Metal Fish Eggs

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the Showcomotion conference in Sheffield, England. The conference was a crash course in the children’s media scene in the UK and I met plenty of interesting folks. 

There were a few excellent speakers showcasing their recent work. Mark Walsh from Pixar gave an excellent behind-the-scenes look at his work on Ratatouille. All through his talk it was clear how dedicated the studio is to producing a great story. Simple reminder of what it takes to create fantastic content. I especially appreciated his response to a question about target audiences and demographics - “We want a story that everyone loves.”

The folks from Little Airplane gave a great talk about their work creating 3rd and Bird. I really appreciated their straight-forward approach to incorporating research into the development of their shows. It was presented as a collaborative, integrated approach. It’s common sense, especially for preschool properties, but here was a producer demonstrating success when it’s done right.

There was a bit of doom and gloom hanging in the air at the conference. I couldn’t help get the feeling of a children’s television industry struggling to maintain itself in the face of regulations, tight budgets and competition from new media. There were a lot of “we’re still relevant” comments that came across as defensive. There was also a good dose of fear mongering about new media and online safety. Of course, this isn’t anything unique to Showcomotion. As far as I’m concerned it’s a distraction from the bigger goal - making great kids media.

The size and format of the conference was excellent. Loads of opportunities to sit and chat with other delegates and a good mix of folks on the panels. There were a handful of independent folks based in the UK creating great stuff. I absolutely loved Pedro and Frankensheep from the Brothers Mcleod. Beautiful design, great dialog. Check it out!