Nexonius
09-21-2007, 07:35 PM
The Global Cartoon Network (From TV Kids)
http://www.animationmagazine.net/images/articles/cartoon_network_logo_150.gif (http://www.animationmagazine.net/images/articles/cartoon_network_logo_150.gif)
Cartoon Network’s Arnesen
http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/images/Arnesen-big.gif
April 2007
Thanks to its slightly irreverent sense of humor and diverse animation styles, Cartoon Network Europe has established itself as an entertainment destination for children in more than a dozen countries across Europe. Since its launch in 1993, the channel has been taking the best programming from Cartoon Network in the U.S. and has also been co-producing series with international partners. Last year, channel management decided to set up a development-and-production arm in London, and Finn Arnesen, the senior VP of original series and international development for Cartoon Network, is heading up that unit. Arnesen will oversee production in Europe, while sitting on Cartoon Network’s development team in the U.S. He also acts as a liason with the heads of Cartoon Network’s Asian and Latin American channels. With his unique global vantage point he is building Cartoon Network’s roster of properties, making sure that they reach whatever platform or device children are using.
TV KIDS: What motivated the decision to create the original-productions unit?
ARNESEN: Cartoon Network started in the U.S. in 1992, and launched here in Europe in 1993, having acquired the Hanna-Barbera library and the WB and MGM theatrical libraries. Original production started in the States in 1995, first with shorts and then with full-length series. We were having success with the original shows from the U.S.A. and we wanted to re-create that and make hit shows from outside of the U.S.A. too. It was an evolutionary process, which started with local acquisitions and then progressed to international co-productions. In the U.K. we’ve put our programming on the map with the European co-productions the Cramp Twins and Robotboy,and a CGI Aardman co-production, Chop Socky Chooks,thatis due to air on Cartoon Network. Additionally, in 2006 we made our first entirely U.K. in-house-produced show at the network, Skatoony, which mixes animation and live-action, with a second series currently under way.
The Cartoon Network Europe Development Studio opened in London in the first quarter of 2007 and is the result of significant investment from the company, which will allow us to start producing wholly owned properties. With our track record of successful programming, successful acquisition and successful co-production, we’re now taking the next step to fully finance our own shows from here.
TV KIDS: Are you looking to have a certain number of projects in development at any given time?
ARNESEN: There is a three-year plan in place for the development studio, and within that time, we’re aiming to greenlight a minimum of three or four series. We already have some great projects in the pipeline, and it is likely one of these will be greenlit soon. I also want to point out that we are still going to co-produce and we’re always open to ideas. We will therefore continue to work with third parties if we feel it’s the right property. The studio is an exciting development for the industry and shows Cartoon Network’s commitment to the future of U.K. kids’ programming.
TV KIDS: I imagine that what comes out of the London studio can be used by other Cartoon Network channels as they see fit, right?
ARNESEN: Absolutely, that’s how it works for us now. I’m in a privileged position whereby I sit on both sides of the Atlantic. I’m involved in the commissioning process in the U.S. for our global networks and I’m involved in the commissioning process for our work here in London, which in turn can serve our global networks. The idea is for these shows to work across the world. You can never please all of the people all of the time, as Cartoon Network’s audiences are wide and diverse across the world, but if you put your core audience first, and make a show that is relevant to most kids across the world, you stand a fair chance. There will always be markets where a show doesn’t work as well, but it’s wholly our intention that the shows we greenlight at the studio in London will work on all our channels across the world.
TV KIDS: Will the shows produced in London have a somewhat different flavor or style than what is produced by Cartoon Network in Burbank?
ARNESEN: That’s an interesting point, because we always say, “Global brand, regional accent,” but of course, there’s a certain [local] sensibility. What works on our French, Spanish or Italian networks, for example, doesn’t always work on our U.S. or U.K. networks. Obviously, if you’ve been raised in the U.K., or Continental Europe, you’re going to have a different perspective than somebody raised in L.A. or New York. It sometimes comes through from the people who are pitching to us and through their own cultural heritage. I always point to the fact that The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, The Powerpuff Girls, South Park and The Simpsons work internationally, to name a few. In general, most kids around the world will laugh at the same things: slapstick humor, someone falling over, issues relevant to their lives as kids, all things that are universally funny or important to kids. It’s about good characters and stories and whether you can keep kids’ attention.
TV KIDS: How are you attracting talent to the studio in London?
ARNESEN: Daniel Lennard, the VP of original series and development, is heading up the development studio and is meeting with exciting design and storyboard talent from the animation industry, including TV series, features and commercials. There is a two-tiered approach.... On the one hand, Daniel’s team is searching for candidates to be a part of the development studio, but they’re also sourcing talent for when the development projects are greenlit and move forward into production. In order to stay ahead of the game, they’ve also established links with the most exciting European animation colleges. Generally speaking, though, we haven’t needed to do much to attract talent to the studio, because we initially hired some great development artists and word of mouth spreads quickly throughout the U.K. animation industry. There’s a genuine curiosity about what Cartoon Network Europe’s development studio will come up with, and a desire to be part of whatever that might be.
TV KIDS: How important are mobile and broadband and other new-media extensions nowadays?
ARNESEN: New media is fundamental in today’s market. I must admit I was pretty resistant to the claims of the “Internet revolution” about five years ago that said kids would come home and watch our cartoons on the PC or on handheld [devices]. However, both technology and kids are now at the right time for it, and to keep abreast of where we’ll be five years from now, we’re actively embracing a market that is growing fast. Really it’s about content, and while I still maintain that TV is not about to be usurped, because it provides a shared viewing experience, there is a place for all platforms, whether web, broadband, VOD, mobile or video MP3, to co-exist. Now new media is here for real, and obviously everyone’s monitoring video-sharing and social-networking sites, and the impact they have on delivery systems and access to content. All the varying platforms mean that program rights are also key going forward. Obviously, it’s about providing a 360-degree solution. If we’re making a show, we’ll look at putting it on our broadband site, we’ll look to putting it on VOD, we’ll create a game that our audience can play online, and then we’ll drive them back to the network. Our properties should always be multiplatform. People are sick of me saying this, but our mantra is, “Be in every space kids are.” If kids are downloading programming to a handheld, mobile or MP3, and watching it on the bus to school, we should have our content there, available to them. So it’s a big part of what we do and it can only grow.
New media provides an enhancement to TV programming and it can drive both ways. One of the best testaments is when people start mashing up your own content, because that means people want to actually play around with your programming and characters and they’re paying attention to them. I know the audience for that is older than our core audience, but it will eventually trickle down to younger kids. So my attitude towards new media is that it’s an enhancement, it’s there, it’s not a bolt on. It’s part of the whole process and you have to acknowledge it when you’re commissioning a show. I believe if you have a great story and character, then that content or an iteration of that content can exist everywhere and the licensing and merchandising and all the ancillaries will follow.
SOURCE: World Screen
http://www.worldscreen.com/interviewscurrent.php?filename=arensen0407.htm
http://www.animationmagazine.net/images/articles/cartoon_network_logo_150.gif (http://www.animationmagazine.net/images/articles/cartoon_network_logo_150.gif)
Cartoon Network’s Arnesen
http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/images/Arnesen-big.gif
April 2007
Thanks to its slightly irreverent sense of humor and diverse animation styles, Cartoon Network Europe has established itself as an entertainment destination for children in more than a dozen countries across Europe. Since its launch in 1993, the channel has been taking the best programming from Cartoon Network in the U.S. and has also been co-producing series with international partners. Last year, channel management decided to set up a development-and-production arm in London, and Finn Arnesen, the senior VP of original series and international development for Cartoon Network, is heading up that unit. Arnesen will oversee production in Europe, while sitting on Cartoon Network’s development team in the U.S. He also acts as a liason with the heads of Cartoon Network’s Asian and Latin American channels. With his unique global vantage point he is building Cartoon Network’s roster of properties, making sure that they reach whatever platform or device children are using.
TV KIDS: What motivated the decision to create the original-productions unit?
ARNESEN: Cartoon Network started in the U.S. in 1992, and launched here in Europe in 1993, having acquired the Hanna-Barbera library and the WB and MGM theatrical libraries. Original production started in the States in 1995, first with shorts and then with full-length series. We were having success with the original shows from the U.S.A. and we wanted to re-create that and make hit shows from outside of the U.S.A. too. It was an evolutionary process, which started with local acquisitions and then progressed to international co-productions. In the U.K. we’ve put our programming on the map with the European co-productions the Cramp Twins and Robotboy,and a CGI Aardman co-production, Chop Socky Chooks,thatis due to air on Cartoon Network. Additionally, in 2006 we made our first entirely U.K. in-house-produced show at the network, Skatoony, which mixes animation and live-action, with a second series currently under way.
The Cartoon Network Europe Development Studio opened in London in the first quarter of 2007 and is the result of significant investment from the company, which will allow us to start producing wholly owned properties. With our track record of successful programming, successful acquisition and successful co-production, we’re now taking the next step to fully finance our own shows from here.
TV KIDS: Are you looking to have a certain number of projects in development at any given time?
ARNESEN: There is a three-year plan in place for the development studio, and within that time, we’re aiming to greenlight a minimum of three or four series. We already have some great projects in the pipeline, and it is likely one of these will be greenlit soon. I also want to point out that we are still going to co-produce and we’re always open to ideas. We will therefore continue to work with third parties if we feel it’s the right property. The studio is an exciting development for the industry and shows Cartoon Network’s commitment to the future of U.K. kids’ programming.
TV KIDS: I imagine that what comes out of the London studio can be used by other Cartoon Network channels as they see fit, right?
ARNESEN: Absolutely, that’s how it works for us now. I’m in a privileged position whereby I sit on both sides of the Atlantic. I’m involved in the commissioning process in the U.S. for our global networks and I’m involved in the commissioning process for our work here in London, which in turn can serve our global networks. The idea is for these shows to work across the world. You can never please all of the people all of the time, as Cartoon Network’s audiences are wide and diverse across the world, but if you put your core audience first, and make a show that is relevant to most kids across the world, you stand a fair chance. There will always be markets where a show doesn’t work as well, but it’s wholly our intention that the shows we greenlight at the studio in London will work on all our channels across the world.
TV KIDS: Will the shows produced in London have a somewhat different flavor or style than what is produced by Cartoon Network in Burbank?
ARNESEN: That’s an interesting point, because we always say, “Global brand, regional accent,” but of course, there’s a certain [local] sensibility. What works on our French, Spanish or Italian networks, for example, doesn’t always work on our U.S. or U.K. networks. Obviously, if you’ve been raised in the U.K., or Continental Europe, you’re going to have a different perspective than somebody raised in L.A. or New York. It sometimes comes through from the people who are pitching to us and through their own cultural heritage. I always point to the fact that The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, The Powerpuff Girls, South Park and The Simpsons work internationally, to name a few. In general, most kids around the world will laugh at the same things: slapstick humor, someone falling over, issues relevant to their lives as kids, all things that are universally funny or important to kids. It’s about good characters and stories and whether you can keep kids’ attention.
TV KIDS: How are you attracting talent to the studio in London?
ARNESEN: Daniel Lennard, the VP of original series and development, is heading up the development studio and is meeting with exciting design and storyboard talent from the animation industry, including TV series, features and commercials. There is a two-tiered approach.... On the one hand, Daniel’s team is searching for candidates to be a part of the development studio, but they’re also sourcing talent for when the development projects are greenlit and move forward into production. In order to stay ahead of the game, they’ve also established links with the most exciting European animation colleges. Generally speaking, though, we haven’t needed to do much to attract talent to the studio, because we initially hired some great development artists and word of mouth spreads quickly throughout the U.K. animation industry. There’s a genuine curiosity about what Cartoon Network Europe’s development studio will come up with, and a desire to be part of whatever that might be.
TV KIDS: How important are mobile and broadband and other new-media extensions nowadays?
ARNESEN: New media is fundamental in today’s market. I must admit I was pretty resistant to the claims of the “Internet revolution” about five years ago that said kids would come home and watch our cartoons on the PC or on handheld [devices]. However, both technology and kids are now at the right time for it, and to keep abreast of where we’ll be five years from now, we’re actively embracing a market that is growing fast. Really it’s about content, and while I still maintain that TV is not about to be usurped, because it provides a shared viewing experience, there is a place for all platforms, whether web, broadband, VOD, mobile or video MP3, to co-exist. Now new media is here for real, and obviously everyone’s monitoring video-sharing and social-networking sites, and the impact they have on delivery systems and access to content. All the varying platforms mean that program rights are also key going forward. Obviously, it’s about providing a 360-degree solution. If we’re making a show, we’ll look at putting it on our broadband site, we’ll look to putting it on VOD, we’ll create a game that our audience can play online, and then we’ll drive them back to the network. Our properties should always be multiplatform. People are sick of me saying this, but our mantra is, “Be in every space kids are.” If kids are downloading programming to a handheld, mobile or MP3, and watching it on the bus to school, we should have our content there, available to them. So it’s a big part of what we do and it can only grow.
New media provides an enhancement to TV programming and it can drive both ways. One of the best testaments is when people start mashing up your own content, because that means people want to actually play around with your programming and characters and they’re paying attention to them. I know the audience for that is older than our core audience, but it will eventually trickle down to younger kids. So my attitude towards new media is that it’s an enhancement, it’s there, it’s not a bolt on. It’s part of the whole process and you have to acknowledge it when you’re commissioning a show. I believe if you have a great story and character, then that content or an iteration of that content can exist everywhere and the licensing and merchandising and all the ancillaries will follow.
SOURCE: World Screen
http://www.worldscreen.com/interviewscurrent.php?filename=arensen0407.htm