Whew, there are so many more TV shows than DVDs out here. As I began my meetings yesterday at the 45th Annual NATPE Conference in chilly Las Vegas yesterday, the excitement of all the new shows being pitched here to US and foreign distribution outlets grew as the day wore on.
The show officially opens this morning but yesterday provided a good opportunity to meet with people as they were setting up and settling in for the show. Monday also featured a full day of discussion on mobile entertainment, examining everything from who the players are to how to attract users to our property to how you can capitalize on the $5 million mobile market that is reaching a supposed 11.8 million subscribers in the U.S. alone. More on that later.
I visited with our friends at Allumination Filmworks who will be bringing three of our favorite TV shows into the DVD market this year – “Franny’s Feet,” “The Saddle Club” and “Hip Hop Harry.” They’ll also be introducing a new show to both TV and DVD, “Piper Penguin and His Fantastic Flying Machines.” We haven’t seen that one yet but will be reviewing it soon. If its as cute as is sounds, we’ll all enjoy it.
One of the emerging new companies, Cilantro Animation talked with me about a new show they are pitching to the Latino audience. “Usuy” is the tale of an Inca boy from Peru who tries to help his family fit into contemporary U.S. culture. His stories blend a bit of geographical and historical elements into them as they are shown in 3D animation. Good luck at the show Cilantro. We hope to see your show on-air soon, and in our film festivals. Salvatore Cavalieri, Founder and CEO of Cilantro Animation Studios commented, “
“The Spanish market has been lumped into a big bucket, and that doesn’t serve the market properly. Who’s your audience, what is their age, what are they consuming, what are they watching, what technology are they using, where do they come from historically? If you don’t know that, you won’t be able to stay connected to your customers and your audience and grow your business.”
Cookie Jar Entertainment, from Toronto, has a lot of new programs in the pot. The company that has brought you such award-winning shows as “Caillou,” “Arthur” and “Doodlebops” – all of which KIDS FIRST! has endorsed and shown in our Festivals – has quite a line-up, including: “Hurray for Huckle!” based on Richard Scarry’s books and one of every preschooler’s favorite towns, Busytown. Each episode is based around the characters from the books and explores an answer to a mini-mystery. “Noonbory” is a co-production with a Korean company and another preschool property. Set in the enchanting, technicolorful world of Boryland, the energetic Borys are young people who possess very special and powerful skills. Essentially, they are super sense superheroes who use their heightened senses to playfully save the day. It sounds a bit wacky but fun. “Will and 
Dewitt” is playing now on Kids WB for an older audience of four- to eight-year-olds. Dewitt is Will’s shape-shifting frog-type friend who helps Will do the things he does – even when he thinks he can’t. “Magi-Nation” sounds like a cross between “Lord of the Rings” and “Ferngully.” Now playing on Kids WB in the U.S. and CBC in Canada, it’s the story of a young teen, Tony Jones who finds himself mysteriously transported to the magical world of Magi-Nation. He befriends two young Magi Heroes-in-training who join him on a journey to defeat the evil Shadow Magi who are out to rule their world. During their adventures they discover some secrets about themselves as well. Next, “Johnny Test” now playing on the Cartoon Network in the U.S. and Teletoon in Canada is an action comedy for eight- to twelve-year-olds. The story chronicles the adventures of a fearless 11-year-old boy, his genetically engineered super dog Cukey and his 13-year-old super genius scientist twin sisters, Susan and Mary who use Johnny as their guinea pig for their out-of-this world scientific experiments. Last, “World of Quest” is a comedic action series for ages eight to 12 that follows young Prince Nestor on a mission to save his parents with his amazing muscled protector Quest by his side. It will air on WB starting in March and Teletoon in Canada. I promise that we’ll tell you more about these shows once we’ve had the opportunity to fully review them.
Last, from Viz Media, is the cute preschool show “Deko Boko & Friends.” It’s a different kind of format, only 30 seconds in length and it’s focus is about diversity and tolerance. Trailers of the show can be found at dekobokofriends.com and treehousetv.com.
Most of these shows will be coming into KIDS FIRST! for further evaluation and for play at our KIDS FIRST! Film Festivals. Stay tooned for more info!
Hear what executives are saying about NATPE:
Bruce David Klein, President & Exec Producer, Atlas Media Corp
Laurie Scheer, Media Consultant/Pitching CoachJim Pitaro, VP & GM, Yahoo! Sports
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008
Shelly Lazarus Keynote Address
Sneak peak at tomorrow: Jeff Berman, EVP Marketing & Content, Myspace.com Bob Pittman, Founding Member, The Pilot Group Hear what executives are saying about NATPE: Jordan Hoffner, Head of Content Partnership, YouTubePhil Gurin, President/Exec Producer, The Gurin CompanyJohn Saade, SVP Alternative Series, Specials & Late Night, ABC TelevisionDmitry Shapiro, Founder/CIO, Veoh Networks (Digital Briefing participant)
American Public Television (APT), the second largest supplier of television shows to public broadcast stations, will begin offering the new children’s musical series “Raggs” on February 4, 2008. The series stars five colorful canines – Raggs, Trilby, Pido, B. Max and Razzles – who play in a rock ‘n’ roll band and live together in a clubhouse with their wisecracking pet cat, Dumpster. The innovative format features live costumed characters, animated segments, interviews with children and music videos. Dr. Sholly Fisch, former VP of Program Research at Sesame Workshop, directs “Raggs” educational content which reinforces preschool academic and pro-social themes. 
