Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

As vacations wind down, school supplies stack up and everyone begins to get back into the school-year routine, Netflix has even more to offer families as they head back to school. Recently, Netflix Inc. and Scholastic Media, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announced a distribution agreement that will make popular television series and video content produced by Scholastic Media available to Netflix subscribers in the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland and Latin America.  This is the first time many of the Scholastic titles have been available in the streaming format.

Starting on Aug. 15, The Magic School Bus® (seasons 1-4; all 52 episodes), will be available exclusively for SVOD to Netflix members in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Latin America.  Additionally, Goosebumps® (seasons 1-4; all 74 episodes) will be available in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland.  The deal also includes several non-exclusive titles based on award-winning and best-selling books from the Scholastic Storybook Treasures™ line – including such classics as Harry the Dirty Dog, Danny and the Dinosaur, Chrysanthemum, The Snowy Day and The Mouse and The Motorcycle, and movies such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories and Stellaluna, which are now available in the US and Canada. Many of the titles have never been previously available to consumers on TV or online.

“When we first added The Magic School Bus and Goosebumps for our members in the US and Canada earlier this summer we knew they would perform well, but after seeing just how popular they were we decided to expand our relationship with Scholastic and bring these great shows to more of our markets,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix.  “We are very happy to be the streaming home for popular classics from Scholastic Media.”

“We are delighted Netflix has recognized the power of Scholastic’s iconic and award-winning global brands,” said Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Media and Executive Vice President of Scholastic Inc. “We are thrilled to see the shows are as popular as ever – which is validated by the Netflix subscribers we’re so happy to serve.”

Additional series that are available in the U.S. and Canada as part of the agreement include I SPY®, The Baby-Sitters Club®, Dear America®, Horrible Histories®, Dragon™, Turbo Dogs™ and Sammy’s Story Shop.
For more information, go to  www.netflix.com and  www.scholastic.com.

A new online study, commissioned by the Industry Trust for IP Awareness in partnership with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), finds that a quarter of children and teens download or stream movies from unofficial sources that offer no guidance on age ratings.

The study asked 1,000 U.K. consumers, ages 11 to 15, about their online viewing habits. A third (37 percent) of younger children, ages 11 and 12, admit to having recently downloaded or streamed a film rated for ages 15+ from a pirate website. One in five of those 11 to 15 (21 percent) say they use pirate websites to keep up with what friends and older siblings are watching. More than a quarter in the same age group (27 percent) say their parents don’t know what films they are watching online, and a third (32 percent) wouldn’t feel comfortable with younger siblings copying their viewing behavior. For more info, go to http://worldscreen.com/articles/display/40504

Hub Network has set Saturday, Oct. 26, as the date for its inaugural Halloween Bash. The newest kids net didn’t waste much time jumping on the signature-event bandwagon–and it’s going big. The live-to-tape special will take place at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, be exec-produced by Bob Bain (Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards and Fox’s Teen Choice Awards) and produced by Paul Flattery, and air five to seven times around the holiday. A “spooktacular” event is the perfect dovetail with Hub’s cache of safe-scary programming including Goosebumps and RL Stine’s The Haunting Hour. The Halloween Bash will include entertainment, plus a nationwide costume competition with finalists from every state. “We’re trying to celebrate all kinds of families, stimulate imagination and creativity and I think we’re going to be blown away by the level of what we see and the creativity,” Hub president/CEO Margaret Loesch tells CynKids exclusively. “Think about it–a whole class of from a school in southern Illinois [where I lived for a while when I was a child] could be the winner. Or a couple, or an individual. We want it to be very egalitarian. Anybody can win if they have the best costume. They don’t have to sing or dance; they just have to have a great imagination.” Celeb host, presenters, judges and musical acts are sure to be in abundance and will be announced shortly.

Are you a morning person? Sprout is giving aspiring actors and fans the opportunity to audition for the role of live morning show host with its launch of a national competition to find the next great preschool TV host. Now through August 31, hosting hopefuls can upload a 60-second audition video including their rendition of Sprout’s “Happy Birthday Song” at SproutOnline.com. Each day in August, Sprout will put the most notable videos on its YouTube channel, giving fans the opportunity to watch and participate in the Sprout Host Hunt. A live event will be held in LA on Aug. 23 at Universal CityWalk where Carly, one of The Sunny Side Up Show co-hosts, will join Chica – the world’s most famous chicken–to entertain fans and help prepare contestants for their audition. Three finalists will be flown to the set of The Sunny Side Up Show in Philadelphia in September, where they will have the chance to audition with Chica live in front of the show’s producers. The Sprout Host Hunt winner will be announced in December.

While social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, are popular for sharing photos and other aspects of people’s lives, many users are worried that their postings could someday cost them their job. According to a new survey from FindLaw.com, the most popular legal information website, more than a quarter of young social media users think that something they posted could come back to haunt them.The survey found that 29% of users of Facebook, between the ages of 18 and 34, have posted a photo, comment or other personal information that they fear could someday either cause a prospective employer to turn them down for a job, or a current employer to fire them if they were to see it. The survey covered Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and other popular social media.

A form of “day-after remorse” seems to be evident, says the report. Close to the same percentage of young social media users, 21%, say that they have removed or taken down a photo or other social media posting because they feared it could lead to repercussions with an employer.

Users are taking other precautions as well. The survey found that 82% of young social media users say that they pay at least some attention to their privacy settings. Only 6% said that they pay no attention and only use the default settings when using social media.

Stephanie Rahlfs, an attorney-editor with FindLaw.com, says “… people love using social media to share their thoughts and life experiences… drawback is that many comments, photos and other information may not be looked upon favorably by employers… taking down or removing a post or photo may not be enough… the information may continue to live on in other parts of the Internet… assume that anything posted could live on the Internet forever… think accordingly before hitting the ‘Post’ button.”

More about FindLaw and the report may be found here.

B&B Theatres is delighted to announce that, for the second year in a row, they will be holding their B&B Theatres Film Fest: Shorts! The flagship student fest in 2012 was a success, but will be bigger and better this year with the addition of an Amateur/General division – meaning people of all ages are welcome to participate. They are happy to invite people with an interest in film, and those who have never explored the medium, to create films that are 15 minutes or less and submit them to be played on the BIG SCREEN at one of the selected B&B Theatres locations. If there is local participation, expect YOUR B&B Theatre to be one of those participating in showing the Festival.

This is a wonderful chance to invite B&B Theatres movie-goers to be a part of the movie-going experience, and serves as an outlet for the creativity of local talents. Who knows, maybe one of these filmmakers will be the next Spielberg!
Submissions: B&B Theatres is accepting submissions from July 2^nd – September 10^th, 2013. Submissions must be completed via www.regonline.com/bbfilmfest2013.