The Classic Children's Television Quiz Book

A little while ago Dean Wilkinson was kind enough to send me, all the way from England, a copy of his book The Classic Children's Television Quiz Book, which was first published in 2008.

The book is precisely what it claims to be, a compilation of questions about kids' television shows from the past, primarily the 1970s and 80s. The emphasis is decidedly British, so I highly recommend it for telly aficionados in the UK, but there's a lot here for us Americans as well, from The Muppet Show to He-Man to Hanna Barbera, and on and on. Each page includes a thematically linked group of questions, whether about a specific show, production company, or topic like voice actors, Saturday morning programming blocks (remember those?), game shows, etc. Questions range from the easy to the brain tickling. Here's a sampling:

* In which year did The Flintstones first air - 1955, 1960, 1965, or 1970?

* On The Magic Roundabout, on which sardonic English comedian was Dougal the dog based - Kenneth Williams or Tony Hancock?

* On Play School, was the rocking horse called Dappledown or just Dapple?

* From which planet does Doctor Who hail?

* On Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, the short, angry and violent one was called Rabies - true or false?

* What was the show Top Cat renamed so it could air in Britain?

* In the show Fingerbobs was Rick Jones' character called Nerf, Papa, or Yoffy?

And so it goes! As a Yank I wish there were more Americana present, but we'll have to wait for another writer to give us that. As it is this is a great resource for Americans wanting to learn more, informally, about British children's television history and a fun way for Brits to take a walk down memory lane. It's also a very practically sized coffee table book.

Here's another review. Dean himself is an accomplished author and kids' telly writer, and you can check out his website as well.

KidScreen 2010

It's that time of year again, or at least it was two weeks ago when Brunico publishing sponsored its annual KidScreen Summit for children's film and television professionals here in midtown New York City. (Since then Toy Fair's been going strong, for those on the licensing and merchandizing end of things.)

It was my second KidScreen and I had a wonderful time and a very useful event. Attending as a sophomore attendee was a lot better experience than as a green freshman: I knew more what to expect, how to spend my time, and who to try to talk to. In the latter category, for instance, I was able to focus my attention on people who had a chance of getting their concepts produced, rather than the first-time creators with no industry experience I spent a lot of time with last year (and haven't heard back from since). In that middle category--how to spend my time--I knew to completely ignore the main sessions and to instead try to schedule personal meetings during them; I therefore missed a few discussions I would have liked to hear, but I think the meetings I had instead were much more profitable. I also knew that you aren't really truly limited to two or three 30-Minutes With sessions, so I was able to get into seven of them and meet some high ranking executives at places I would never have known how to approach before (CBC, Cartoon Network Europe, etc.) as well as see some of the super-friendly execs that I'd already established a connection with--people like Adina Pitt and Kay Benbow. Such executives are so busy you'd expect them to justify being aloof, but they're all the most friendly and helpful folks I've ever met, remembering my name and the fact we recently had a baby; this is one of the things I really like about the children's television industry.

On the negative side, it looked like sponsorship was down from last year. Not that I miss having so many booths and signs all over the place, but do the organizers really need a big Cartoon Network statue in order to have a rendezvous point? I missed several appointments because we weren't able to find each other, and everyone else was complaining about the same thing. So my advice for next year: Instead of brochures, have some meeting point signs up along the north wall of the main delegates' lounge: Meeting Point A, Meeting Point B, and C and D. That will cost $20, and it doesn't require Treehouse or someone to accompany it with a huge billboard. And it will make happy delegates. Second, more chairs. Just like last year, but it seemed like there were actually less this time around. Finding a place to meet shouldn't take half of a meeting.

I'd like to talk quickly about specifics of what I did. It was a great agenda for me, I think, because I started out with eighteen appointments throughout the three days. Two or three of those fell through, some due to my being detained in a previous meeting, some to my contacts forgetting, and some to the we-can't-find-each-other effect (and the fact my phone decided to stop calling international numbers). But still, the fifteen or so that I was able to have and the original contacts I was able to make there were great. It started out Tuesday night (the 9th) down at Little Airplane by the financial district, where we got to sing along with Bobby McFerrin and Dan Zanes. I also met lots of great people, like Robert Seal, a gregarious, prolific, and tall writer from L.A., and Kristen Souvlis, a producer at Jonathan M. Shiff Productions in Brisbane (makers of H2O Just Add Water, seen here).

Kristen was fantastic and I hope to see more great stuff from their studio, especially here in the U.S.

I won't include too much detail on all three days, but Wednesday I got back in touch with some old contacts like Andrew Brenner, creator of Humf and quite a few other things--whose advice as a fellow writer has been fantastic. Among his thoughts: try to work on the literary end of things, specifically in comic books based on TV shows. In England where he's based there's a large market for this and it can help you as a writer learn the nuances of a show without the high-cost pressure of having an entire episode riding on you (so the producers/publishers are more willing to take a chance on a new guy). Here in America I just have to find out who publishes the Dora comic books, etc. Andrew was pitching a new show with King Rollo Films, although the bible didn't make it due to our snow, and he's also waiting to hear back from E1 about a second series of Humf (seen here).

After Andrew I also had several great meetings, including with Kristy Fuller at 1440 Productions in Melbourne. They've got a great live action tween/teen adventure show in the works (I read the pilot script after MIP) called Dig Deep Creek which would be a perfect fit for Disney XD or Cartoon Network's new live-action boy-centered productions. Kristy was here on her honeymoon as well as for work, so I'm the weather's turned good for her and hope she has another great and relaxing week here before heading back Down Under.

I also loved my meetings with Simon Parsons of the CBBC Scotland, an incredibly generous gentleman who's trying to raise the entire preschool industry in Scotland at the expense of his own company (well, not "at the expense of" because he's trying to improve the quality of everyone's work, which will create a pool of talent in Glasgow and Edinburgh the Beeb can call on as well), and with Jennie Stacey of Brown Bag Films in Dublin. I've been in touch with her for nearly two years and she's been a fantastic contact and incredibly nice, as has everyone at Brown Bag--and throughout Ireland, for that matter. You've seen Brown Bag's animation on shows like Noddy and Olivia, and now they're working on their own original productions which sound very exciting. They would be getting farther on them, though, if they hadn't been nominated for an Oscar for Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty. If you haven't seen this short film you absolutely need to, and you can in high def right here on Granny's own website.

It was fascinating to hear what chaos ensues when one is nominated for an Oscar. Basically, there's a lot of chaos. So there are definitely plans to do more with Granny as a character. I don't want to divulge too much of what Jennie shared with me (those interested in developments can follow the Brown Bag Blog), but I guess I will say that it's starting to dawn on everyone (distributors, I mean) that Granny is not a very child-friendly character; she's a crotchety old miser-type, after all. So we might not see her in a children's series, after all; I'd much rather see her in prime time as an alternative to the Family Guy school of humor. That has a place, but it would be nice to see alternatives, and the crotchety old person is certainly entertaining for adults. Brown Bag could have the Mr. Magoo of the 21st century on their hands, and UPA certainly didn't need to market him (just) to kids. Look first for a Christmas special this holiday season. Best of luck to everyone there as they develop the property and head to Los Angeles in a couple weeks.

On Thursday I had a great meeting with David Kleeman that I wanted to mention. David's the director of the American Center for Children and Media, an organization in Chicago that fosters excellence in global children's media productions, meaning primarily television. They sponsor conferences, panel discussions, and screenings from venues like the Prix Jeunesse; David also spends a great deal of time consulting with individual filmmakers and production companies. So it's a combination of advocacy and education, based on the philosophy (like Simon Parsons') that a rising tide raises all ships. One of his latest efforts is to create an online social network for children's media professionals and scholars. It's hosted on ning, which is a great platform for this kind of thing because it allows for blogs, tweets, discussions, and smaller groups within the broader community. (I've created two ning networks for my Mormon cinema work and am pleased with the results.) It's called the Children and Media Professionals network and is available for anyone with an interest. I've just joined but can't recommend it enough; in an industry so reliant on networking, such an online application is exactly what we need to get to know potential collaborators, distributors, clients, etc. And the conversations stemming from David's prolific blogging can really improve the quality of our work.

On Friday I was able to meet with quite a few Canadians, including Patricia Lavoie, who I originally met with last year. As a quick note for Canadian readers, please be aware that a new nationwide French-language station will soon be a reality. Look for the news conference on February 28.

Canadians can also look forward to the release of Pirates from Halifax Film, a series so good that the second season has already been ordered before the first has even aired. Katrina Walsh, who I also met last year, is one of the most accommodating producers in business, especially for Americans looking to break into the Canadian market and its labyrinthine tax credits and national pride schemes. Patricia's equally as helpful, by the way, as was Kim Wilson of the CBC. To qualify as Canadian for CBC acquisition or co-production you simply need to have a Canadian firm involved (which I knew), and you can go to the CBC directly and, if they like your pitch, they will try to help connect you with someone to meet the criteria (which I didn't know). Curriculum, by the way, is very important for preschool in Canada: not just social curricula, but hard subjects like math, science, art, & literacy. In England, by contrast, they nearly have an aversion for such stuff, so position your material accordingly. At any rate, very specific pitching guidelines are available on the CBC website, demystifying much of the process.

There are other people to mention, but I want to end with Fred Seibert of Frederator, who wasn't available during KidScreen but took nearly two hours of his time to meet me this week in his office on Park Avenue. Frederator's main office is located in L.A., but Fred and a small staff are here on the East Coast. I was really grateful for his generosity with his time--and the work of his assistant, a producer named Carrie Miller, in setting it up--because I wouldn't have been able to spend that much time with him at KidScreen itself. Frederator's well known for its TV work like Wow! Wow! Wubbzy and Fanboy and Chum Chum (seen below), and now they're looking to expand their Internet and feature presence. I'm crossing my fingers for them to finish a Samurai Jack feature by 2011, and just a day before I met with him they began development on their second feature property.

Fred was full of great advice. Most emphatic was the thought that confidence, attitude, and bearing are often the most important characteristics in this business. Anyone can say they're a director, writer, etc., but only those who have true confidence in their abilities and comport themselves accordingly will succeed. Another interesting fact in his estimation was that writers and producers interested primarily in preschool will be able to make a living here in New York, but for people interested in working on shows in the 6-11 range it really helps to be in Los Angeles. I hadn't thought of the geographical split being an age split as well, but as you start going through names of shows you really do see the difference, with perhaps Playhouse Disney being the biggest exception as they're located entirely around Burbank. He also advised to do as much pro bono work as possible, something I had been hoping to minimize this year but about which I now see his logic--the bigger the portfolio the better--and to write as many spec scripts as possible. Previously when I'd mentioned to people that I have nine specs on my website they at least appear duly impressed, but Fred pointed out that you won't really get good at a particular show until you've written ten spec scripts for it. So then by the time you get to talk to the producer or show runner, you'll be up to speed on it, at least as much as you can without a producer's or show runner's guidance. So write a lot of scripts, and write more than one for a single show you like. That advice alone quadrupled my workload, but the logic--the bigger the portfolio the better--is too compelling to ignore (especially when coming from a Fred Seibert).

Finally, both Fred and Andrew Brenner, and some others, indicated the relative worth of bibles and scripts tips in favor of the latter. A good bible does not guarantee a good show, but several good scripts is a very good indication. And then you can write a bible if you need to, but it's basically a marketing tool, while a script is a part of the show. So that's something I'm going to turn to on shows I'm working on like The Milkshake Show, Puppy and Ducky, and The Depardieus. Many broadcasters say not to go too far before approaching them, but this advice to have scripts done is sound as well. I think the golden mean might be to write as many scripts as you can, to know it as well as you can, and then be extremely flexible and willing to throw that all away if a broadcaster wants to take it another way (and you agree with them it's a good way to go).

That's a nutshell summary of much of the advice, etc., that I heard at KidScreen. I talked with lots of other people who are working on or pitching fantastic looking shows. I wish I could blog about all of them, but evidently I have about twenty scripts to go write. As the recession recedes 2010 should be a fantastic year for children's television!

New York Children's Film Fest Tix On Sale

Some readers may have noticed a drastic decrease in my posting this year, which is simply due to an influx in other work-related activities that have kept me away from blogging. But I did really want to let New York parents know, if they don't already, that tickets for this year's New York International Children's Film Festival go on sale today. The fest consists of staggered screenings held at various venues from February 26 through March. I've been browsing through the selection and once again it looks fantastic. It's been a hard year for independent film and it's really gratifying to see so many youth-oriented works seeing completion and getting shown in theaters.

Here's just a smattering of screenshots:

Things are, as I said, busy around our house, but I think we'll try to see one of the short programs and Turtle: The Incredible Journey, the documentary pictured above.

The full festival schedule and film descriptions are here at www.gkids.tv. It's imperative to buy tickets beforehand rather than at the door because they sell out quickly. Also please notice one of the festival's great charitable operations, which is donating a portion of box office proceeds to New York City schools, which are somewhat underfunded to say the least. Just click on the drop-down menu at the top ("Select My School or Organization...") before selecting your tickets. If you're so inclined you could even select my daughter's school PS 334 The Anderson School, and we parents would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks to the organizers and congratulations to all the filmmakers! I'm looking forward to another great event this year.

Helping Kids in Haiti

Here's a notice by Emily Claire Afan of KidScreen about one way to assist Haitian children. Read the original here.

Searching for ways to contribute to the Haiti relief efforts? Nonprofit Kids In Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) is looking for donations to help out the younger set.

The New York-based charity has already secured US$2 million worth of new products with large donations being made by Jockey, Haddad Brands, Gerber Childrenswear, Kahn Lucas, World Team Tennis and LT Apparel, UGG Australia, Vitamin Shoppe; and Toys 'R' Us.

K.I.D.S. is continuing to work with retailers and manufacturers to obtain donations of new products. The public donate cash at www.KIDSdonations.org or by calling 1-800-266-3314, and the organization is looking for new clothes, socks, underwear and blankets to provide immediate relief to earthquake victims, and any type of new product donations will also be welcome for the coming weeks and months.

Katherine Paterson Named the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

Here's some news from the world of youth literature: the Library of Congress recently named Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved, and numerous other books, the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Here's a little news brief:

A two-time winner of the National Book Award and Newbery Medal, Paterson will serve in this role for 2010-2011, and has selected Read for Your Life as the theme for her platform. She succeeds author Jon Scieszka, who was the first to hold this title (2008-2009). The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature was created to focus on the importance of young people's literature and lifelong literacy, education and development and improving the lives of kids/young adults. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children's Book Council (CBC), and Every Child a Reader, the CBC foundation, are the sponsors of the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature initiative (www.read.gov/cfb/).

Congratulations to Paterson and good luck during her term. For her own work you can check out her website or read a bio and watch a video interview at Reading Rockets, which also has links to other sites about the announcement.

Everyone Loves to Dance

A happy Hanukah, Christmas, and new year to everyone! I'm back from an Internet-less trip to Idaho (even my Blackberry died!) and am ready to catch up on what's been happening over the past couple weeks. I've been writing a fair amount about music lately, and it looks like 2010 will be an even busier year than 2009, at least if the number of announcements and press releases I receive is any indicator (and of course my own email must be a good barometer of the state of the industry!). Unfortunately my own professional obligations have picked up lately and won't allow me to write in as much detail as I'd like about each of these (i.e. full reviews), but here's at least one new album that folks should be aware of.

It's "Everyone Loves to Dance," the sophomore album by L.A.-based musician and educator Aaron Nigel Smith, who you may have seen featured on several episodes of the last season of Between the Lions. It will be officially released in just a few days (Amazon UK says it's today in that area) and adds another flavor to the group of discs I've mentioned lately, this time of the Caribbean variety. The music that I've heard online has a good mix of rock and other genres, but the guest artists are probably a good indicator of what all's in store on the final album, and they include Ziggy Marley, Kevin Ricardson, DJ Drez, and Junior Rhythm from Rhythm Child. Anyone who can get Ziggy Marley to play along making music for kids is definitely worth listening to, and you can do that by giving his album a preview at his Jango music channel here. And of course the best resource on his work in general is his own website.

Also be aware that the live Between the Lions show is touring around to different markets and that Smith is currently a part of that, coming to New York the end of this month and thus getting his year off to a busy start (again, other performances are noted on his site). I look forward to hearing more from him and all the other musicians busy getting their work out this year. Best of luck!

A Barry Louis Polisar Tribute Album - Part 2

If you're into quirky independent cinema, chances are you've already seen this title sequence from the film Juno:

The composer and performer of this song is Barry Louis Polisar, and many folks saw the success of this song--the album won a Grammy for best compilation album--as an overnight success, which it would have been except for the fact that he wrote it about thirty years ago. But the fact is that Polisar is now enjoying an increase in popularity, something well deserved after three decades of entertaining, educating, and singing for kids.

Now some of those kids, all grown up, are returning the favor. In September I wrote about the announcement of a tribute album called "We're Not Kidding"; that post includes a press release with some really good information. The album was finally released on December 4, and it's been well worth the wait. Under the guidance of Radioactive Chicken Heads singer Aaron Cohen, a reported forty-five musicians (including some appearances from Polisar himself) have gotten together to rework and record sixty tracks of Polisar's music. The musicians include a few I've heard of before, like Tor Hyams who I wrote about a couple weeks ago, but for the most part since music isn't my main professional focus it's introducing me to a whole bunch of people who warrant further investigation: the Vespers, J-La, Deleon, Kid Kazooey, Elizabeth Street, Alyssa Robbins, Rutherford B. Hayes Is Dead, Purple Mums, Rebecca Loebe, the Boogers, Tom Vincent, Le Page, Ham & Burger, Jeff Forrest, Haunted Cologne, the Brothers Vilozny, Bonnie Phipps, League of Space Pirates, Your Little Pony, and of course the Barry Louis Polisar Self-Aggrandizement Choir (who sing "The Tushie Song"), plus dozens of others.

The stylistic breadth of the album, which consists of two discs of thirty songs each, is just as broad. The first thing I did was compare the different versions of "All I Want Is You," the song from Juno above (and, yes, Polisar's use of the title predates U2 by quite a while). The Vespers start out the entire album with an amazing rendition, possibly if I dare say it better than Polisar's own: the twangyness and harmonica which give the original much of its flavor is gone in favor of discrete harmonies between the female singers, lending it an air of Alison Krauss singing "Down to the River to Pray" on that other Grammy-winning soundtrack from O Brother, Where Art Thou?. (I was intrigued enough by this number to quickly go to the second disc to hear them sing the more up-tempo "Barnyard Stomp," and they carried that off equally well. According to their My Space page, linked above, their first album will be out in March, so that's something to keep an eye out for.) Closing the entire album is an "All I Want Is You" cover by Noga Vilozny that takes it in the other direction, a rollicking, swinging rock number that puts some boogie into it. The version by Eric Hartereau is pretty traditional except that it's in French, which is quite a kick ("C'est Toi Que J'veux"; all I got out of it was a "femme" and a "toi" or two). And then there's a parody/redux by Polisar himself at the end of the first disc featuring dazzling new lyrics like "...if you were a cow, I'd be the utter." Takes your mind in whole new directions...

Of course, that's not unfamiliar territory for his lyrics. There are plenty of songs like "'Doo-Doo' Is a Bad Word," "I'm a Slug," "Don't Put Your Finger Up Your Nose," and so on that delve into the comic and the disgusting. He's not shy about investigating the darker sides of childhood--mean teachers, not sharing, and so on--but there's plenty on here that's sweet and tranquil as well. Because of some of the more mature lyrics and hard rocking arrangements (heavy on the electric instruments and drum kits), this might be a little much for some of the littler children, but it's on a song by song basis--it's essentially a compilation album, after all. It's probably all good listening for kids in the older crowd, especially if they've been exposed to rock at all before, and some songs are great for the littlest tikes: my Isabelle, who's all of three months, was grooving to the Vespers and Elizabeth Street's "That's What Makes the World Go Round."

One other factor leaning this toward older kids, though, is the vocabulary, which can be pretty challenging. Much of it might go right over kids' heads, but on the other hand it can help them learn and stretch in ways that they might not otherwise; I can still remember a good old Elvis Presley song sending me to the dictionary when I was about ten to look up what a "ghetto" was. They Might Be Giants and other good lyricists do this (that's where I learned about echidnas, for instance), and Polisar seems right at home in that crowd. Besides that the rhymes are catchy and often funny, something making this good listening for parents as well as for kids. The fact that Juno was in no way a kids' movie speaks to the cross-over appeal Polisar's work has.

Here's another review of the album, by Paula Slade, and there's a lot more information, including blurbs from a lot of other reviews, here. I'd like to thank Polisar for letting me know about all of this and all of his personal interest in my work as well; his interest and warmth in the few emails we've exchanged has gone way beyond that of a musician trying to promote his new album. As I've listened to the music I think that kind of attitude has carried over into his own work as well.

At the end of the day it's a compilation album and is therefore a mixed bag, but overall the album's quite excellent and well worth checking out. If you're interested more information is available on his website, and for those of us involved in children's television it's really interesting to check out the clips from his old TV show Field Trip, which won two Emmys in its evidently too-brief run. With all the renewed interest in Polisar's work, perhaps it's time to resurrect this concept as well...

Susan Kim and the Little Airplane Writing Academy

Last Saturday I was able to attend the first ever Little Airplane Academy on Preschool Television Writing, held in downtown New York (Southstreet Seaport) at the studios of Little Airplane Productions, makers of Oobi, The Wonder Pets, 3rd & Bird, and now some new shows like the absolutely fantastic Small Potatoes, seen here. I attended one of their three-day workshops on children's television production last year, but this one-day seminar was the first devoted exclusively to writing. It was run primarily by Susan Kim, a freelance writer for dozens of shows, from Square One back in my own childhood up to modern things like Arthur, Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies, and of course Little Airplane's shows. Susan ran a great workshop: the day was divided essentially into four parts: exercises and activities to help us re-access childhood, to re-understand children and their experiences; a review of screenwriting mechanics and techniques; a discussion of the business of children's television writing; and then a final session with Little Airplane founder Josh Selig about creating and selling original properties.

My main focus in going was to learn more about #3 above--the business of making it in this business--but I assumed that I would have to patiently pass through the creative portions to get there. I was very pleasantly surprised, therefore, at how useful the opening exercises actually turned out to be. When I approach a show or writing assignment I try to think holistically about the curriculum, the characters, the structure, and what would be humorous or engaging for the target age group, but I've never really taken the time to sit back and warm up by reaccessing my own childhood. Writers of novels and poems and other media warm up and keep trim with little prompts and exercises, like free-association exercises, writing quick flash fiction, journaling, etc., so why do I think that a writer of children's television can remain fresh and creative without similar exercises? Also, doing routine exercises like these show real respect for the audience. Since we as authors do not belong to our target demographic--something pretty rare (since usually mystery authors read mystery novels, romance authors read romance novels, etc., but no matter how much Nick Jr. we children's screenwriters watch we still won't ever literally be children again)--it really pays dividends to keep ourselves in touch with what it was like when we did belong to that group. And it helps us avoid cliches, talking down to kids, being pedantic, moralizing, and aping other more successful shows we've seen on the air. It makes the writing more fun.

The exercises I'm talking about were specifically things like writing what we remember about a photo taken during our childhood--who was there; tactile things like what we were wearing, doing, or smelling; how it was taken; where we'd seen it since. Another was remembering a specific object from kindergarten, another what we were afraid of in childhood, something specific that we thought was beautiful, a trip to the beach (or elsewhere), etc. In other words, it's all like an actor accessing his emotion memory through tactile and concrete details, although in our case we're trying to remember what it was like being a child, the universal things that will still apply to children today, their digital nativity notwithstanding. It's a great way to reach farther and farther back in your memory, regaining it with greater clarity, which is pretty cool whether you're a writer or not. Other exercises include trying to write a first-person story in a child's voice, brainstorm or free associate ideas for a kids' show when not working on a specific program or assignment, or anything else that gets you in the groove of respecting, thinking about, and speaking to children on their level. Great stuff.

Much of the mechanics of screenwriting were essentially what I'm familiar with already, although it was nice to follow one episode of 3rd & Bird from concept through premise to outline to script to screen, with examples on paper of all of those. That's great information and is the kind of area that could be explored in greater detail should Little Airplane decide to do a three-day writing seminar.

Concerning the business portion, Susan mentioned some resources I was unfamiliar with like Cynopsis Kids. The three-part pattern she gave for finding and keeping work was: 1) Write two to three specs (I have nine and am working on my tenth, which will hopefully be the last), 2) Locate companies and the right people at them (i.e. story editors and head writers mostly, as well as producers and show runners), and 3) Write a good cover letter and resume. I suppose I need to work on the latter as well as my general hustle of networking, although I have started on three new shows in the past month and am finding myself pretty busy (hence no blogging). Alternatively you can work your way up from a script assistant on a show, which is a job I've found it pretty difficult to get in the first place. You should also join ASCAP and/or BMI if you're ever going to write lyrics, which you probably are. Also, treat your story editor as your greatest ally and friend, and constantly keep them informed about everything you're doing (when you're working for them, that is). So not too much there I'm not in general trying to do, or things I didn't know about like a magical group policy for health insurance for freelance cartoon writers, but again it was nice to learn the new material I wasn't aware of and it still really helped focus my efforts. Oh, and we touched on agents. The best advice I've heard about agents was something I read a few weeks ago in an IFP publication: only take an agent that is really hungry to have you; a disinterested agent is worse than a bad one or none at all. Last Saturday Susan said she does have an agent but she still finds 80-90% of her work herself; she's glad she has an agent, though, for help with the contracts, etc.

I'm running out of time to finish this post, ironically, but I want to mention what Josh talked about in his hour. Hopefully it'll be the subject of a blog or article soon over at Planet Preschool on KidScreen, and I don't want to give anything away that I oughtn't, but here's the general idea. The most striking aphorism he gave us was: "The only difference between a writer and a show creator is a good lawyer." So there's no reason, really, to not become a show creator, so it's time I must start thinking of myself in those terms and not only continue preparing material for the KidScreen Summit in February, which I am, but also start talking to entertainment lawyers, which has always seemed like some far-off concept before.

Long story short about the approach Little Airplane is taking: with Wonder Pets they were still new enough they had to go to Nick and sell the thing outright; it was the only way they could have funded it, and Josh said he wouldn't have changed that because that's just where they were then. Now, however, not only is Little Airplane a more established company, but the nature of children's media has changed drastically over the past seven years. It's become more democratized and egalitarian, with power shifting away from the big broadcasters like Nick, Cartoon Network, and Disney and toward the producers of shows, folks like Little Airplane. So with Small Potatoes they've taken a very different approach that Josh is now calling the Blitz: they're raising funds through state's rights distribution and other outlets (licensing, online, merchandise, publishing, etc.) but they're retaining ownership themselves. And that can make all the difference. So CBeebies bought the UK rights for Small Potatoes (wisely, by the way, because the music video we saw--it's essentially a short-form all-music property--was the cutest and most engaging few minutes of preschool TV I've seen in a long time) and gave them something like 20% of their budget for a season. So now they're talking to everyone under the sun, from other broadcasters to stage troupes to puppet shows to, I don't know, magicians and everyone in between. Using facebook, twitter, etc. to build up buzz. The only drawback of this approach is monetizing it, because twitter doesn't exactly pay for content and no one's going to pay to download a video online. Hopefully it'll bring in enough attention, however, to eventually bring in a major player, one with cash that is, and a deal will be able to be struck with Little Airplane in a much better bargaining position than they were able to have seven years ago. Or the merchandizing takes off, or something else like that.

As a creator unaffiliated with an animation studio or anything I'm going to go ahead and try both approaches as much as I can with the various properties I have in development. I've got to get animators attached before I can go through the online, democratized route, but on the other hand I'd hate to see Nick Preschool snatch up a beautiful property, fire me, and ruin it. Well, let me qualify that, because having a property on Nick wouldn't exactly be heartbreaking, no matter the terms of the agreement, and they worked well, for instance, on the creation of Ni Hao, Kai-lan, which came from a person in a similar situation. Anyway, for those hoards of industry peeps reading this and asking what I'm working on specifically, one example is on some characters developed by the animator Annie Poon, called Puppy and Ducky. A short she made of them for younger kids won an audience choice award at the New Museum and just showed at the last Chicago festival, and we're now working on aging it up for the 6-10 crowd. Check out Puppy's blog for retailer Fred Flare here (although for some reason they only display P&D on Saturdays) and Annie's blog and website. And of course industry folks can contact me about this or my other preschool concepts. Here's a pic of Puppy with his oblivious puppy love, Miss Duck, as drawn by Annie.

But I should end by seriously thanking Susan Kim, Josh Selig, Melinda Richards, and Tone Thyne for all the work they put into the workshop. It was inspiring, focusing, and just the thing I needed to jazz me up and get me from post-MIP to KidScreen.

Roy E. Disney

As many readers will have heard by now, Roy E. Disney, his father's namesake and uncle's near spitting image, died yesterday of stomach cancer at the age of 79. Over the years he's been involved in Walt's and Roy O.'s company, he's been seen as a sort of guardian of the Disney name and brand against the likes of Walt's son-in-law Ron Miller and, later, Michael Eisner & Michael Ovitz. I remember first learning about Roy Jr. when I was a junior high school student enamored with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin in 1993 and I read John Taylor's book Storming the Magic Kingdom about the attempted corporate take over of Disney in the 1980s (yes, I guess I had a touch of nerdishness). Roy was instrumental in retaining control of the firm then as he was just a few years ago in getting Michael Eisner removed after some poor managerial decisions. I don't know that I've been uncritical of Roy's work--heaven knows I'm critical about a lot of things about Disney--but I was essentially a fan of his leadership over the company's animation division, as it was essentially him who was responsible for the aforementioned renaissance in the early 90s and hence the global resurgence in animation that we've seen with Pixar, DreamWorks, and half a gazillion other companies. People might say, oh no, that was Jeffrey Katzenberg, but I don't think that's so much the case: #1) You wouldn't have had Katzenberg at Disney without Roy there first, and #2) I've not been thrilled by anything done at DreamWorks since Katzenberg's own departure from Disney. Of course Disney's slumped as well over the past decade with the rise of 3D CGI (although one should point out it was Roy who helped engineer Disney's union with Pixar a few years ago), but what a thrilling time it was in 1991 to discover the magic of animation and hence of cinema. I've hoed a crooked career path to get where I am today, but it's safe to say I wouldn't be involved in cinema, television, or children's media if it weren't for Beauty and the Beast and, hence, if it weren't for Roy E. Disney. Here are some obituaries:

L.A. Times

Fox

Disney Parks blog

Media Decoder at the New York Times

The regular NY Times obituary

New Kids' Festival in Singapore

I'd like to thank Jade Young of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) for letting me know about the upcoming Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) happening this May in Singapore and--hopefully--traveling around to new countries and venues in the years after that. In this inaugural session the organizers hope to bring together authors, illustrators, filmmakers, television producers, and everyone else involved in creating (or consuming!) children's media in Asia for a few days of workshops, classes, networking opportunities, an Asian Media Market, a Children's Book Award, Children's Writer Award, and other fun activities. There's a little information on this website. The whole program is an offshoot of the ten-year-old Asian Children's Writers & Illustrators Conference, so although this specific event is new the organizers themselves are not neophytes, as the following information from the NBDCS shows:

1. Asian Content for the World’s Children

Over a billion children in Asia lack good resources, both for their education and entertainment. Those who have the means and the access, benefit from a wide selection of edutainment material available from the West. Asian material, even those available, is seldom promoted and is therefore left unexplored. Bringing quality Asian content to children is paramount as it would make children aware of Asia’s unique environment and cultural values, promote understanding of, and love for, the literary and visual arts. It will thereby lay the foundation for a good and all-round education.

Asia is rich in culture and tradition; a heritage from which content could be developed. What’s more, the region has talent to produce content based on these sources. It is therefore critical that an annual programme called the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) be organised to draw the attention of content creators and producers to this vast opportunity AFCC will also showcase content already available, and promote new materials that are produced and published. This will benefit parents, teachers, librarians and children in Asia as well as the world.

For the past 10 years, the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS or The Book Council in short) has organised the Asian Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference (ACWIC) to develop new materials for children. It now aims to expand ACWIC’s reach by including the new initiative that AFCC promises. The Festival, with a series of innovative programmes, seeks to fill the direct need for quality Asian Children’s content worldwide, particularly in Asia.

The inaugural AFCC will be held in Singapore in May 2010 and will be organised by the Book Council and The Arts House.


2. Advisory Board

Ms Claire Chiang, Senior Vice President of Banyan Tree Holdings (Singapore) is the Chairperson of the Board.

Please see Appendix 1 for the full list of members in the Board.

3. Vision, Mission & Objectives

a. Vision

To provide the World’s children with quality Asian content for education and entertainment.

b. Mission

To foster excellence in the creation, production and publication of children’s materials with Asian content in all formats and to facilitate their distribution and access, first in Asia and then to children worldwide.

c. Objectives

• Develop children’s materials with Asian content for information, education and entertainment.
• Promote publishing of Asian children’s content in all formats.
• Provide children in Asia and the world with ready and easy access to Asian content.


4. AFCC Programme Outline

a. Core Programmes (6 & 7 May 2010)

• Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference (ACWIC)
• Asian Children’s Media Mart (ACM) including Asian Children’s Rights Market
• Special programmes, master classes and workshops on a variety of specialised topics
• ASEAN / India Writers and Illustrators Dialogue (AIWID)
• Asia / Australia Writers and Illustrators Network (AWIN)

b. 8 May 2010 (Saturday)

• Primary and Pre-School Teachers Congress (PSTC)
• Asian Children’s Librarians Seminar (ACLS)
• Asian Children’s Publishers Symposium (ACPS)

c. 9 May 2010 (Sunday)

• Asian Parents’ Forum (APF)
• A special session on suitable content for children and young adults

Please see Appendix 2 for the AFCC programme structure.

5. Target Audience

The entire community of children’s content creators in all formats, i.e. aggregators, disseminators, retailers and consumers etc.

• Writers, illustrators, digital artists, producers and designers of children's content, including comics, books, e-books, graphic novels, videos, films and educational games
• Librarians and institutional buyers
• Publishers and broadcast media executives
• Educators, primary and preschool teachers
• Literary agents, translators
• Media distributors and vendors
• Multimedia professionals
• Parents
• Vendors of educational products and services

More than 400 hundred participants from the region are expected to participate in the Festival.


6. Conclusion

Over four exciting days, the AFCC delegates will get to celebrate and learn about Asian children's content in all formats and subjects from diverse sources. It will provide a platform to trade, exchange and access Asian children’s content.

The participants will network with fellow producers of children’s content, as well as meet solution-suppliers from the region.

Very crucially, AFCC provides a unique opportunity for professionals involved in developing Asian content for children to reflect on how these materials could be produced, distributed and effectively used to provide quality education and stimulating entertainment for the young people.


R. Ramachandran
Executive Director
National Book Development Council of Singapore
www.bookcouncil.sg
November, 2009


* I've omitted the appendices, but those interested in more information can contact the NBDCS. Best of luck to the organizers!

Top Kids' Music of 2009

It's that time of year again. Kathy O'Connell of NPR has undertaken to pick out the top ten kids' albums of the year in a story she posted online a week or two ago (yes, I'm perpetually catching up!), as has Jeff Bogle of Time Out New York Kids. I'm always a bit wary of such rankings, but given that all the music listed here is worth knowing about, I wanted to pass it along. At the top of O'Connell's list is the perpetual favorite (and last year's Grammy winner) They Might Be Giants, and both lists include two acts I've posted about before, King Pajama and Milkshake; Bogle also includes Morgan Taylor's newest Gustafer Yellowgold disc. Lunch Money's album Dizzy, their sophomore effort, is at the top of Bogle's list (the album cover is seen below), with They Might Be Giants nowhere to be seen. It just goes to show how subjective this all is, and for my purposes it suffices to say that compared to ten years ago there is a flowering of children's music comparable to that in television. Anyone have any thoughts about a similar trend in children's literature?

Fallen Angels

I'm focusing enough on my own writing and directing, and reading material that directly supports that, that I've completely missed the whole Twilight phenomenon thus far. But about two weeks ago I was watching Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders and had the brief thought that they (meaning the YA people) ought to explore angels (and demons?) to escape from the vampires/werewolves rut. Well, seems I'm a few steps behind the industry because Disney just optioned the film rights to the YA novel Fallen by Lauren Kate. You can read all about it in the Hollywood Reporter.


Now I just wish we could get American teenagers--let alone adults--to actually watch Wings of Desire and Far Away So Close...