LAFFERS DANCE - Kidscreen

While producers from Paris to Melbourne are eager to duplicate
the successes of Disney, they soon discover that live-action
comedy is not as fi nancially advantageous as animation for a
number of other reasons.
“In general, animation is still probably more expensive to
produce than live action,” says Miles. She puts the half-hour rate
at between US$200,000 and US$250,000, whereas animation
usually starts at US$350,000 per half hour.
That said, Miles may be underestimating costs. Beth Stevenson,
a partner at Toronto, Canada’s Decode Entertainment,
says her company can produce world-class animation for around
US$300,000 per half hour, “but it’s very diffi cult to do live action
for that.” When you’re looking at competing with in-house
series from the likes of Disney and Nick that sport high production
values and budgets in the US$400,000 to
US$500,000 range, she says indie production
budgets have to increase accordingly.
Additionally, Stevenson points to the Mouse’s casting genius
(see “Star search: Tips from Disney’s top talent hunter” on page
41) as the real reason for its standout success. “Nobody touches
Disney in this area,” she says. “It’s not even a formula that it uses;
it’s an instinct that it has.” The company, she explains, has an
uncanny ability to bring kids to the screen that “other kids want
to be and want to hang out with.”
Another major fi nancial drawback of live-action comedy, when
compared to animation, is that it typically has a much shorter shelf
life that restricts back-catalogue distribution sales to a limited four-
or fi ve-year window. With fashion and style moving at lightning
speed, shows featuring kids sporting modern-day duds are far more
38 JANUARY 2007
Bel’s Boys
susceptible to becoming outdated. Lame clothes simply won’t do
for the fashion-conscious tween target.
This also makes it tougher to compete with animation. “It’s
not that the overall budgets are that far off, but when you factor
in the playability and functionality [of live action], it becomes
more expensive than animation,” says Phil Piazza, VP of programming
and business development for Corus Children’s Television.
Right now, he’s scouting for family-driven gender-neutral
comedies with limited success. “Really, the next Malcolm in the
Middle is what we are looking for.” He has yet to fi nd it.
The other kink that might give producers pause before they
consider sinking capital into live-action series is that even the
hot stuff has very limited merchandising potential, narrowing
one’s fi nancing options signifi cantly.
“You’re looking at competing with
in-house series from Disney
and Nick that sport high
production values and
budgets in the US$400,000
to US$500,000 range.”
Beth Stevenson, Decode
The rules of tween engagement
If the economics aren’t great, the product doesn’t travel well
from international territories to North America, and there’s no
real back-end merch pay-off, then why bother?
The answer comes down to audience. Tweens, especially
girls, are eager to see themselves on the same screen they have
been watching since they were in diapers.
Hahn confi rms that Nick’s tween viewer appetite for lighthearted
live-action fare continues to grow. “It’s extremely hot
right now,” she says, adding that shows such as Zoey 101, starring
Britney Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn as the only girl in an allboys
boarding school, consistently ranks high in both ratings and
viewer feedback. The series airs in more than 100 territories and
is one of the top-rated shows for the demo in every one of them;
it’s garnered top-10 rankings in the U.K., Australia, Colombia and
Brazil. Hahn credits the program’s ability to speak to tweens in a
language they can understand for its success.
“[Zoey] deals with topics and issues common to tweens around
the world like school, dating, friends and social activities,” says
Hahn. Also, its producers pay particular attention to fashion and
music, two international pillars of the tween girl lifestyle.