Cheeky Little Media’s Patrick Egerton – creator of Kazoops – on the highs and lows of launching a new property.
New preschool show Kazoops is starting to make in-roads into the licensing space, thanks to Art + Science International, but what goes into the making of a brand new property?
We chat to executive producer at Cheeky Little Media – Patrick Egerton – about the highs and lows of creating a new animation and where consumer products fits into the story.
What are the challenges faced when creating a new animated preschool property? Any highs and lows?
It’s a hugely competitive and overcrowded market. The odds are really stacked against you, so a state of blind and blissful optimism is advisable if you want to keep your sanity and stay the course.
There are lots of highs. Those creative breakthroughs are priceless, when a final creative element clicks into place to make the whole concept sing. The cork-popping call or email from a broadcaster confirming they are onboard with a pre-buy that closes your finances and launches you into production. Or once in production, the moment you first see your characters walking and talking is pure magic. Best to learn from the lows and then forget about them. So sorry, can’t remember any.
Was merchandise a strong consideration for the team when the show was being conceived?
Not at the outset. Merchandise is one of many ways to express an idea, but it’s not the idea itself, so it can get in the way if you make it a core driver when forming a new concept.
Cheeky Little is definitely focused on creating IP with strong commercial potential to become evergreen brands, but the idea must come first and if it’s good enough then hopefully merchandise opportunities will flow.
That said, licensing and merchandising is the biggest potential source of revenue for a producer retaining rights in their IP, so once you have a solid concept it’s worth working with good L&M partners to ensure you’re not overlooking possibilities that could make your property a better platform for merchandise.
With Kazoops, once we were confident in the core show concept and characters, we found the merchandising elements were already baked in anyway so it was just a matter of defining them for potential commercial partners.
How do you convince broadcasters, licensees and retailers to back a completely new property in the current market?
First and foremost you need a unique concept that really makes your heart beat, because that’s infectious. It must be clearly expressible in a handful of words and images, or there’s probably in a flaw in it, and you need to know what demographic you’re targeting.
A thick skin and lots of passion helps to keep you going, but you must also be open to feedback and learn to distinguish comments that will make your concept stronger rather than doggedly assuming that you know everything.
Potential partners need to see you as a plausible producer that is able deliver the property to market. They also want assurance that you’re a willing collaborator, open to working with them to develop the show or brand for their audience or market. Lastly, do your research to make sure there’s nothing else like your property already out there.
What’s your current take on the market and the rise of digital platforms such as Netflix?
The market has changed radically in the last five years and the impact of that is now playing out.
Platforms like Netflix have certainly disrupted the status quo and that’s been positive for producers seeking new ways to fund production and find audiences for their content, especially the increased ability to simultaneously launch a show in multiple languages worldwide.
That said we’re now in a transition phase. For a while broadcasters were prepared to control traditional broadcast rights and co-exist with SVOD platforms controlling on-demand, but that is no longer the case and now all platforms are contesting the same ground because that’s where the audiences are going. This is causing some challenges for producers and distributors, so it will be interesting to see how it resolves.
