young leaders of tomorrow. She is a Senior Manager and all-round ideation light-bulb at Stemettes – an award-winning social enterprise inspiring the next generation of females into science, technology, engineering and mathematics roles via a series of events and opportunities.
Steven Kavuma is a playwright, director, student at RCSSD and activist achieving greater social diversity within theatre. He recently founded the Diversity School Initiative. He’s also Co-founder and Co- Executive director of The S&K Project.
The Opening Keynote is the agenda-setting event of CMC 2017 - a strategic review of the changing face of content creation and distribution for the children's audience
As the dominant commissioning body in the UK, the BBC's recent announcement of increased budgets for children's content and its commitment to digital has huge implications for the kids' media industry in the UK - and beyond.
Alice Webb, Director BBC Children's & BBC North, and James Purnell, former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and now Director BBC Radio & Education (speaking for the first time at CMC) will talk about the latest developments in BBC's kids' strategy and their perspective on what the future holds for the audience and content makers in general,
Each broadcaster will discuss past success stories, exciting new developments, what they’re looking out for in the future and how you can get involved.
Each broadcaster will discuss past success stories, exciting new developments, what they’re looking out for in the future and how you can get involved.
Each broadcaster will discuss past success stories, exciting new developments, what they’re looking out for in the future and how you can get involved.
This session will provide rich new insight into the evolving nature of children’s television viewing. We will explore the openness of their definition of ‘TV’, illustrating the findings with compelling video footage. We will look at what TV means to children today – how open are they to new types and sources of content? How open is their definition of what constitutes TV and how is this openness reflected in their behaviour? We will examine data on:
- Time spent watching – what do we know about the amount of time children are spending watching TV and how this compares to time spent online?
- The role of devices – how open are children to consuming content on other devices?
- What are children watching – commercial or PSB? Children’s airtime or general airtime?
- Catch-up, on-demand and YouTube – how does linear, broadcast TV stack up against the desire to watch what you want when you want it? Is YouTube really becoming the go-to place for all children’s content desires?
- Who children are watching with – how much of children’s viewing is accompanied by adults and how much are they watching by themselves? Is family viewing still an important part of family life?
From selfie filters to live-streaming, this session will present the latest digital trends in image and video sharing among UK youth aged 8–17 years, from a Childnet report published this year.
Presented by Hannah Broadbent, Childnet International
From selfie filters to livestreaming, this session will share the latest digital trends in image and video sharing among UK youth aged 8–17 years, providing important insights for content producers looking to engage this image-focused digital generation.
The Power of Image report published in February 2017 explored the role of images and videos in young people’s digital lives, and the influence this can have on their self-esteem, behaviour and emotions.
This talk will reveal a range of interesting insights, including:
- how many selfies young people take before posting one online
- how many young people edit their images before posting them online
- social media and instant messaging sites used by young people.
The report launched for Safer Internet Day 2017 presents the findings of an online survey of 1,500 young people aged 8–17 years conducted by ResearchBods and commissioned by the UK Safer Internet Centre.
The findings reveal how important images and videos are in young people’s digital lives, demonstrating the positive role this plays as well as the risks and pressures they may face as a result.
The report underlines the importance of ensuring that all children have the skills, knowledge, confidence and resilience to communicate using images and videos safely, responsibly and creatively.
Exploring the impact of how kids respond to fake news, supported with findings from research conducted for ‘The Week Junior’.
Presented by Jo Cliff, Platypus Research and Seema Hope, Dennis Publishing
Researchers FK&Y and publisher Egmont discover that an intervention to encourage children to read with their parents not only prompts a love of reading but also has a marked effect on children’s self-esteem.
Presented by Barbie Clarke, Family Kids & Youth and Alison David, Egmont
There is frequently voiced concern that children’s ability to read is declining as their use of tablets and other digital devices increases. Latest research from Neilson shows that while the children’s book market in 2016 was up again year-on-year (+2%), the downward trend of parents reading to their children less continues. In 2016 there was a noticeable drop year-on-year in parents reading to pre-schoolers, and a drop in children from age 5 reading to themselves.
Over 12 months a challenge has been given to 15 diverse families, who would not normally read together, to find out whether they would be ‘open’ to this, and what effect this had on children. Following last year’s ‘Don’t Children Read Anymore? Digital vs Print Research’, Family Kids & Youth and Egmont Publishing teamed up once again, this time to find out whether an intervention, designed to encourage children to read with their parents, would result in a greater love of reading.
We found an increased level of confidence and sense of autonomy on the part of the children who took part. This was reflected in feedback from schools, which, importantly, had a big impact on the children’s self-esteem.
With the rapid rise of fake news, politicians making up their CVs and an American president who says traditional media can’t be trusted, the broadcast and online world can be pretty confusing. Add to that the pressure from the airbrushed lives shown on social media, and that now anyone can claim to be an ‘expert’ and give advice to children.
What can children’s media do to help kids keep their minds open while navigating their way through an ever more complex media world? Should ‘trusted’ providers even be bothering with so many media choices offering facts and opinions? Surely children can make up their own minds…?
The CMC's opening 'Question Time' panel on the current and future issues facing children's media. Are we open for business, open to ideas, open to each other and how are we serving the audience in difficult times? Delegate questions answered… openly.
In the world of digital, trends happen quickly and can take over immediately. From brands to videos and even platforms themselves, it’s near impossible to predict what will be trending next… or is it? Join our panel of experts as we look at past trends and predict what is next for the world of children’s digital. Who knows? Maybe we’ll discover the next unboxing craze right here at CMC!
This session aims to demystify the Public Service Broadcaster commissioning process, from the moment of initial engagement with a PSB through the pitching process and into potential development and production of a TV show.
The panel of experienced commissioners will tackle the oft-asked questions, such as: How do I make an initial approach? What do you want to see? What type of show are you looking for? What does a potential development deal look like? What happens to my IP rights during the process?
Each organistaion will also have a platform to explain its needs and processes, and impart their stories of best practice and what makes them proud for their output.
Come and join us as commissioners from Mattel, Hasbro and Beano delve into what they're looking for from creators and producers, and their commissioning processes, when it comes to the ever-changing world of branded entertainment content.
Branded entertainment has become a cornerstone of the go-to-market strategy of most toy companies and publishers today. But how does it all work together? What comes first in the launch of a 360-degree brand — the must-have toy, the groundbreaking show, the bestselling book or the carefully seeded viral influencer campaign? Where do content creators and producers fit into this ecosystem and what happens once they're given a greenlight in this space? Our panel, through relating case studies and their personal experiences, will construct a clear picture for attendees.
Our panel, comprised of branded content experts Finn Arnesen (Hasbro Studios), Christopher Keenan (Mattel Creations) and Chris Rose (Beano Studios) and moderated by Lana Castleman (Kidscreen), will be full of real insight and actionable takeaways on how to open up this seemingly elusive world of content creation.
Nikki Lilly, YouTube sensation, 2016 Junior Bake Off winner and recently Emmy award winner for her series ‘My Life’ series on CBBC is an inspiration to all of us. She has a rare medical condition arteriovenous malformation (AVM) and has had 70 operations to date. When Nikki was 10 she decided to start her YouTube channel to show people what her life is like and now has over 821,000 subscribers. She is a self-taught influencer and creates all her content to upload onto all her social channels.
She is admired throughout the world and in demand to share her life’s experiences which includes interviewing dignitaries from around the world including the likes of Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Jamie Oliver, Raheem Sterling, Andy Murray, Claudia Winkleman, Nicole Scherzinger, David Walliams, Gary Linekar, Dani Dyer, Jacquline Wilson, Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield.
In a world where digital dominates but kids have an ever-expanding app store of choice, come and hear principles for successfully designing a digital product for kids.
Presented by Pete Maginn, The Pineapple Lounge and Lloyd Mason, Sky
Sky has always been at the forefront of innovative broadcasting, and the Sky Kids app is no exception. Offering high-quality, popular and age-appropriate programming was key, but the challenge was ensuring the platform was interactive, fun and easy to use while providing parents with peace of mind. The Pineapple Lounge got on board ahead of launch and embarked on a unique research process with a philosophy that a constant, rotational dialogue with the target audience – 3–9 year olds – was central to the app’s success.
The research has generated two strands of insight, both of which have been instrumental in the app’s development:
- Tactical, granular level of detail on kids’ navigation and user experience based on age and developmental stage, their ability to read and follow instructions to swipe and explore content.
- More general, behavioural and observational insights that have been accumulated along the way and helped to inform further ideas and designs – all the time grounded in child-centric insight. For example, their desire for and expectation of personalisation – including their own name on their home screen and personalisation of the Sky Buddy avatar within the app.
The research reveals some integral principles for successfully designing a digital product for kids.
Prospective producers enter the den to pitch their ides to the dragons – and, this year, the audience too. But who will walk away with investment?
This session aims to demystify the Public Service Broadcaster commissioning process, from the moment of initial engagement with a PSB through the pitching process and into potential development and production of a TV show.
The panel of experienced commissioners will tackle the oft-asked questions, such as: How do I make an initial approach? What do you want to see? What type of show are you looking for? What does a potential development deal look like? What happens to my IP rights during the process?
Each organistaion will also have a platform to explain its needs and processes, and impart their stories of best practice and what makes them proud for their output.
With the predicted tipping of the scales in favour of VOD we explore the appetite for long- and short-form content, what the commissioners’ budgets look like, and what they believe will happen to the overall format of one-off and episodic content.
This will be an opportunity for the commissioners to tell our audience what’s hot at the moment and how they see their content demands evolving. In turn it will provide the creatives with a clearer focus in the development process of their content and to what budget levels they can expect to work.
With the predicted tipping of the scales in favour of VOD we explore the appetite for long- and short-form content, what the commissioners’ budgets look like, and what they believe will happen to the overall format of one-off and episodic content.
This will be an opportunity for the commissioners to tell our audience what’s hot at the moment and how they see their content demands evolving. In turn it will provide the creatives with a clearer focus in the development process of their content and to what budget levels they can expect to work.
This session aims to demystify the Public Service Broadcaster commissioning process, from the moment of initial engagement with a PSB through the pitching process and into potential development and production of a TV show.
The panel of experienced commissioners will tackle the oft-asked questions, such as: How do I make an initial approach? What do you want to see? What type of show are you looking for? What does a potential development deal look like? What happens to my IP rights during the process?
Each organistaion will also have a platform to explain its needs and processes, and impart their stories of best practice and what makes them proud for their output.
With the predicted tipping of the scales in favour of VOD we explore the appetite for long- and short-form content, what the commissioners’ budgets look like, and what they believe will happen to the overall format of one-off and episodic content.
This will be an opportunity for the commissioners to tell our audience what’s hot at the moment and how they see their content demands evolving. In turn it will provide the creatives with a clearer focus in the development process of their content and to what budget levels they can expect to work.
Digital learning games promised a bright future for education and engagement of young people. But what difference have they really made in the last 10 years? What does the future hold for game-based learning and can it really compete with game-based fun?
With the predicted tipping of the scales in favour of VOD we explore the appetite for long- and short-form content, what the commissioners’ budgets look like, and what they believe will happen to the overall format of one-off and episodic content.
This will be an opportunity for the commissioners to tell our audience what’s hot at the moment and how they see their content demands evolving. In turn it will provide the creatives with a clearer focus in the development process of their content and to what budget levels they can expect to work.
Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood – presenters, actors, general all-round comedy fools – are celebrating 21 years on TV. Now they’ve come of age, Dick and Dom will bring their unique brand of anarchic wit and general banter to a keynote which promises a glimpse inside their heads to see what on earth is going on in there. What we know for sure is that children’s TV runs through their veins, having being passionate about kids’ content since they themselves were children. They tell us they have more to say than just Bogies!
Young people now have media literally in the palms of their hands. What does this mean? And what we can do to encourage healthy media use in an age of selfies, Netflix, and Facebook?
Presented by Dr. Jessica Taylor Piotrowski, University of Amsterdam
Now, more than ever before, young people are surrounded by media – thanks to the sophistication and portability of the technology that puts it literally in the palm of their hand. Drawing on work that crosses many fields and continents, in this presentation, Dr. Piotrowski will present findings from her new co-authored book (together with Professor Patti Valkenburg, published by Yale University Press) on the role of media in the lives of children from birth through adolescence. During her talk, she will address and highlight the complex relationship between media and young people and reflect on what we all can do to encourage healthy, enjoyable, and responsible media use in an age of selfies, Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
When reporting ‘bad news’ to children under 12, what’s the best way to approach it? Following the Paris attacks in November 2015, mainstream media was full of articles giving advice on how to talk to children about the atrocities. Journalists from the BBC, P'tit Libe in France, the Guardian and ITN discuss the question many people are asking: how to break difficult news to children.
Using discussion, ethnography & galvanic skin response to understand differences in parents & children’s response to reading in print and on a screen.
Digital entertainment dominates children’s leisure time. Over half (53%) of 3-4s use a tablet, with 15% owning one. Over two-thirds (69%) of 5-7s use a tablet with 29% having their own tablet computer (Ofcom, 2015). eReaders and eBooks were widely expected to overtake children’s print book sales but are currently just 11 % of the market, and continue to decline. Despite children’s attachment to digital entertainment, 72% prefer to read (for pleasure) in print… even teenagers.
Egmont Publishing and Family Kids & Youth have explored the way in which parents and children respond to reading in print and on digital devices. Through focus groups and ethnography carried out in homes we have identified the emotional drivers for parents and children when reading and how these differ between print and digital. This research examines what occurs when children are read to, and the effect on their wellbeing.
Cancel the Search Party. George the Poet is here, with some final thoughts on making kids’ media matter and CMC16. George has been watching and listening throughout the conference and has some poetic reflections on childhood, kids’ media and how we serve the audience.
Leo is a transgender boy. He was born female but knew from a very young age that his body didn’t fit his gender identity. At age 11, his name was changed by deed poll and he started seeing a gender specialist to help with his transition, at 12 he began taking hormone blockers to halt the puberty which had begun to distress him. He is now 15 and preparing to start taking testosterone to continue his puberty as a male.
Lemn Sissay will open the Making it Happen agenda at CMC in his inimitable style. The title of his talk is ‘Superman was a Foundling’ – in a wide sweep exploring childhood, and the outsider at the heart of popular culture, Lemn will reveal much about the role of divergence and difference in our lives.
Keynote Producer Angela Ferreira on Lemn:
For those who have never seen Lemn live, this is an unmissable opportunity to hear one of the leading poets of our generation speak with passion and clarity about some of the issues facing children today and what we can do to further nurture, protect and guide them. Lemn has seen more life than many of us will ever experience and his candid message, delivered with fun and playfulness, will leave you with that lightbulb moment – wondering ‘why, I never thought of that’…
Always challenging stereotypes and the status quo, Lemn is the perfect opening keynote for our conference theme this year.
A chance to hear from the content teams of Disney, Turner and Viacom. Find out what’s successful, what they’re looking for, and how best to approach them.
This ninety-minute session will allow audience members to hear from international children's commissioners from around the world about how they make it happen in their home country and on their home network. Hear diverse opinions starting from your own backyard in Wales and Ireland and expanding outwards to representatives from Europe, North America and South America. Each individual will be asked to examine global trends in the children's media industry and offer insights as to how each network, media landscape, and respective country views them.
From iPlayer to YouTube to Netflix, and many more in between: the growth of VOD and OTT services in the past few years has been rapid, and shows no signs of stopping. Increasingly children and young people are turning to on-demand services for their entertainment – whether it’s a dedicated app or a streaming video website. This creates a wealth of opportunities for producers and IP holders, as well as the service providers themselves; but it also creates new challenges to ensure safety and quality, and to take advantage of the opportunities a bespoke digital service offers. Join commissioners from a variety of websites, broadcasters, and children’s apps, who’ll discuss what new content they’re looking for, what the benefits and pitfalls are of this growing market, and how you can be a part of its future.
A chance to hear from the content teams of Disney, Turner and Viacom. Find out what’s successful, what they’re looking for, and how best to approach them.
Children are no longer just using a pen and paper to be creative. Are the digital tools now at their disposal making them more creative, or less so?
The generation of children raised on VOD is here. We go beyond the statistics to reveal what the new ways of viewing mean – and why they matter.
Rethinking class and its effects on what preschool children and their families do and say in relation to TV and related media at home.
Budding Producers bring their dreams to fruition in CMC's popular Dragons’ Den. This year we want to know what YOU, the audience, think of what’s being pitched. With Dragon budgets increased and host Tony Collingwood there to seek out audience input. You don't want to miss this new interactive format that promises to be informative and entertaining!
Rich has spent over 20 years working in the media as a reporter, editor and publisher, going from newspapers to magazines to websites to digital video. He is now the Chief Revenue Officer of YouTube phenomenon the Yogscast – a family of YouTube, Twitch and social channels focussed on video games that have been watched more than 6bn times and have over 20m subscribers on YouTube alone. Bristol-based Yogscast were dubbed the ‘UK’s kings of YouTube’ by the BBC.
Kate Wilson is the Managing Director of Nosy Crow, a five year-old, independent, multi-award-winning publisher of children’s books, ebooks and highly-interactive apps. In 2016, Nosy Crow won the Independent Publishers Guild’s Children’s Publisher of the Year Award for the third time, and the overall Publisher of the Year Award. Before founding Nosy Crow, Kate Wilson ran Scholastic UK Ltd and, before that, Macmillan Children’s Books, and so published ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Horrible Histories’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ among other bestsellers.
Jordan Casey is a 16 year old self taught programmer and entrepreneur from Waterford in Ireland. Since 2012, Jordan has founded 3 successful technology startups and has established himself as a symbol for young entrepreneurship throughout Europe. Mainly working in the gaming and educational area, Jordan’s products have received critical and commercial success with many awards being racked up in the process.
He is also an established public speaker, sharing his story throughout Europe and the world and he has done work with organisations such as Google and The European Union.
A chance to hear from the content teams of Disney, Turner and Viacom. Find out what’s successful, what they’re looking for, and how best to approach them.
Using clips to illustrate key successful moments, the BBC commissioners will explain their priorities - what types of shows they are looking for, what works - including casting, storyline, format, duration, tone, marketing - and the most effective way to approach the channels.
Content is still king but is there a new kid on the block disrupting how and why kids engage with media? Come and learn about the 4 core media needs we discovered that will help you stay relevant in today's kids’ world.
Are the needs of young boys being neglected in the hunt for the ‘empowered female’?
Social discourse surrounding the roles and status of girls has had a lot of momentum in the last few years. While the shift in the media landscape surrounding young girls has been inspiring and refreshing, are the needs of young boys being neglected in the hunt for the ‘empowered female’? Platypus have taken a 360 degree approach to provide the most impactful, accurate picture to share with you.
Dubit’s research reveals how brands appeal to family audiences. Our presentation will provide a model on how to launch family friendly entertainment.
Mums and pre-schoolers are mutually viewing content across multiple devices. This research explores the tangible and emotional drivers behind TV remaining the dominant medium.
Compelling video footage plus a decade of quant research reveal what’s changed in children’s viewing and what this might mean for the future.
Writer, artist and part time superhero, Jess Thom co-founded Touretteshero in 2010 as a creative response to her experience of living with Tourettes Syndrome. Touretteshero is about reclaiming the most frequently misunderstood condition on the planet, challenging people to think differently, and building a more inclusive society.
Jess is a visual, performing, and participatory artist based in London. She graduated from The Royal College of Art in 2005. She is committed to increasing opportunities that allow the experiences of people living with Tourettes Syndrome to be heard, and to ‘changing the world one tic at a time.’
Dan Pearce is a game designer, programmer, and artist. He started his game making career at the age of 16 after winning BAFTA’s Young Game Designers Award. Since then, he has been named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit, and was also nominated for a BAFTA for his 2013 game ‘Castles in the Sky’. This year, he announced his company, Four Circle Interactive Ltd, who’ll be handling all future iterations of his other game, ’10 Second Ninja’, which launched in early 2014.
Beth Reekles is a 19-year-old Young Adult author from South Wales, and is currently a Physics undergraduate at Exeter University. She began posting her first novel, ‘The Kissing Booth’, online to Wattpad when she was 15 years old, and when she was 17 she earned a three-book deal with Random House. In 2013, she was on the Time’s Top 16 Most Influential Teens list, and in 2014 she was nominated for the Queen of Teen awards. Her current published works are: ‘The Kissing Booth’, ‘Rolling Dice’, ‘Out of Tune’, and ‘Cwtch Me If You Can’.
Laura is a comedy video blogger whose ‘Laurbubble’ channel has over 2 million views. Laura began her YouTube career in 2007 winning a Radio 1 competition and subsequently becoming the TV reviewer on Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac’s Sunday Show. Since then she has worked with many companies including BBC Comedy, Comedy Central, EA, Guinness World Records and Hat Trick productions. In 2014 Laura became a vlogger on CBBC’s ‘Technobabble’ and currently vlogs on CBBC’s ‘Whoops I Missed the Bus’.
BBC Children’s new Director Alice Webb in her first major public announcement, four months into her appointment, will present her vision for the department’s future strategy.
Then, in a session moderated by Stewart Clarke, Editor of TBI magazine, learn about CBBC and CBeebies’ current successes, challenges and editorial needs from the two Controllers, as well as their responses to common industry questions. Also on the panel, the Heads of BBC Children’s Interactive and of BBC Learning will explain the opportunities offered by digital, short-form, and educational content.
A panel of experts who have made the move from traditional media to new platforms discuss emerging opportunities and challenges on YouTube, apps, OTT and more. Topics covered will include funding, workflow, marketing, distribution and how content changes across platforms.
Jenny Sealey is a fighter. Since becoming deaf at the age of seven, she has been determined to tackle challenges her way.
That determination led her to being the co-director of the 2012 London Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. She is a great fan of Ian Dury, whose famous song ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ could apply to her. She believes hat quality children’s / young people’s theatre and TV, inclusive and diverse, is essential to entertain, educate, inform and create a world and an aesthetic, where difference is embraced as the norm.
Jenny has pioneered a new theatrical language, coining the term the ‘Aesthetics of Access’; the creative integration of sign language, audio description, diverse physicality and different voices from the beginning of the artistic process.
Her passion now is an initiative for 16-25 year olds. ‘Good things have been done, but there is more to achieve’. She is interested to explore the potential mash-ups between TV and theatre and how new partnerships can be formed as now it’s crucial to join forces to save the arts from going under and becoming an elitist playground.
In her own words she would like to ‘take over the whole bloody world’. Stand by for a fascinating and engaging keynote.
Danger Mouse & Penfold, Dick & Dom, Tom & Jerry – double acts just keep delighting kids. Discover the secrets of their success with our BAFTA winning panel.
Double acts have formed an essential part of kids TV over the years and are still as relevant today as they were 75 years ago when a certain cartoon cat and mouse made their first appearance.
Find out how double acts work and why they resonate so strongly with the audience with panellists who know both inside out.
Rich McCourt and Dominic Wood, known everywhere as Dick & Dom, shine a light on their long and successful professional partnership. From broom cupboard to BAFTAs – get a unique insight into how their enduring double act developed and see special footage of how it all began.
The panel discusses popular pairings including Tom and Jerry, Gumball and Darwin (The Amazing World of Gumball), Finn and Jake (Adventure Time) and Danger Mouse and Penfold – who return to our screens in a new series of Danger Mouse this Autumn on CBBC.
Head writer Ben Ward talks about how he brought back these classic characters.
Cartoon Network and Cartoonito are home to a number of perennially popular double acts – Turner Broadcasting’s Patricia Hidalgo talks about classic characters “old” and “new”.
Dispelling the myths around girls in the 21st century, and exploring how both they and the world around them have changed.
Presented by Ben Frost, The Pineapple Lounge
Online games, apps, short form video: digital content is no longer the new kid on the block, firmly established as a brand prerequisite or a new digital-first route to market. However whilst the kids’ market may have matured in terms of demand for this new generation of content, are the business models behind it really working?
Indie developers complain that the culture of free makes it very hard to make app development pay; the app stores are so crowded that it can be impossible for new IPs to break through without significant marketing spend; work-for-hire commissioning budgets can vary hugely with little consistency over what a budget actually delivers; are digital-first commissions from the broadcasters just a way of getting content on the cheap or are the costs to make stuff really coming down? What is the value of digital brand support when the super indies are able to give it away for free?
Technology is changing but are kid’s content choices today that different to 1969, when ‘Scooby Doo’ was first created?
Presented by Joanne Cliff, Platypus Research and James Davies, CHILDWISE.
Understanding and engaging a transitionary preschool television audience. How does engagement with TV and other media change, as a child rapidly develops?
Presented by Fiona Scott, University of Sheffield
YouTube video star Michael Stevens, creator of the hugely successful Vsauce educational channels entertained and challenged a 750 strong audience of children’s media makers with his views on engagement, authenticity and the YouTube “revolution”.
Veteran Tech addicted, Internet devoted, and Mobile lover.
Graduated in Audiovisual Communication and Arts in Brazil (1994), is co-founder and CEO of Ø1 Digital, a pioneer local internet agency (1996). Pushed the company into the Apps world (2009), creating a new way to distribute and monetize Kids Audiovisual + Interactive content in a balanced mix through in-App Purchases. The strategy has already generated over 100 million downloads from all App Stores, being Galinha Pintadinha (Lottie Dottie Chicken) the biggest hit.
Broadcasters offer preschool programming for children aged 0-6 years, a very wide age span. Because there’s always the chance that the youngest children in the audience might be watching without an adult, broadcasters tend to favour content that does not contain anything too scary or sophisticated for a 2-3 year old, even if it is intended for an older audience. Where can 4-6 year olds find developmentally appropriate content that will arm them with the cognitive, social and emotional tools they will need for school and beyond? Some UK-funded live-action programming does cater to that older audience, but preschool animation tends to play it safe. Can we take more risks in our storytelling to serve 4-6 year olds? How? Parents, broadcasters, writers and academics are brought together to discuss the challenges and possibilities.
The lowdown on all the tax breaks – animation, games and theatre, with special emphasis on the new live action children’s television tax incentive.
Not all games that claim to be educational stand up to scrutiny. 32% of games on the Apple app store have an educational claim or learning goal, but “a great majority… are not very good games and they are not very good at stimulating learning” (Lauri Jarvilehto, Rovio).
We hear from app developers, app reviewers and scientists on what makes an app educational and what the market landscape looks like. We explore real life examples and discuss how making a good app, with true educational value, is harder than it might first appear. Plus we get the facts on app use in the home, as we hear the results of research into which apps children and parents prefer.
This session features the content teams of the 3 biggest cable and satellite kids networks. With speakers covering development, acquisitions, co-production, programming, production and general channel management, this is your chance to see what has been working for Disney , Turner and Nickelodeon UK, what they’re looking for in the future and how best to approach them.
Studies with over 6,000 six to twelve year-olds reveal what makes programmes attractive to girls and boys and what should be considered when making gender-spanning content.
Presented by Dr. Maya Götz, International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI).
Exploring the increasingly blurred nature of apps and online gaming, the rise of YouTube as a key source of information and content, and the evolution of social media.
Presented by Alison Preston, Ofcom
As creativity is increasingly squeezed out of formal education how can children’s media inspire and enable children to express themselves and learn through making and sharing?
Kids are claiming back their education. They’re nurturing their own passions, finding their own spaces, making their own choices, publishing for themselves and looking to their peer groups for recognition. With all this going on, seemingly unbounded from any formal educational processes, what’s the place for the producers and broadcasters of children’s media within this landscape?
To help debate this topic the session brings together a panel of people who are passionately involved in enabling children to create and share – be that through films, stories or games. We’ll be quizzing them on the tools and techniques they’re using to inspire these kids, how this fits within the current ecosystem of education and child development, and discuss the successes, challenges and prophecies for the future.
Maker Studios is the global leader in short form video to today’s diverse, tech-savvy group of young people. As the largest content network on YouTube, Maker attracts more than 10 billion views every month with over 650 million subscribers.
In this masterclass session, Dan’l Hewitt, UK MD of Maker, will explain how the platform has grown into a global media brand with over 55,000 independent creator partners from more than 100 countries, and billions of fans worldwide.
Highlighting some of Maker’s top digital stars for the younger audience, Dan’l will explain how the platform nurtures and develops talent and content, creating premium programming, and building lasting brands with engaged audiences.
Seb Gallop is 17, from Heathfield in East Sussex where he attends Heathfield Community College, currently studying Computing, Graphics, ICT and Media. His long-held ambition is to be the creative lead for the design of a new game, working on the overall concept and details of the script, graphics and gameplaying. Ambition turned to inspiration whilst attending a Tech Camp course last Summer, where Future8 encouraged the students to submit their ideas. He went on to win mentoring sessions with top games company Stick Sports, kick-starting his gaming career.
Join Children’s Brand licensing experts from TV, Film, Agents, Publishing and major Retail – all willing to share their wisdom on what it takes to turn a new children’s IP into a smash hit consumer product.
Share their experiences of developing a children’s brand into a huge multi-million pound selling hit or of licensing projects that sadly end up in the bargain bin.
Gain general insights and plan your questions for a 1-2-1 licensing advice clinic which follows this session in the Workstation Mezzanine, when the expert panelists can offer a personal review of your own potential hit brand.
Children’s play patterns have always involved a mash-up of brands. Toycos such as Lego are also brilliant at layering brands, with their top-selling products supporting other brands. The movie Toy Story pivots around this play pattern and The Lego Movie reflects this play pattern with external brands mixed with its own.
However, this is a relatively recent evolution in the digital space with Disney Infinity’s Toybox allowing children to play with various Disney IP, Club Penguin integrating characters from Marvel, and Star Wars and Minecraft’s various mods such as Tate World for example.
Stella Duffy has written thirteen novels, over fifty short stories, and ten plays. She has twice won Stonewall Writer of the Year and twice won the CWA Short Story Dagger. She adapted her novel ‘State of Happiness’ for film with Zentropa/Fiesta, HBO have optioned her Theodora novels for a TV mini-series.
She is also a theatre-maker; Associate Artist with Improbable, Artistic Director of Shaky Isles Theatre. Stella is the Co-Director of Fun Palaces, the campaign for greater engagement for all – in ALL culture. www.funpalaces.co.uk
Play has a vital role in child and adolescent development. And yet there is mounting concern about the amount of time children and young people spend on digital devices.
Presented by Dr. Barbie Clarke, Family Kids & Youth
How will the new wave of online offerings – from Netflix, YouTube, Hopster and many others – change the UK market over the next five years? Is commercial children’s broadcasting doomed, as children shift online – or will broadcasters adapt? Will the major international children’s channels shift online and go direct-to-consumer? Are the big online players really a great new hope for funding children’s TV content – and what does this mean for producers? Can broadcasters and OTT players work together to grow the market? What will look most different in 2020 – and beyond?
We invited a diverse panel of leading industry executives – from broadcasting and online media – to help us explore the great disruption. Drawing on the latest industry data and research, we’ll paint a compelling picture of the new world of children’s TV in 2020 – and provide some practical tips on how to survive and thrive as a producer in this brave new world.
The Learning sector has changed dramatically over the last few years but where do the future opportunities for content providers lie? Learning is one of the hardest areas to crack but the global demand for creative learning content is increasing rapidly. In this session we’ll hear from a range of voices exploring the changes in the sector. What are the traditional commissioning broadcasters and publishers of direct learning content looking for; are there new routes to funding that producers can access; who is looking to fund ed-tech ideas and how do they differ from the requirements and needs of traditional broadcasters and publishers; as commissioning models change, where can producers look for finance?
The session will provide an overview of current and future opportunities for producers of learning content.
What Web do we want for the next generation? Find out what your responsibilities are – as producers, platform/content providers and brand owners. Test your knowledge as our experts navigate the complicated world of online rights for kids. And contribute your ideas to help establish a better web where the children of tomorrow can grow and flourish.
What does on-line identity mean to today’s young people? A collaborative investigation with schools, qualitative research and neuroscience experiments.
Presented by Sonia Joao, Oxy Insight, Dr Erman Misirlisoy, Praedico, Naomi Ward, ConnectED
The brilliant PYMWYMI is back! Four pitches to industry executives ready to back their instincts and option the next big commercial kids’ property with hard cash.
Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd., has set the standard for visual effects for over forty years and in the process, created some of the most stunning images in the history of film including ‘Star Wars’, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’. In this Masterclass session, Scott Pritchard, 2D Sequence Supervisor from ILM’s new London facility discussed the creative and technical innovations that have set ILM apart and driven the evolution of ground breaking visual effects.
Showing exclusive behind the scenes development footage, Scott explained how change in the visual effects industry has caused seismic shifts in the way films are produced and how an industry traditionally seen as ‘post production’ now influences all stages of film development.
The Public Service Broadcast review; the future of the BBC; the impact of OTT, VOD and the YouTube Kids app; personal security online; the duty of care for platform providers; the “ageing down” of social media; changes in the delivery and meaning of education; plus reaction to the CMC opening keynote. They all provide the agenda for massive media change and plenty for our eminent panel to discuss, as they consider your questions about how these “game-changes” may affect the children’s audience and how creativity and regulation may need to change to reflect that.
One year ago, Dylan Collins opened CMC 2014 with a challenge to the children’s media industry to develop new models of working that would generate new revenue and especially help the digital sector become more sustainable. Since then, Dylan says he’s done his bit. And he’s sharing details of a new advertising platform to do exactly that.
Now he asks what the rest of us are doing? And what are the new questions that have emerged in the last 12 months, and in two day’s of conversation at CMC?
This session features the content teams of the 3 biggest cable and satellite kids networks. With speakers covering development, acquisitions, co-production, programming, production and general channel management, this is your chance to see what has been working for Disney , Turner and Nickelodeon UK, what they’re looking for in the future and how best to approach them.
Sean is Editorial Director of new media startup Magnate Media, the publisher of men’s lifestyle title Magnate. Sean started his publishing career aged just 14 when he launched ‘Corby Magazine’, a local magazine which saw him named as ‘The World’s Youngest Publisher’. He later appeared on BBC 1’s ‘Young Apprentice’, with the BBC hailing him a ‘publishing prodigy’. Magnate Media is set to launch two new titles this year.
Faheem is 13 years old, from Slough in Berkshire where he attends Langley Grammar School. Since a young age he has been fascinated with technology and believes it is key to any future career. Last year he won the App developer category in the Future8 Awards, which earned him the chance to visit the Outfit7 offices and gain first-hand experience from a professional firm. He is his school’s official poet laureate, and a representative for the United Kingdom Youth Parliament.
What alternatives are there to the traditional commissioning model? Would your idea suit a product / business model? What are the major differences with this approach to traditional brand building?
In this session you can listen to experienced entrepreneurs and investors from the world of education technology, talking about their journey from idea to funded business, and hear from them and their contemporaries on the opportunities for finance and brand growth in this sector.
The session was moderated by Kriss Baird from Innovate UK and featured representatives from the Emerge Ventures Lab, Karisma Kidz, Tech Will Save Us, MakerClub and Erase All Kittens.
Following a year of ‘Paddington’, ‘Shaun’, and ‘Who Killed Nelson Nutmeg?’ are the options for children’s film in the UK still limited?
Paralysing or pleasurable? A headache or a high? How children deal with choice, and why understanding this can increase engagement with your content
Presented by Maurice Wheeler, The Little Big Partnership
Welcome to 2015 – the year of change, where kids’ consumption, engagement and interaction with media has shifted. Take a tour of what’s changed and what lies ahead.
Presented by Renuka Gupta and Alan Hathaway, Discovery Research
In 2014, Nickelodeon and Rovio made significant moves into the educational app market, while for many years brands such as BP, Barclays and M&S have engaged in corporate social responsibility activity in schools. Brands can use their familiarity and their assets to support learning about subjects where they have specialist knowledge, or use character and stories familiar to children and young people as the core of educational resources.
If the brand name helps engage children and young people in home and school learning, is that simply a good thing? Do brands risk dumbing down education or creating a commercial playground that’s incompatible with education? Are there risks for schools and parents to balance with the reward? And what responsibilities does this demand of the brands, the schools and parents to ensure children get the best deal?
This session features the content teams of the 3 biggest cable and satellite kids networks. With speakers covering development, acquisitions, co-production, programming, production and general channel management, this is your chance to see what has been working for Disney , Turner and Nickelodeon UK, what they’re looking for in the future and how best to approach them.
Can producers, writers and production staff work across platforms? In fact, nowadays, must they be able to work cross platform in order to have a sustainable career? If so, how can they get the training and experience they need and overcome being pigeonholed in just one area of children’s media and being good at only one thing?
Our expert panel of content funders, covering the widest of spectrums from specialist bankers and financiers at one end to tax credits and other forms of soft finance on the other, and taking in broadcasters and co-producers along the way, will help our three kids’ producers piece together their recipes for success to get their projects greenlit.
How can children’s content be inclusive AND a hit? Industry leaders shared their best practice secrets of how to be a commercial, critical, inclusive success.
This session began with a presentation from Changemaker 16 year old Seb Gallop, game creator and Future8 Award winner.
Can children’s preschool programmes change cultural attitudes towards women by showing young boys and girls gender equality? Has children’s programming fostered unflattering views of women and the disrespectful attitudes it can create in society, as well as how women view themselves? How responsible is the children’s content industry for cementing the attitudes of people and their views towards gender when action toys are described as boy’s toys and the pink aisle is labelled for the girls? Can this paradigm be changed with programming for the post-millennial generation?
This session celebrates the successes in fostering new attitudes towards girls, as well as focusing on what needs to be done, by bringing together content creators, campaigners and researchers to reflect on the journey undertaken and engage in the journey ahead.
Producers are a hardy bunch. You have a great idea. It can travel. But how do you get it made?
The Celtic Commissioners could hold the key. With no multi territory diktats to adhere to, what they lack in budgets they make up for in speedy decision making and a willingness to partner with others – on the right idea, of course.
Yes, the budgets aren’t huge but there are funds and grants out there that could help you get your show made and loved by a brand new audience.
Join the commissioning team from RTE, BBC Alba, S4C and TG4 to hear how they tick, see what they’re looking for and find out if local grants and funds could help get you great show made.
Children’s Publishing still represents one of the main providers of new brands for the international children’s media business. Historically these brands have always been originated by authors or author-illustrators. The market suggests that mediums and platforms are already converging both creatively and commercially. So while the author-creator model will always be central to children’s publishing, how do publishers view other ‘creators’ of content as possible sources of new publishing.
Find out why 52 episodes don’t automatically mean 52 books, when a good idea for TV or other media also becomes a good idea for publishing, what a publisher needs to read in order to see ‘book potential’ and what you need to do to translate a great story for the screen into a great story for publishing.
Alex arrived on 14th April 2002.
Alex was a happy boy but he really struggled at school, hated noise and lots of smells & tastes.
Alex was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia and sensory issues.
A specialist school changed his life. Alex says: “People think dyslexic kids are dumb but we are not. We just need to be taught in a different way”.
Alex loves computers!! It was a dream come true winning the Appsolute Genius competition as he hopes to become a games designer!
Four pitches to industry executives ready to back their instincts and option the next big commercial kids’ property with hard cash.
An examination of the genesis of Transmedia children’s projects, addressing both creative and budgetary/funding considerations.
Publishers and developers are exploring new ways to reach young readers by telling stories through digital platforms. In Telling Tales: Paper to Pixel, we explore what has to change when moving from conventional print books to digital books and ask ourselves, should we all be thinking beyond the book?
As children form friendships and express themselves online, how should social and children’s media help kids and teens navigate digital perils as well as pleasures?
Smart Phones, tablets, laptops…ubiquitous in our lives and also now a firm fixture in the lives of the next generation. It is undeniable that they affect how we interact with each other, and now the Media industry is harvesting these outlets to enhance viewer experience on TV. In this session, we share new research from The Pineapple Lounge showing us how children today use Second Screen technology. We also speak with industry professionals, who are engaging in this area across the spectrum, from broadcaster and app developer to social media network provide.
Educational computer games are big business, and the market is growing. From the huge success of online learning startups like Mathletics to News Corporation’s recent $100m investment in digital educational technologies, digital games are becoming an important new area for those interested in the business of education. However, putting together games that are fun, educational and commercially viable isn’t easy, and requires a new mix of skills – some quite different to traditional forms of media.
This session explores how to get it right by beaking down the key parts of the development process; including hiring an agency vs building the right team, scoping projects, setting effective educational goals, working with game designers, prototyping, testing and how to evaluate projects once they’re finished. It also looks at some of the commercial models behind educational games and considers how companies are finding routes to market and ultimately making money in this space.
She originally trained in Computer Science and worked in computing before publishing her first book at the age of 28. She has since written 60 books for children and young adults.
Malorie writes children's novels, young adult novels, picture books, short stories and early readers. She has also written television scripts, including episodes of the children's television drama, ‘Byker Grove’, and original dramas for CITV and BBC Education. Her stage play, ‘The Amazing Birthday’, was performed in 2002 at the Polka Theatre.
She adapted her novel ‘Pig-Heart Boy’ for television, winning several awards, including a BAFTA for best children's drama in 2000.
Her best-known books for young adults are the multi award-winning ‘Noughts & Crosses’ series, which overtly addressed racial issues, depicting a world in which black people, or “Crosses”, are the ruling elite and white people, or “noughts”, struggle for acceptance.
In 2004, she wrote a novel entirely in verse, ‘Cloud Busting’, which won a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Silver Award). In 2007, she edited ‘Unheard Voices’, an anthology of stories and poems to commemorate the bicentenary anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, and in 2009 she contributed to ‘Free?’, a book of stories celebrating Human Rights.
In 2005, she was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children's books; she was also awarded an OBE in 2008. Her most recent novel is ‘Noble Conflict’ (2013).
Malorie was appointed Waterstones Children’s Laureate in 2013 in recognition of her outstanding achievements. Her role covers the whole of the UK and entails meeting thousands of children and young people over her two-year term of office. This, along with her career long commitment to inclusion and diversity, take her to the heart of her theme for her CMC Creative Keynote: ‘The Right to be Seen, the Need to be Heard’ or ‘We Are The Stories We Eat!’
This session aims to contribute to the BFI’s current consultation on future support for children’s feature films.
Family films took over 15% of the global box office in 2013 - worth over £1bn/$1.7bn/€1.2bn – this excludes merchandising. We all take children to see movies and/or end up seeing endless repeats of favourites on DVD or downloads. So why when we discuss UK Film Production are Childrens/family film forgotten?
With a solid base of 3 out of 8 of the top films watched by 7-15 years olds produced in the UK in 2013 what are the next steps and how can the BFI, tax credits, distribution support and talent development be improved to build on this beginning?
One key question in this area is do features have to be brand/franchise based – how original can we be?
And how does UK support for Children’s film production compare with the rapidly changing support initiatives in Europe.
To help answer these questions and more:
- Justin Johnson (BFI) brings us up to date with current BFI research and thinking.
- David Sproxton (Aardman Animations) identifies the key aspects a feature and its market value looking at the US Studio model and a UK Independent model
- Robert Chandler (Space Age Films) uses 'The Canterville Ghost' feature as an example of a UK independent producer model
- Viola Gabrielli (Kids Regio) brings us up to date with the latest German government support for Children’s Original films, and its impact on EU wide support.
Ever since the dawn of film, skilled visual story-tellers have relied on technology to help them imagine the impossible – although the actual software and hardware to realise their dreams didn’t always keep up with expectations.
But now, with the explosion of digital innovation across the industry, it’s the producers who are in danger of being left behind.
This session explores the new technologies that tomorrow’s content creators need to be aware of, if they want to stand out from the crowd and deliver cost-effective, highly inventive, screen-based narratives in the future.
A rare chance to get to chat to four broadcasters who all have commissioning budgets and are hungry for content.
Do you have a killer idea that you haven’t got away yet? Want to know more about the opportunities and tariffs? Now’s your chance.
How will the children’s media and content industries evolve during the next 5-10 years? Can television retain its central role – or will it give way to tablets and mobiles, games and multimedia apps? Which funding models will prosper and which will decline? What will it take to create a successful children’s content business in the future? Are the opportunities really there for new entrants – or does the future belong to the international studio conglomerates? What will look most different in 2020 – and beyond?
We invited a diverse panel of leading industry experts to help us explore the future of the children’s media and content industries. Drawing on the latest industry data and research, we’ll paint a compelling picture of the children’s industry in 2020 – and provide some practical tips on how to survive and thrive in a complex, diverse, interconnected ecosystem. Attendees will also receive a summary of the research.
The 21st Century world is digital. This isn’t just about the smart phone in your pocket and the tablet on the sofa. Everything from cars to banks to fridges to televisions are increasingly becoming computational. In order to understand how this world works, in order to have agency to use the power of digital technology, children need to understand how digital technology works. They need to know that they can create as well as consume digital media.
However, the message that ‘code is good for you’ still leaves a lot of children and young people cold. How can children and young people’s passions and interests be used to inspire a generation to learn how to use the greatest open creative tools of the modern age?
Box office and toy shop tills still seem to ring to the power of superhero and action star machismo, but in TV animation there’s been a shift away from mutation mayhem, secret-super identities and intergalactic adversaries. Action adventure is being replaced by comedy. Superheroes are being exchanged for new comic-heroes that make kids laugh.
Are today’s 6-9 boy’s audience no longer interested in animated action adventure TV shows? And where are 6-9 girls in all of this?
If there is a trend towards ‘spaghetti-armed comedy’ amongst commissioners, what will it mean for animation producers and toy companies? Why is the market seeing a super-shift, and what can we do to make action adventure exciting again?
Putting our perceived understanding of children, and the concept of kids as commissioners, to the test. A group of 8yr old Mini-Dragons will have 3 new ideas pitched to them, and – facilitated by the BBC Children’s Stepping Out team – we’ll hear their thoughts and feedback. Will their comments match what the panel predicts the children would think about the ideas?
A panel discussion looking at how the proliferation of connected devices and content platforms has fundamentally altered the way kids consume media and engage with brands and IP’s. This session explores some of the key trends and seek to understand what the opportunities and challenges are for content makers, broadcasters and IP owners.
An in-depth chat with the players that make the commissioning decisions for the big commercial channels here in the UK.
How much opportunity is there, what exactly makes them tick, and how are they fairing against the new kids on the block like Netflix.
All three decision makers from BBC Children’s in a 90 minute chat on their hopes, fears, wants and needs.
In an ever changing landscape, how do they maintain quality in the face of increasing competition and budget squeezing, are format re-boots the future, and have their channels already become second-screen?
SuperAwesome is Europe’s number 1 marketing platform, reaching 30 million children a month, and it’s still growing. Dylan is a serial entrepreneur, sits on the board of one of Europe’s busiest animation companies (Brown Bag Films), and is a Partner advising on investment with Hoxton Ventures.
A marketing platform that specifically targets children might make Dylan the Don Draper of kids to some, but his ideas on sustainable business in the rapidly changing kids’ landscape address vital industry concerns. Does the children’s media industry need commercialisation solutions created specifically with children at the very centre of their design?
However, his belief also underpins a larger view, that the entire children’s industry is at a critical inflection point. Dylan believes this new generation of children will have an even larger impact on the world than mobile and tablet has. Already we’re seeing companies like Facebook being disrupted by behaviour driven by kids and teens and reacting by acquiring companies like Whatsapp and Instagram. What’s next?
Can the children’s media industry rise to the challenge of this generational switch? Or will we simply allow events to unfold around us?
Jacqueline Wilson’s much loved character, Tracy Beaker, has been at the heart of CBBC’s schedule since it launched in 2002. The panel takes a journey through the original development of ‘The Story of Tracy Beaker’ and the decision to bring the series back after a five year gap. What were the challenges of re-introducing the franchise with an older character (‘Tracy Beaker Returns’) and how do you then cope with the decision of your lead actress to move on? Should you even continue?
BAFTA Award winning drama, ‘The Dumping Ground’, continues to resonate with its young audience. The panel explores its winning formula by talking about emotional truth, moral and editorial responsibility, on screen diversity, character and issue based drama using specific case studies including gay adoption and racism.
The discussion is chaired by Helen Blakeman, no stranger to Wilson characters. She won a BAFTA for her adaptation of ‘Dustbin Baby’ and is lead writer on the new CBBC drama, ‘Hetty Feather’. Panelists include lead writer Elly Brewer who helped develop all three titles in the franchise; original cast member Connor Byrne who plays head care worker Mike Milligan; and BBC executive producer, Lis Steele.
Tax credits already exist for British animation, high-end TV drama and film – why not children’s television?
In this session Pact and a panel of experts, including kids’ TV producers Billy Macqueen and Val Ames and Pact Chief Executive John McVay, outline the financial and cultural arguments for a tax credit for children’s live-action television.
Pact demonstrates that there is a current market failure around children’s TV, with the BBC functioning as the monopoly commissioner of content for children. Using specially commissioned research, facts and figures, it outlines the case that it is taking to government – that a tax break is necessary to level the playing field, boost the sector, and generate jobs.
Moderated by children’s television producer Mike Watts and using real-life case studies, the panel discusses the positive impact a tax break could have on the industry, and the cultural benefits of creating more British content for British kids.
We all love a good joke, and humour is important in producing entertainment for all ages, including children. However, how much can humour aid learning? The best media producers cleverly weave layers of humour to appeal to the widest audiences and as a result can help audiences learn. The best educators use humour in their lessons, relaxing kids and making them more receptive to the topic to be learnt. Can the two providers work together to get children’s entertainment into the classroom too?
Private money and children’s media. Hear from leading early-stage investors on what they’re looking for, where they’ve seen success and what to avoid.
Exploring the latest on Biometric playtesting, psychological insight, engagement and neuroscience in children’s television, media and games.
Michael Acton Smith unveils Mind Candy’s newest app – a revolutionary new creative community for 7-12 year olds that will become a platform for content creators (books, games, cartoons, music) to connect with their fans…
As the Licence Fee and Charter come under public scrutiny, what’s the appetite at the BBC to commit to the children’s audience and guarantee increased budgets for their content and services?
Biren Ghose, President of the Association for the Animation Industry in Bangalore, as well as Country Head for Technicolor, will look at ways that independent studios can successfully co-produce in India as well as opportunities for individual writers and creators to engage with studios in India plus new developments in India as a market for content.
Chinese Canadian Trevor Lai, CEO of UP Studios in China, will look at developments with online video platforms and e-books in China and the new ways to build brands which that offers also covering ways to co-produce with China and ways for individual creative talent to work with Chinese Studios.
In today’s highly crowded market place for kids IP, consumers, platforms owners and retailers are becoming more and more brand orientated. Platform owners are increasingly pursuing a ‘fewer bigger better’ approach in an attempt to stand out. While for the consumer there is simply too much choice. Brands, rightly or wrongly, represent either a safer bet or an easy-lazy choice as to what to spend their money on. The retailer’s position is not too dissimilar, with brands representing security, a proven proposition with an established commercial track record.
Children Television and Children’s Publishing still represent two of the main creators of new children’s brands. Historically they have always been strongly connected businesses but primarily on an arm’s length basis with, in simplistic terms, Television optioning and developing book properties and Publishing creating licensed publishing based on TV series. While this model will always remain, this session will explore whether the future of these two businesses, driven by necessity in an already overcrowded market, is one of much greater convergence both creatively and commercially. It will explore the present and future challenges of launching and establishing new IP and what the panellists see as the advantages and disadvantages of the media within which they work. Lastly the session will explore to what extent the individual cultures, as well as the creative and commercial skillsets, of the two industries are compatible.
Combining a lucrative service facility alongside developing hit children’s properties sounds so easy doesn’t it? Practically every animation/digital/creative studio dreams of nurturing a seed of an idea into a global show. But what really happens? What do you need to think about? This session examines how best to develop, produce and exploit your own IP, whilst optimising your service work… with a smile of course…