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Theme Festival - Kids Programming

About this Festival

Programming for children remains a vital ingredient of the most successful schedules. This festival takes a look at alternative kids programming from around the world.

Programming Profile

Weathering the storm

12-11-2020

C21 explores how the children’s TV sector coped with the events of 2020 and looks ahead to what studios and distributors have to show after a year of development and remote production.

 

It would be simplistic to suggest that the kids content business has come through Covid-19 without any bumps or bruises. But compared with most sectors inside and outside TV it is weathering the storm pretty well.

 

Animation studios have had to make adjustments to their workflow, but this has meant temporary suspensions rather than cancellations, says Cyber Group Studios CEO Pierre Sissman. “We had a brief pause on our preschool series Gigantosaurus while we got animators set up to work at home, but they soon caught up. People have been working so hard during lockdown that productivity isn’t suffering.”

 

Kids live-action is, in theory, more at risk from the virus. But for the most part, children’s drama productions have fewer moving parts than adult dramas – which makes them more manageable. Viacom Studios UK’s live-action series Goldies Oldies, for example, bounced back from lockdown and re-entered production in the second half of 2020. Wildbrain, meanwhile, has scored strong sales for Malory Towers, a live-action series produced for Family Channel Canada and CBBC in the UK.
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