Cynopsis: Kids!
09/24/12

Good morning. It’s Monday, September 24, 2012, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Answering a few of our questions today is Susan Magsamen, Founder and CEO of Curiosityville (www.curiosityville.com), a recently launched on and offline personalized play and learning environment designed specifically for K3-8 and their parents/caregivers. Magsamen is also a noted writer and advisor on learning, creativity, the arts, and family engagement. She is president of the board of L-rn (Learning Resource Network), a new online resource for parents, educators, and child-service providers, and president of the Ultimate Block Party, a national movement that aims to bring the science of play and learning to life. She is also the director of interdisciplinary partnerships at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Brain Science Institute, and serves on a number of boards for non-profit organizations. She previously founded FamilyStories, a collection of resources for families, and Curiosity Kits, a supplemental learning company creating multi-sensory learning activities for kids.

Why did you create Curiosityville?

The short answer is that I believe that it is within our grasp to help all children reach their full potential through learning and education.  And this will make the world a better place for everyone. I want to make a difference by empowering children to use their enormous capacity and creativity to change the world.

What is The Learning Tree concept within Curiosityville and how does it work?

The idea is simple – take the guesswork out of what skills your child is learning and support them with real world at-home experiences to reinforce online concepts and learning. The Learning Tree captures real time playful learning of every child and reports this information to parents in 10 core learning areas.

How did you go about designing the primary six animated characters featured on Curiosityville? Did you work with kids, parents, animators, and/or childhood development experts?

The characters and narrative are at the heart of Curiosityville. Based on significant literature on archetypes, child development and attachment research, we mapped out the initial framework for each character – from personality, character traits, careers, hobbies and nationalities. From the beginning we wanted to create a global community that reflects the diverse culture and belief systems we live in. We then identified animals that reflect each archetype. From here to take these prototypes to kids and parents and the fun really began. We had a cow and they wanted a cat. We were in felt and they wanted them to be super soft and cuddly. There were requests for smaller arms and bigger butts. Kids created the characters  moving forward we will continue to have children lead our development. The animators had the difficult job of embodying the essence and spirit of each character. It took us a 100-voice test to find Pablo’s voice.

Not to be too skeptical  but – there are a lot of demands on parents, grandparents and caregivers today. Is there a way to determine if adults are actually using the tracking and guidance abilities built into Curiosityville?

Totally agree – parents are overwhelmed and one more thing to do is not the answer. Think of Curiosityville as a targeted tool to give parents instant information, ideas and activities at their fingertips to do anytime, anywhere. Parents can feel good about their children playing and having fun as they are learning. We have developed a number of communications tools that provide parents with getting answers to their most pressing needs from experts in ever-relevant field. Curiosityville is a platform for early learning and there is a spectrum of resources available depending on families needs.

What is the best way for a parent or teacher to understand how a child plays in order to better direct that child’s energies to educational games or activities that will better suit them and support their learning style?

Kids are great at seeking out what works for them. Exposing kids to lots of experiences lets them see what there is in the world and they can begin to self-select. Give them time to explore and discover for themselves. Once you see there is passion and interest, help them find resources to support emerging ideas. We learn best from our strengths and the ability to be able to experiment is essential in figuring out our strengths. One of the best things that Curiosityville does is show a parent where a child is spending time. Some kids gravitate to math, others to art or stories.  Some kids love science! A parent can see this by day, week or month and we make recommendations to support what a child is doing off line for a parent’s convenience.

When you think about video games, board games, apps etc., what makes a great educational game? For preschoolers? For kids 6-1? For tweens?

Interactivity and engagement at all ages is essential. Combining fun with interesting content and a challenge will bring kids coming back over and over again.

What do you hope to accomplish through Curiosityville’s partnerships with companies and organizations such as National Geographic Kids, The Goddard School for Early Education and The Association of Children’s Museums?

It takes a village to raise a child and we are creating a village online and in the real world.  National Geographic Kids has created some of the best content and delivered it with extraordinary skill. Curiosityville provide NGS families with more learning opportunities and Curiosityville families with great adventures. With Goddard we are interested in building the home to school connection. Empowered, knowledgeable parents are powerful partners. The Association of Children’s Museums represent THE place where families come for hands on learning. Curiosityville expands this experience at home and the museum experience builds on skills being developed in our online world. We are thrilled with these relationships and look forward to build these and more.

All of this sounds remarkable, but what about the kid who just loves playing with the cardboard box that the toy came in?

It is not an either or but both. Curiosityville is as much about real world experiences as online skills exposure and development. In fact, I would be very unhappy if children spent too much time on the computer. Yes, we want kids to play and learn in the Curiosityville world. But, we have very important screen time limitations based on NAEYC and Fred Rogers recommendations. Learning required practice so bring on the cardboard boxes and lets build a city, through in the toilet paper rolls and pretend they are the arms of a robot. Pots and pan bands are welcome to join. Technology is not the answer but it is a tool to be used to create a comprehensive, blended solution and I believe in combination we are looking at the future of learning.

What were your favorite games as a kid?

I loved them all! I spent many weekends playing gin rummy with my grandparents and sisters. The adrenaline of flashlight tag with neighborhood friends is still a great memory. Jacks, checkers, chess, backgammon were always in the house. My mom loved puzzles and we would work on crazy large puzzles for weeks and months. And the traditional board games like Scrabble, Monopoly, and Pictionary, UNO were always family night specials. We recently started playing a game called Apples to Apples with our grown up kids. Games and activities are so much fun and you learn a lot about yourself, others and the world. 

LICENSING

Scholastic inks a deal with kid’s publisher Albert Whitman & Company to offer a collection of Whitman’s books on Scholastic’s eReading app for kids, Storia (www.scholastic.com/storia), beginning spring 2013. Storia is available for free download on PC, iPad or Android tablets – with more platforms to come later this fall – and offers 2,000+ titles for kids (toddlers  teens) with content added weekly. Albert Whitman & Company titles that will be offered on Storia include When I Feel Angry (written by Cornelia Maude Spelman, illustrated by Kathy Parkinson), Lulu and the Duck in the Park (written by Hilary McKay, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont), A Kiss Means I Love You (written by Kathryn Madeline Allen, photographs by Eric Futran), Miss Fox’s Class Goes Green (written by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Anne Kennedy), among many other fiction and nonfiction titles. Scholastic is currently working on deals with several other publishers to offer their front- and backlist titles on Storia.

For 25 years folks have been asking Where’s Waldo? Classic Media will celebrate Where’s Waldo’s worldwide 25th Anniversary with 25 Ways to Show Your Stripes, which includes events, products and partnerships across fashion, travel, media and sports categories. Some of these partnerships and projects include: Waldo eyeglasses from licensee Warby Parker (US); kids can search for Waldo throughout London’s Wembley Stadium (UK) during the October school holiday; The Where’s Waldo? On The Beach scene will be featured on David Ragan’s No. 34 Car at the NASCAR Sprint Series on October 28; and limited edition die-cast Waldo cars from Lionel NASCAR Collectables (US) debut too; Waldo will also take flight on Virgin Atlantic this fall; set for publication this year is the 25th Anniversary Edition of Where’s Waldo? from Walker Books (UK and Australia) and Candlewick Press (US); a limited edition Waldo and Wenda inspired camera from Lomography, a Magazine, a Shop, and a Community dedicated to analog photography (UK); Waldo can be found in France (where he’s is known as Charlie) in Le Journal de Mickey and Gulli magazines and at the Kids Expo in Paris (October 2730); Where’s Waldo? search-and-find apps, The Fantastic Journey and In Hollywood, available from Ludia for iOS are releasing worldwide; and there will be Waldo, Wenda and Woof Halloween costumes available worldwide too; limited edition Where’s Waldo? T-shirts and scarves from Comme des Garcons; a new line of search-and-find board games and puzzles from LF Products’ Techno Source in the US; and fans can create and share a Waldo avatar at www.whereswaldo.com in the US (with sites also set up for the UK, France and Australia too). Where’s Waldo was created by Martin Handford, and first published in 1987 by Walker Books. Some 58+ million Where’s Waldo (character name depending on the country) books have been sold worldwide in 38+ countries, and the books have been translated into 30 languages.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Cynopsis: Kids People Awards

Entry Deadline: October 10, 2012

Late Submissions: October 15, 2012

Awards Event: December 11, 2012 (Scholastic, NYC)

Visit our website for additional information on:

Who Should Enter, How to Enter, Eligibility Period, Categories, Deadlines, Sponsorship Opportunities, Contact Information + FAQ’s.

MARKETING

BBC Worldwide inks a deal with Emirates, an international airline, to launch CBeebies as the airline’s first branded channel for preschoolers. Emirates will launch the new CBeebies in-flight channel on November 1, 2012, featuring series including Charlie and Lola, Nina and the Neurons, Andy’s Wild Adventures, Baby Jake and Mr Bloom’s Nursery. The airline also offers a range of other BBC programming content on its flights.

Italy’s Atlantyca Entertainment (Geronimo Stilton) and Spain’s popular daily newspaper, El Pais, team for a promotion to release a series of Bat Pat book titles. Brokered by Random House Mondadori, the deal will see El País offer its readers 15 scary and humorous Bat Pat stories over the course of a 15-week promotion beginning September 30, 2012. Random House is creating new covers for Castilian Spanish-language books being produced for the promotion. The first title in the promotion will be available for about US $2.50 and the remaining 14 titles for just over $6.40 each. The Bat Pat promotion will be supported in Spain through national radio spots broadcast over a seven-day period along with internet and print advertising campaigns. Atlantyca Entertainment is currently co-creating a new animated TV series based on Bat Pat books with Spain’s Imira Entertainment and Malaysia’s Inspidea.

MORE KIDS STUFF

De Agostini acquires the Pay and Free TV rights for the tween/teen aimed series Julie and the Phantoms (26×30) in a new deal with Elastic Rights Italy, the Italian arm of Spain-based Elastic Rights, and Canadian indie producer Portfolio International. Julie and the Phantoms revolves around Julie, an independent, yet average, music-loving 15-year-old who moves with her family move into an old house where her life gets turned upside down when she inadvertently brings the ghosts of a 1980s boy band back to life and has to help them adjust. Produced by Brazil-based Mixer, Julie and the Phantoms premiered on Nickelodeon Latin America and TV Bandeirantes (Brazil) in 2011. Portfolio International manages the international distribution rights to the property.

Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham) will star as Mr Stink in the TV adaptation of writer/actor/comedian David Walliams‘ (Little Britain, Rock Profile, Come Fly with Me, Britain’s Got Talent, among many others) popular kid’s book of the same name about a young girl and her friendship with a local vagabond, per The Independent. The previously announced TV special, which will also feature Walliams as Prime Minister, is set to head into production for BBC1 in October 2012. Mr Stink is executive produced by Mark Freeland, Head of BBC Comedy, and is being produced by BBC In-House Comedy Productions in association with Walliams and his production company DEW Productions. Walliams’ other kid’s books include his debut title, The Boy In The Dress, and Billionaire Boy and Gangsta Granny.

Breakthrough Entertainment launches a home entertainment division, Breakthrough Home Entertainment, which will distribute DVDs from Breakthrough’s library of programming, including kid and family aimed titles, directly to consumers via BreakthroughHomeEntertainment.com (www.breakthroughhomeentertainment.com). Breakthrough appoints Nat Abraham as President/Distribution for Breakthrough Entertainment and Executive in Charge of the new home entertainment division. The titles will initially be available only in Canada, with plans to expand the website for fans around the world soon.

Entertainment One (eOne) is set to release two new kid and family targeted DVD titles this October 2012. First up is The Adventures of Scooter the Penguin (1×80), a CG animated title about Scooter, an orphaned little bird from a lost colony of penguins known for their remarkable speed and strength that is taken in raised by a family of silver penguins, will release October 9. Scooter the Penguin will be followed by the release of Trooper and the Legend of the Golden Key (1×81) on October 16. The story follows Trooper the Bloodhound, a furry sleuth, and his best friend and owner, 10-year-old Timmy, as they unravel mysterious legend of their town.

Check out the Cynopsis: Kids Webinar (10/4) about attracting Generation Z through social media: http://ow.ly/dwqjJ.

STONE SOUP

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; September 21-23, 2012:
House at the End of the Street (Relativity) PG-13             Opening Weekend $13.0m
Trouble with the Curve (Warner Bros.) PG-13                   Opening Weekend $12.7m
Finding Nemo 3D (Disney) G                                           $9.4m-2 wk total $29.9m
The Possession (Lionsgate) PG-13                                  $2.6m-4 wk total $45.3m
ParaNorman (Focus Features) PG                                   $2.3m-6 wk total 52.6m
The Bourne Legacy (Universal) PG-13                             $1.7m-7 wk total $110.4m
The Odd Life of Timothy Green (Disney) PG                      $1.5m-6 wk total $48.6m
The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.) PG-13                    $1.3m-10 wk total $443.1m
2016 Obama’s America (Rocky Mountain Pictures) G          $917,551-11 wk total $32.0m
Hope Springs (Sony) PG-13                                          $860,000-7 wk total $62.2m
Source: Rentrak (www.rentrak.com)

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Toy company MGA Entertainment appoints Lauren Whitehead as VP/Domestic Licensing. Whitehead will be responsible for creating, maintaining and growing domestic licensing programs and partnerships for MGA’s brands, and expanding current licensing efforts for all MGA and Little Tikes product categories. A licensing industry veteran, Whitehead most recently toiled in licensing for Jakks Pacific, where she guided key brands and managed relationships with licensors such as Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Sony, and McDonald’s, among others.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 6am-6am, ranked by K2-11:
DISNEY CHANNEL:          K2-11 725; K6-11 385; TWEENS 9-14 310
NICKELODEON° :            K2-11 647; K6-11 300; TWEENS 9-14 234
CARTOON NETWORK** :  K2-11 384; K6-11 212; TWEENS 9-14 181
DISNEY XD:                   K2-11 132; K6-11 104; TWEENS 9-14   93
NICKTOONS:                  K2-11   53; K6-11   34; TWEENS 9-14   38
°Nickelodeon Total Day: Mon-Thurs 7a-8p; Fri 7a-9p; Sat 6a-10p; Sun 6a-8p
**Cartoon Network & Adult Swim share channel space ADSM airs Sat.-Thurs. 9p-6a
Source: Disney from Nielsen Media Research Data.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question: What were the names of the two short humanoids who worked for H.R. Pufnstuf as his Rescue Racer Crew that never spoke? Cling and Clang. Kudos to: Tom Boyd-WGN-TV/Chicago; Michael Hawkins-PromoDoctors/Irving TX; Brett Ashy-The Ashy Agency/LA; Rori Caffrey-The World of Pia/Toronto.

Today’s Trivia Question: What network TV show was the Banana Splits loosely based on? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Later — Gwen
Gwen Billings for Cynopsis Kids!
09.24.12

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