The world premiere TV screening of Thomas and Friends:Big World!Big Adventures!’ was presented by Mattel Creations on October 15. They also hosted the MIPJunior welcoming party where a lovely train took all the guests to the party from JW Marriot to Majestic Hotel. The ride was indeed enjoyable. They gave goodies related to the series. Animation Xpress team had a good time at the party. We clicked a lot of pictures and the food was awesome!
Frederator Networks CEO and president Fred Seibert’s keynote was also a major highlight of MIPJunior 2017 where he highlighted that adults are watching more kids content and vice versa. Content does not need to be short to work well in digital platform.Some of the major highlights of his talk were.1) Only short content don’t do well in digital platforms 2) Content appealing to an individual is stronger than universal one. 3)Audiences are kings in terms of deciding the content and programming strategies.“Linear TV have not changed during the last 20 years. It is using the same programming models, with 30’ series, always same scheduled. We can’t be afraid of changes, if you ever think that something new can be bad for your business, you are probably in the wrong business,” he
The audience thoroughly enjoyed MIP Junior International pitch competition which saw five finalists stop motion series Big Five from Tak Toon Enterprises(South Korea), pre school animation Catcha! from Untref Media(Argentina), app adaptation Dr Panda from Dr Panda Productions(US) and animated buddy series Stinky Dog from from Dandaloo France. Out of all these entries BOXWARS an unscripted comedy game show from Australia’s Bogan Entertainment emerged victorius at MIP Junior International Pitch. Interestingly they gave a presentation with a full size Roman legionnaire’s costume made of cardboard. The jury called it innovative and with lot of potential.
At a special keynote, Netflix head of global kids content Andy Yeatman emphasised that fantasy, universal themes, series with an easy, understandable, highly visual and physical hook are the hot topics today. He said, “ We are looking for top IPs in local markets, formats that travel well, top studios and creators, differentiated shows and premium content.We passed from 2 titles in 2013 (1 animation and 1 live action) to 37 in 2017(5 live action series, 19 animations and 11 preschool series).There was a big announcement about Netflix acquiring the broadcast rights of Mighty Little Bheem of GreenGold Animation. We met and congratulated the very inspiring Rajeev Chillaka who was beaming with this grand success.
Russian Export Centre organised “Snack and Screen” where several animated shows were shown on the screen. There were total 9 production companies who were a part of it. And trust me it was enjoyable watching those cute animated films! There were two series targeted toward 8 to 12 years old girls and 6 series for pre schoolers. It included environment friendly shows and those appealing the whole family. Snacks were given at the end of the seminar in lines with the snack n screen concept. More news awaits for you from MIPJunior 2017. Keep reading!
