We talk secret recipes to preschool show success, why character is still king and how his new show Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave is scoring well with licensees.
Let’s kick off by getting the story behind the creation of Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave…
The starting point for the show were the work sheets my kids brought home from preschool. Simple multiple choice visual pages where you ringed or coloured in the right answers. I thought it would be fun to create a multiple choice preschool show where the choices of answer were not A, B or C – but instead, three characters, who became, Ruff-Ruff, Tweet or Dave. So the three characters give different answers to a simple question, and the young audience shout out who is right.
In your opinion, how does it differ from other preschool shows out there currently? What is its USP?
The simplicity of a format that repeatedly connects the audience to the principal characters by shouting out their names is key to the show’s appeal. Kids feel great about themselves when they get an answer right. And in this show too, when they get an answer wrong, they see that they are not alone, as two of the three characters got the answer wrong too. And that’s okay. They all tried, and they might get things right next time. Getting things wrong as a child is an important part of the journey to getting things right, and our show embraces that fact.
What kind of reaction have you had to the show, both from retailers and broadcasters?
In the summer, I was invited to two days of focus group testing of the show in New York, with both parents and children, by our US broadcaster, Sprout. The show scored extremely highly, and was proven to be liked by both boys and girls equally. Parents enjoyed the reflective glory of seeing their children answer the questions correctly and were pleased to have their children have an interactive, rather than passive viewing experience. As the main characters are furry – it has become a natural for plush – which is leading the merchandising roll out, along with magazine publishing. It’s also doing well on CBeebies in the UK.
How has the preschool market changed in the time you have been creating shows?
From a creative standpoint, children are far more media savvy. They understand film structure from an earlier age, meaning that the pace of shows has become faster, and storytelling more sophisticated for younger audiences. Commissions of 52 episodes is now common place, as shows are stripped every day of the week. This means our production scheduling has to be carefully planned to maintain quality.
What kind of challenges now exist that perhaps didn’t when you started your career?
Over the years, creators and producers of preschool have had to cast their net wider and wider to find 100% of the show’s budget. Long gone are the days of near 100% finance from the home broadcasters. By pre-selling shows around the world, one has to careful not to homogenise a show to too great a degree and one has to be protective of your core idea in the development process. Also, there is now an expectation that a show can be ‘monetised’ away from television, through the various categories of merchandising. Again, this can skew the creative on a show; or if the potential for merchandising isn’t seen, then an otherwise great show may not get made.
What kind of things need to be included to give a preschool show as good a chance of success as possible, in your opinion?
A show is made up of three overlapping elements, format, characters and stories. The format is the hidden skeleton, generic to each episode, including elements of repeatable moments that young children love to see. The more preschool you go, the more up front these generic elements are. But it is the characters that are the stars. Young children need to connect with the main character, or characters, empathise with them, and want to be their friend. You can tell a fairly generic story in preschool, the point of difference is that the story is happening to that character and that world. How your character reacts to being at the centre of that story is the true point of difference. As to a show becoming a success – that’s alchemy. No-one ever knows which show will take off.
Was consumer products a consideration throughout the Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave creation process?
A show needs a core concept that finance partners can immediately see has potential outside of television. An element of box ticking goes on; which doesn’t necessarily play out in reality. It doesn’t matter how many ‘play patterns’ or ‘toyetic’ vehicles you put in a show, the main tick box is character! Characters set in a world that connect emotionally with the children. We always wanted Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave to be ‘fluffy’ characters, softer than your usual CGI look, and that seems to have gone very well with the plush people. On top of that, with Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave we did give them vehicles that are used and name-checked in each episode. So yes, we did think through the consumer angle, but we made things integral to the DNA of the show, rather than believing kids would take to the show because of them.
What would you like to have achieved with Ruff-Ruff Tweet and Dave by the end of 2015? And what are your hopes for longer term with the brand?
Building a brand is a long process, and we are working with Rocket Licensing to bring things to market in 2016; leading with talking plush of the main characters in the first quarter of 2016. Publishing and apparel will follow on behind. The show is driven by television, so repeats of the existing series and continuing re-commissions always help with merchandising; making buyers comfortable in the knowledge that the show will remain on air.
