The fi ne art of style guide design The fi ne art of style guide design

C E L E B R A T I N G 1 0 Y E A R S • S P O N S O R E D S U P P L E M E N T
NATURALLY SADIE: 65 episodes x 22 minutes
Charlotte Arnold as budding naturalist, Sadie Hawthorne
© 2005 DECODE/Sadie Productions 2 Inc
in other areas of kids or teen production, but we looked
outside of that pool,” Stevenson says.
While most decade-old production companies have
only recently dived into creating an interactive division,
Decode started to build websites for its programming before
broadband was widespread. “In fact, convincing broadcasters
they should not just take our websites or our characters for
their own sites but buy them was an interesting fi rst step,”
DeNure says, adding broadcasters today wouldn’t even think
about picking up a show without fi rst thinking about the
online component.
And speaking of Decode’s clients, it’s a more competitive
world not only from the number of kids cablesat channels
but also new screens such as mobile, iPods and gaming.
Court says Decode has responded to this challenge by upping
the offer of its non-broadcast content of its shows.
Stevenson says Decode’s next step is exploring interactive
play with portable devices. The content can now be bigger
and better because kids can download faster and on different
handhelds. “Kids are more pliable and they’re the best testing
ground for innovative material and how they use content,”
she says. “We’re super excited because the screens are more
prolifi c and they can go into new and interesting places.”
And one place Decode has broken through is on the TV
screens with Dudson’s Modern Tales in Toronto’s subway
“Even though Steven
had 11 years of putting
together some of the
most important live
action shows ever seen
in Canada, and I had a
history in primetime,
people were like,
Decode? Live action?”
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