Highlights from KidScreen Summit 2009
“KidScreen Summit is a not-to-be-missed event...an essential tool for anyone in the business of children's media. It's a prime opportunity to network with colleagues, catch up on industry news, get informed and be entertained!”
Paula Rosenthal
SVP of Creative, Chorion
The 2009 KidScreen Summit marked another highly successful event, where more than 1,400 kids entertainment execs from 40 countries around the world came together for three days of learning, networking and deal-making. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed highlights including Little Airplane’s Lift-off party, a swanky new Cartoon Networking Lounge, two inspiring keynotes and our new Digital Media track, and a good time was had by all!
Our “Don’t Forget the 8 to 12s” panel explored how chasing the co-viewing trend can lead to an under-served tween audience, and caught up with producers who are successfully connecting with this tricky demo to learn their trade secrets.
IDEO’s Duane Bray gave an inspiring keynote about the importance of play to the creative process, with plenty of exercises designed to get Summit-goers into a more playful frame of mind. These may look like takeout cartons, but they could be the next kids programming hit!
Kicking off our technology track, media critic Douglas Rushkoff decoded how kids use and interact with digital media, and outlined why inviting them to participate in the content development process is critical to the future of our business. There wasn’t a pen in the room that wasn’t taking notes at hyper-speed.
Live kids focus groups like this one are a tradition at KidScreen Summit, and this year’s “Entertainment Enlightenment” session focused on what kinds of humor, suspense, adventure and character archetypes/relationships kids are looking for on-screen.
Sponsored and decked out by our friends at Cartoon Network, the Cartoon Networking Lounge was hopping for the duration of the event. And this larger-than-life channel ID statue was the perfect Meeting Point where our attendees could find each other.
Delegates rocked out in between conference sessions to the musical stylings of The Raymies, a teen girl band sponsored to appear at the event by toyco Spin Master.
Cartoon Network International’s Suzanne Berman gives feedback to a hopeful creator at one of our signature Speed Pitching series, where 10 top broadcast execs entertain as many three-minute pitches as we can pack into an hour. No doubt, they had a few espressos beforehand to prepare.
Highlights from KidScreen Summit 2008
Hundreds of Summit attendees swarmed the delegate lounge for some nibbling, drinking and networking at the opening night party hosted by ToonZone Studios, Animation Development Company and Showcase for Kids.
Nicktoons’ Keith Dawkins got to grill Teletoon’s Caroline Tyre before a packed house at the inaugural and immensely enjoyable Are you Smarter than a Kids Buyer? session.
Indies John Marley (left) and Loredana Cunti (right), accept a charitable donation from Cartoon Network’s Finn Arnesen (middle-left) and Stephen DeNure (middle-right) of Decode Entertainment on behalf of the Are you Smarter than a Kids Buyer?’s winning Producers team.
Korea’s Trunk Animation and Cartoon One from Italy seal a co-production deal on-site at the Summit.
Highlights from KidScreen Summit 2007
"Great Event, very useful for pushing forward my project because it was so focused and intimate. I accomplished more on my children's project in two days at kidscreen than at two other markets."
-Delegate (2007)
The 2007 KidScreen Summit got off to a fiery start (pardon the pun) due to an electrical fire at the Sheraton in the wee hours of the morning on day one of the event. The delegates and organizers took it in stride and didn’t let the mishap dampen their spirits. Over 1300 kids entertainment execs participated from 39 countries around the world. Session highlights included Trading Spaces where network programming execs were challenged to play producers and vice versa. Good insights were shared and there were many laughs while the two sides poked fun at each other.
A marquee panel moderated by the "godfather" of licensing, Gary Caplan, included; Leigh Anne Brodsky, Elie Dekel, George Leon and Neil Friedman. They shared lessons learned and insights on the business today – a favorite takeaway came from Mattel veteran Neil Friedman who said "You have one mouth and two ears for a reason. Listen twice as much as you talk, because you might learn something."
The event offered many formal and informal pitching opportunities. The perennial favorite, Speed Pitching, offered 288 slots and had programming execs from the major kids networks taking private 3 min pitches. The annual Pitch It session (done formally in front of the full conference delegation) was won by Ken Bautista from Rocketfuel Productions/Hot Rocket Studios for his multiplatform property C.I. E. (Central Institute for Exploration).
The event was kicked off with The National Television Academy’s announcement of the emmy nominations for children’s programming. Pictured here was the show host Johnny Tartaglia (with the Sprites), Scott Garner, ABC Networks Group, and Peter Price, National Television Academy.
Networking is a key draw for attendees of this event so much time was spent schmoozing in the Nicktoons Lounge, the exhibits and at the many cocktail parties. The conference offers a digital networking tool called MyEvent which allows delegates to start their networking from the moment they sign up. Upgrades to the system this year included a customizable agenda and advanced searching capabilities on the attendee list. The combined networking opportunities seem to have works with 57% of surveyed attendees saying they closed deals at the event.
