Unilever gets adventurous with new contest
Unilever Canada is hoping fans of a popular TV show for kids will be enticed to enter a Lipton-sponsored contest for the chance to star in a nationwide broadcast.
At lipton.ca, children (and their parents) can register for the chance to appear in an adventure based on the This is... Treehouse series (This is Daniel Cook and the new This is Emily Yeung.) The two winners of the “This is Adventure Contest” will be able to pick an adventure, including exploring a zoo or taking a helicopter ride, that will run as a 60- or 30-second mini-episode in February on Corus Television.
The grand prize winners also receive a weekend for the whole family and $5,000 to “Eat Life Up” while 50 secondary prizes consist of series merchandise.
The Lipton Sidekicks brand is lighthearted, fun and focused on family, says Tim Cormick, vice-president of client marketing at Corus. So it fits well with the network’s stations, such as Treehouse and YTV. “What we like about working with Unilever is they develop deep insights and they ring true with the proprietary research we do,” he adds.
The initiative was brought together by PHD Canada and is being promoted through 60-second spots starring Cook and Yeung, running on Treehouse, YTV, W Network and CMT stations. The ads feature the two stars together for the first time, but Cormick says Corus is being very careful “to make sure our viewers continue to see them as entertaining and not necessarily as spokespeople, so the communication has been carefully tailored.”
Each station is also using badges and their own websites to drive to a contest microsite. Lipton is promoting the contest through the October/November edition of its Homebasics magazine, going out to two million subscribers, and its monthly e-newsletter. The mini-episodes featuring the winners will also be posted at lipton.ca along with a list of all contest winners.
Dating Guy plays the Mipcom field
Canadian indie marblemedia (This is Daniel Cook) will be looking for love on the Croisette next month as it debuts its first animated series, a teen/adult comedy based on the ongoing dating exploits of one of the company's founding partners.
The Dating Guy is an animated comedy that pokes fun at the embarrassing trials and tribulations of the modern dating scene. marble isn’t hiding the fact that the series is inspired by the real-life dating experiences of company co-founder Mark Bishop, who will be in Cannes, looking for international broadcasters, distribution partners and maybe a date.
“It’s a shameless comedy about men trying to understand women,” explained Matt Hornburg, partner of marblemedia. “Anyone who has been on a date, good or bad, can relate to this series. And, in addition, we get to make fun of Mark’s amusing dating life."
CORE Digital Pictures - Toons (Angela Anaconda, Disney’s The Wild) will produce the animation for the series, which is being developed with Teletoon Canada.
marble is also prepping Project: Adrenaline, a new multi-platform teen reality gameshow that sees six thrill-seeking contestants compete in extreme sport-themed challenges including street luge, parasailing, 'zorbing' and sky boarding.
Adrenaline Rush for marblemedia
Canadian indie marblemedia (This is Daniel Cook) is heading to Cannes with a new multi-platform teen reality gameshow that sees six thrill-seeking contestants challenged to conquer their fears.
Dubbed Project: Adrenaline, the new show puts contestants through extreme sport-themed challenges including street luge, parasailing, 'zorbing' and sky boarding.
“Project: Adrenaline takes viewers inside the rush as we follow the contestants through two rounds of elimination and into a final extreme challenge,” explained Matt Hornburg, partner and producer of marblemedia.
He added that interactive elements will include games, interviews and bonus videos, as well as weekly highlights for the web and mobile that will give fans the opportunity to download and share content with friends.
marble will also be at Mipcom next month shopping live-action preschool series and format This is Emily Yeung, and a series of mobile shorts entitled The Art of Seduction.
Find a Project Enter Project Name This is Emily Yeung Featured in Chatelaine Magazine
Were Emily Yeung to run the country, her day would unfold something like this: rise at 7 am to a bowl of fresh Fruit Loops. Ride a horse (bareback) to Parliament (redecorated in pink). Confer with cabinet ministers on a plan to crack down on litterbugs. Pass a law eradicating red potatoes. Hold a press conference with Hilary Duff on… does it really matter?
Becoming Prime minister would be easier if Emily knew who the current incumbent is. She’s not familiar with George Bush, either. “They’re like mayors, right?” she asks me. Then again, at seven years and six weeks old, Emily has enough on her plate as it is. Tackling hard math such as 18 plus 19, for example. Or remembering how to spell could.
And Emily already has a public platform. This September, she will follow in the footsteps of Daniel Cook-called “the most popular preschooler in Canada”- as the host of the reality show This is Emily Yeung. Over 65-six minute segments, she will do things such as make sushi, build a Treehouse with Mike Holmes, meet a female astronaut at NASA and shoot hoops with Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors. A half-hour holiday special is also in the works.
Filmed from a child’s perspective in a cinema-vérité style, the This is… formula breaks the mould of kids’ television. Daniel or Emily interview grown-ups (famous and otherwise). They make off-the-cuff jokes (funny and otherwise). They share stories about their friends, their families, their cats. Instead of big purple dinosaurs or extremely chirpy adults, young viewers see themselves reflected onscreen.
The like this: from its first hour on-air in 2004, This is Daniel Cook had fan mail and traffic on its website. By its second season, it was being broadcast on Treehouse and TVO Kids in Canada, and Playhouse Disney in the United States. The show was nominated for three Gemini Awards- and the New York Times, Maclean’s and CTV all covered the pipsqueak phenomenon.
Thing is, kids have a tendency to grow up. At age nine, Daniel has now moved on to other projects. Among them, a new series called I Dare You and a book. Now it’s Emily’s turn-this time exclusively on specialty network Treehouse-to don the show’s signature orange T-shirt.
This is Emily Yeung
My own interest in Emily Came by the way of another kid. In 1992, Esquire ran a piece by Susan Orlean called The American Man, Age 10. Centered on Colin Duffy, it chronicled the surreal terrain of a middle-class middle-American boy on his way to adulthood.
marblemedia and TELETOON in Development of a New Toon for Young Adults
marblemedia, in conjunction with TELETOON, is in development on a new animated television series centered around the sometimes strange, always funny, and definitely amusing dating life of a 20-something male lead. Toronto's Jeremy Winkels, and Montreal writing team Lienne Sawatsky and Daniel Williams, whose combined credits include Train 48, My Dad the Rockstar, 11 Somerset andDelilah and Julius, will co-write the development of the series appropriately titled The Dating Guy.
The mature cartoon aims to be clever and satiritical, catering to an audience of 16+ teens and young adults. C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures - Toons, the group responsible for creating Angela Anaconda, The Save-Ums and the latest Disney Picture, The Wild, will produce the animation.
"Everybody knows a guy who has some crazy dating stories and The Dating Guy will be the animated version of that friend," says Mark Bishop, producer and partner of marblemedia and inspiration for the main character.
In 2005, TELETOON sponsored The Alliance for Children and Television (ACT) Awards where marblemedia partners Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg were presented The Emerging Talent Award for excellence in children's programming.
"Not only is TELETOON extremely proud of working alongside some of the most innovative Canadian producers, we are happy to continue providing a platform for original ideas. This is marblemedia's first foray into the animated genre, and we are thrilled and honoured to be partnering with them," said Madeleine Levesque, Director of Original Production at TELETOON.
Mobile talk TV for tots the latest move in multimedia universe
Tiny tot broadcaster Treehouse is debuting its live-action series This is Emily Yeung with a curious six-year-old guide on mobile August 14- three weeks before its television premiere September 4.
It's part of a growing attempt to connect with younger audiences who are more likely to be out and about than home sitting in front of the family TV.
"The idea is to reach people whenever and however they want to reach us," says Lucie Lalumiere, vice-president of interactive programming for Corus Television, whose popular Treehouse network is focused on programming for kids under seven.
"One of our top markets is kids," said Lalumiere. "And kids, as you know, embrace new technology."
Industry watchers say this is aimed squarely at Mom and Dad. It's not designed to create a landscape of preschoolers glued to their own cellphones, only to get parents to hand over their phones.
"Television is often a babysitter in the home, why not a babysitter on the phone?" said Maria Amoroso, who analyses wireless market strategies in Canada and the united States for the Boston-based Yankee Group.
"Ultimately the parent is the purchaser, the parent makes the buying decision," said Amoroso.
"If (providers) can convince the parent that it's worth $2 to encourage their children to stop yelling in the back of the car if they have their favourite Treehouse episode, then they might do it."
Kid-friendly content is readily available in the brave new multimedia universe. That includes educational snippets from Sesame Street, while parents are already downloading cartoons and movies into video iPods to keep little Brad or Angelina happy while waiting at the grocery checkout or in a traffic jam.
And dozens of channels from CNN to ESPN to FOX offer their content in downloadable clip format.
What's different here is the cross-promotional spectrum of options targeted at children so young in the Emily Yeung rollout.
The first of the 65 six-minute episodes will be available through video-on-demand August 21, and streamed to the series website launch on August 28 at www.TreehouseTV.com/ThisIsEmilyYeung.
The show centres around the inquisitive Emily, who explores, creates and learns with whoever her guest may be: from costume designers and snake handlers to professional basketball players.
"We have to find that magic in a kid who's not an actor... who is very open and willing to explore," said executive producer Mark Bishop, who followed the same format with the award winning series This is Daniel Cook.
Although people laughed when www.thisisdanielcook.com was established as a website aimed at preschoolers, Bishop says the site now gets 160,000 unique visitors each month.
"We've just cracked the two million mark of people coming to the website and they're staying for 20 minutes," said Bishop. "Again, these are two-to-six year-olds who are coming and interacting with the content. It reinforces the idea that the adoption of technology is happening at a younger age: as long as you have entertaining but safe content. And I think that's what we're able to create."
This is Emily Yeung on Mobile, Broadband and VOD
As past of parent company Corus Entertainment's integrated multiplatform strategy, Treehouse announces that it will launch its new live-action preschool series This is Emily Yeung on mobile, online and on video-on-demand (VOD) prior to its broadcast premiere on Monday, September 4 at 7:25 p.m.
Beginning August 14 until its exclusive Canadian broadcast debut, a full streamed episode of the Treehouse Original Production will be available on mobile television. The same episode will also be offered on VOD August 21, and will be available for download on Corus' new digital video storefront TreehouseDirect.com for a one-week promotional period beginning August 28, the same day as the series' dedicated website launch which will feature one full episode streamed on www.Treehouse.com.
"Corus Entertainment takes a partnership-driven approach to exploring the multiplatform universe and is pleased to work alongside innovative and forward-looking producers like marblemedia and Sinking Ship Entertainment," said Phil Piazza, VP of programming, Corus Children's Television. "We are proud to set yet another Canadian benchmark by becoming the first broadcaster to launch a preschool series on mobile television."
This is Emily Yeung, successor to the award-winning series This is Daniel Cook, follows the adventures of six-year-old host Emily as she learns, explores and creates with everyone from snake handlers to professional basketball players. Whoever her guest may be, the inquisitive Emily is always up for a new experience or challenge.
The 65x six-minute series is a co-production of marblemedia and Sinking Ship Entertainment in association with Treehouse. Premiering Monday, September 4, This is Emily Yeung will air Monday through Friday at 8:25 a.m. and 7:25 p.m. with four back-to-back episodes on Saturdays at noon.
This is preschool edutainment
Following a recent German acquisition, the international launch of Canuck preschool show This is Daniel Cook is well underway. The next step will be to roll out the concept as an international format, writes Jenn Kuzmyk.
With a premiere in sight for June 10, Disney Channel Germany has picked up season one (65x6' episodes) of This is Daniel Cook (left), a live-action magazine style series for kids 2-6 years old produced by Canuck indies marblemedia and Sinking Ship Entertainment.
A German dub has been made for the series, which is shot from a kids' perspective, following the show's pint sized presented Daniel as he explores, learns and creates with everyone from yoga instructors to ballerinas to bakers to stunt car drivers.
Two seasons of the show have been completed, airing as both compiled half-hour episodes and as stand-alone six minute shorts on Corus-owned preschool channel Treehouse TV, TVO Kids, Knowledge Network, Access Alberta and SCN in Canada, and on Playhouse Disney in the US. Australian diginet ABC 2 has taken on 25 finished episodes of the series, and has also licensed the accompanying interactive content which it is tailoring to become part of the ABC online portal.
Now as the show's host is growing up, however, he's also growing out of the preschool target demographic. That's precisely why the producers have a whole lot of expectation riding on little girl Emily Yeung: the show's successor. "We were very careful with Daniel to make sure we were gender neutral. We had no problem with him doing a ballet segment and then a construction segment in the same episode. That was deliberate. But we also wanted to explore the opportunties of doing a version with a little girl, says Mark Bishop, executive producer and a partner in Toronto based marblemedia.
With Emily taking over for Daniel, the new incarnation of the series is slated to premiere on Corus-owned preschool net Treehouse TV in September.
The 'This Is' concept was designed to work as an international format from the start, and with Emily, the producers will have the very unique opportunity of testing their own format in its original market. According to Bishop, doing so will address one of the biggest concerns among international broadcasters considering a pickup of the "This Is" format: whether they could find a kid to fill the lead role.
"It's not easy to do, but it can be done," says Bishop. "Part of our goal in doing this new version featuring a little girl is to really be able to prove our own format to a number of international buyers. Then we can very confidently say that you can find a child that is magical, unique and has the same charm Daniel has," he says.
There has reportedly been strong interest in developing a French language format of the series from Quebec based Canadian producers and broadcasters, and of course, along with the recent Daniel Cook sales to Disney Germany, and ABC Australia, the groundwork is being laid for future format deals in these territories.
According to Bishop, the format package is ready to go with materials and support to replicate everything from casting to scripting, to music and graphic elements, along with production advice, and a plethora of ancillary content for promotions and marketing.
However, one of the most interesting aspects of the format package involves the web content. The site, which recently won a Prix Jeunesse award in Germany features an illustrated version of Daniel Cook in his virtual playroom, and includes bright visual prompts and audio to guide kids through activities and games.
The website has been designed so that the illustrated character of Daniel - or Emily, can be removed, and a new child inserted. Bishop says marblemedia will service web format deals in-house, creating new illustrated characters, while a licensing broadcaster would simply provide a voice record with their new show host using existing scripts and audio prompts.
"We've designed the site with almost no English text," says Bishop. "That was important not just for international licensing, but also because we are dealing with a preschool 2-6 year old demographic, many of who are preliterate."
Meanwhile, the rollout of an extensive licensing and merchandising plan is chugging along nicely. "The brand is all about exploring, learning and creating. It is not about selling mass merchandise in Wal-Mart stores, so we are being very careful, and very gradual," says Bishop.
In Canada, This is Daniel Cook is offered on mobile and VOD TV platformsthrough a deal with telecom Rogers Communications and Corus' Treehouse TV channel. Plans are afoot to roll out the Emily Yeung version of the series on multiple platforms as well. In the US, the producers are currently working with an aggregator to take the property into the mobile space.
The This is Daniel Cook ringtone and theme song are currently offered on Canadian based music download site Puretracks and on Apple's iTunes as well. And through the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund Daniel Cook has an additional outlet on MSN/Sympatico's High Speed Zone video portal.
A 'This is Daniel Cook' book series is in the works for Q3 2006, and on the DVD front, marblemedia is reportedly closing in on an international deal for both the Daniel and Emily series. This will compliment a pact currently in place with kaBOOM! Entertainment in Canada that saw the winter 2006 release of 'This is Daniel Cook Making Gingerbread'.
Looking ahead, the producers are working with Corus and other third parties to ensure that episodes of Daniel Cook and the new Emily Yeung series will be available for online download by Q3 2006.
German Deal on Picture Box/marblemedia Kids' Series
Disney Channel in Germany has picked up the live-action preschool series This is Daniel Cook, co-produced by marblemedia and Sinking Ship Entertainment, from distributor Picture Box.
The show is slated to launch on the Playhouse Disney block June 10, marking the first deal on a dubbed version of the live-action show. "Traditionally, live-action pre-school series are not sold internationally because broadcasters tend to produce this genre within their own countries," said Rita Carbone Fleury, programming and sales consultant for marblemedia. "This sale speaks to the worldwide appeal of the series and the demand in the marketplace for preschoolers to see kids like themselves on television. And we are excited that Disney Channel Germany seems to agree."
Nominated for three Gemini awards, This is Daniel Cook is a live-action, preschool TV series that follows host Daniel Cook as he explores, learns and creates with everyone from yoga instructors to stunt car drivers. The show airs on Corus Entertainment's Treehouse, TVO Kids, Knowledge Network, Access Alberta, SCN in Canada and Playhouse Disney in the U.S.
A Hunger for Documentaries
Mozartballs, Beethoven’s Hair (2005) and Ravel’s Brain (2000) comprise the quirkiest trilogy of films ever made on composers. Add Burnt Toast, a modern dress opera about the tragicomic aspects of love and marriage, and you have the current oeuvre of Rhombus Media’s most outrageous auteur, Larry Weinstein. His irreverent but scholarly approach to classical music has made him an important player in the worldwide performing arts doc scene.
Weinstein’s latest film, Mozartballs, is surely the wittiest entry in the sweepstakes of global programmes extolling the great composer on his 350th birthday. Wolfgang Bergmann, commissioning editor at ARTE/ZDF, approached the eminently personable Weinstein knowing that he would create a film with “a Canadian sense of humour.” Weinstein laughs as he clarifies, “he meant twisted humour, the kind I can deliver. Wolfgang realized that he would be facing a deluge of concerts, portraits and very straight biographies.”
Unlike these more conventional offerings, Mozartballs concentrates not on the man but on his modern acolytes. As usual, this sly auteur has hit on a path that no other director is likely to travel. Instead of recycling the well-known plot of Amadeus, Weinstein and his scriptwriter Thomas Wallner have found five contemporary individuals and an odd but successful Mozart-inspired confection to tell their tale of love and obsession.
Of all the great composers, it’s likely that non evokes bliss in more listeners than Mozart. His music is joyful, exuberant, playful and melodious; it seems to emanate from a celestial terrain. Need convincing? Franz Viehböck, the first Austrian astronaut, and his Russian cosmonaut colleagues actually devoured Mozart in outer space- in the form of the delightful mozartkugeln (mozartballs) beloved treat of middle European chocoholics.
Viehböck is one of the five characters in search of a composer in Weinstein’s Mozartballs. The others are just as unique. Konrad Rich, a retired Swiss schoolteacher and self-proclaimed Mozart lunatic, conducts personal pilgrimages to Vienna to visit the great man’s grave. David Cope, a contemporary composer and computer software designer, has developed a programme that creates scores in Mozart’s style. Not to be outdone, Steph Waller, a fifty-something ex-rock musician, doesn’t merely try to replicate the great man’s work: she insists that she is Mozart reincarnated. Her companion, Lynette Erwin, also of Stillwater, Oklahoma, is Steph’s perfect soul-mate, believing herself the reincarnation of Mozart’s great love Nancy Storace, for whom he composed the part of Susana in The Marriage of Figaro.
According to Wallner, “Larry and I deal with our protagonists like actors in a drama. We want to reveal who they are through their actions. It’s delightful to build up expectations and then reverse the situation, revealing much more about characters, with a depth that the audience didn’t anticipate.”
Steph and Lynette are initially seen decked out in 18th century apparel while filling up their tank at the local Love gas station. They seem absurd in that setting, but when the Mozartian duo travels to Vienna, they surprise and endear themselves to viewers. In an eerie scene, Steph visualizes Mozart’s death on the floor of a department store that has replaced his old apartment. Later, Steph and Lynette recreate the tearful final parting of Mozart and Nancy Storace as it may have occurred over three hundred years ago.
Cope, too, gradually reveals himself throughout the film. In Santa Cruz, California, Cope is professional while discussing his working methodology. Later, in Toronto, where Weinstein arranges for the composer to mount a recital of his computerized “new” Mozart scores one sees Cope passionately defend his practice to CBC interviewer Barbara Budd. Working with the Esprit orchestra brings out Cope’s deep love for classical music.
What’s extraordinary about Mozartballs’ direction is Weinstein’s empathy and sense of humour. Steph and Lynette are never caricatured nor are their opinions endorsed. Weinstein’s innate good taste and decorum also shines through in his treatment of Rich, clearly a troubled individual, who admits that Mozart has saved him from suicide.
The film could have satirized Rich, particularly when he makes a point of giving a specific amount of linden blossoms as a present, so that it will match the catalogue number (kirschel) of a musical masterpiece by Mozart. What could be more pedantic or, in Rich’s own phrase, lunatic? Yet Weinstein then includes a scene in which the landlady of Rich’s Viennese pensione admits to being touched by this outrageous but thoughtful gesture.
By portraying Mozart through a tasty modern sweet and motley crew of obsessed individuals, Weinstein runs the risk of not being taken seriously. Through a series of unpretentious but well-calculated scenes, he ends up doing the opposite. Seeing Viehböck and his Russian cohorts eating mozartballs in space, feeling Cope’s rapture at his computerized replication of a Mozart piece being performed and experiencing Steph and Lynette’s love at being “once again” in Vienna, one appreciates Mozart’s musical genius with a wry, but renewed, fervor.
While Mozartballs is a funny and ultimately moving tribute to a musical legend, it doesn’t break new ground. But Burnt Toast, Weinstein’s latest collaboration with writer and comedian Dan Redican, producer Matt Hornburg and composer Alexina Louie, certainly does. It incorporates black comedy, mime, puppetry, art house and silent film aesthetics into a distinctive and highly original piece. According to Redican, the creative team appreciated working with Weinstein, “because he isn’t precious about ideas. If something doesn’t go forward, it’s not a big deal for him. On the other hand, he can be definitive if he really wants something in.”
A comic (Redican) presents eight stages of love in Burnt Toast, introducing each sequence through a mimed bit of business involving an increasingly mangled piece of white bread. Cunning stories of thwarted romance are contrasted with even darker tales of ones that are successful. Brilliantly sung by such talented vocalists as Isabel Bayrakdarian, Russel Braun and Barbara Hannigan, the score by Louie is enlivened by Redican’s lyrics and the comical set pieces orchestrated by the team, under the directorial baton of Weinstein.
The scenario moves from “Attraction” to “Commitment,” through “Marriage” into “Disintegration,” concluding with the hilariously cynical meeting-up-with-your-ex dramatics of “Starting Over.” Stylistic coups abound in Burnt Toast, the most memorable being “Commitment,” acted in silent movie style by Liane Balaban and Bob Martin. This duo is just part of a large cast that includes Leah Pinsent, Colm Feore, Paul Gross, Sean Cullen, Colin Mochrie and Mark McKinney.
When asked about his recent successes with Burnt Toast and Mozartballs, Weinstein is refreshingly frank. “Every film is different. My first, Making Overtures, was a character piece and full of humour. So is my latest, Mozartballs. So maybe I haven’t progressed at all.”
Weinstein, along with many other figures involved in Canada’s cultural arts scene, is worried about the cutbacks in arts programming on the CBC. “Opening Night, which broadcast Burnt Toast andBeethoven’s Hair, is having its programming shrink from 42 hours to 11 next year. This is a flagship show for the arts, which wins awards here an internationally. When companies like the National Ballet and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra find it difficult to travel because of their tight budgets, at least arts programmes can show off our opera singers, dancers and musicians to the world. We need to put more money into Opening Night, updating it, not cutting it back.”
Asked about his own future, Weinstein is characteristically humourous but concerned. “It’s ironic, with retrospectives in Israel and the Czech Republic and at Hot Docs last year, that my voice is being heard more than ever. That voice, and others, may be muted or extinguished, perhaps, if CBC loses its funding.” The tall, dark haired auteur pauses, then gives a wry smile. “I have a list of forty ideas I’d like to do. I hope it’s the beginning of a new chapter in my career as opposed to the epilogue.”
marblemedia takes formatting for a spin
When a preschool live-action show appears to be the sum of its star’s personality, distributors can run into brick walls as they try to sell the show to international, multi-language markets. With that in mind, the Toronto-based distribution teams for the marblemedia/Sinking Ship co-pro This is Daniel Cook are creating both formatted and dubbed versions of the series to increase the show’s exposure rather than just the profile of its pint-sized protagonist, Daniel.
The series made strides in English-speaking territories with sales in 2004 and 2005 to Playhouse Disney in the U.S. and Canadian nets Treehouse and TVOntario. But the live-actioner’s depiction of real people in non-fantastical, everyday settings made non-English speaking broadcasters balk at the idea of picking up the show in short, subtitles don’t work on programs targeted at early readers and dubbing the voices of live-action players often confuses this demo.
To prove a dubbed live-action preschool series could work, marblemedia took a proactive approach and translated two episodes into German with no broadcast deal attached. The prodco’s head of business development, Rita Carbone Fleury, says the eps paid off with Disney Channel Germany, charging marblemedia to dub 65, five-minute episodes for the Pay-TV channel.
Still desirous of scoring international sales, but aware many broadcasters likely won’t follow Disney Germany’s lead, marblemedia has put another version of the This is franchise into production. The goal is to convince skeptical nets it’s a format-worthy concept because the subject matter, not its star, puts the world at a kid’s level. This is Emily Yeung is a 65 x six-minute format picked up by Treehouse in Canada for a Q3 2006 debut. It follows the Daniel Cook blueprint of interviewing adults, but is driven by the insatiable inquisitiveness of its six-year-old female host.
Carbone Fleury says it took two months to find Emily. “We found this little girl who has the same spirit as Daniel, driven by her curiosity, who is not in any way coaxed into being excited and bored, she says. Even though the concept initially met with skepticism from some broadcasters (how could you replace Daniel, after all?), Carbone Fleury’s aim at MIPTV is to turn the talent search into a selling point. Networks could take a promotional tack and create national searches to audition and cast theirs own Daniel’s, generating a lot of publicity before the show even hits airwaves.
Pint Sized Pics
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has taken the plunge into "micro-cinema," currently preparing 10 movies specifically designed for cellphones distributed by Bell, Rogers, and Telus.
The NFB and its co-producer from Toronto, marblemedia, are negotiating with 10 well-known Canadian producers who have agreed to display their art on two-inch-wide screens.
"This is a brand new platform for our filmmakers" says Tom Perlmutter, director of NFB's English programming.
Available for years in Asia, video on cellphones has been available in Canada since last fall, opening a whole world of opportunities for our filmmakers.
"A whole market is ours to explore," Perlmutter says.
Producers will have to comply with a theme, "the art of seduction," in addition to adapt their movie to the small screen's constraints: No long shots, no fast moves, simple dialogue and refined image composing.
They will have the choice of shooting with traditional cameras or with any of the 10 Sony-Ericsson W600 cellphones at their disposal.
"We want our filmmakers to be familiar with the new medium, we want them to control what they do," says Perlmutter.
"This is a very exciting moment," adds marblemedia's Matt Hornburg. "This is a completely new audience. Everyone wins."
These micro-movies lasting between four and six minutes will be funded by BravoFact!, a CHUM channel. Each producer will have a $15,000 budget, according to Hornburg.
Bell, Rogers, and Telus users having a phone powerful enough to do so should be able to download any of those 10 micro-movies as soon as this summer, for a nominal charge.
"We'll have details soon," says Telus spokesperson Stacey Masson.
"We hope to distribute one micro-movie every week for 10 weeks," says Hornburg.
The films will then be distributed through TV, Internet, cinema, video iPods and other devices. All of the micro-movies have already been sold to Robert Redford's TV channel, Sundance. The budget for this project is about $500,000.
They were all presented during last year's Toronto Film Festival. Two of them were nominated for the MIPCOM 2005 Mobile TV Awards, which acknowledges the best content for cellphones.
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WHERE IT ALL STARTED
SMS Sugar Man was the first project shot by, and for, cellphones.
Designed for cinema, this South African feature film was fully shot with eight cellphones. That's a world first.
Before being presented in theatres, it will be offered, separated in three-minute segments, to South African wireless phone subscribers this May.
Director Aryan Kaganof, 41, is suddenly being talked about all over the world.
He has done countless interviews since his story broke. Distributors from Japan, India, Brazil, South Korea and Czech Republic all want to buy his movie -- even before the editing was over.
"I've never been so feverish," he says from Johannesburg. "It looks like the movie is coming just at the right time. Everything was ready. We just gave birth to the thing."
SMS Sugar Man is about the struggles of a pimp and three prostitutes on the streets of South Africa's capital. Eleven days of shooting were required, with a budget of less than $200,000 US. Faced with South African film industry's misfortunes, Kaganof was seeking a way to produce a low-cost movie.
"I live in the Third World, where filmmakers cannot access high technology," he explains. "But everyone in Africa has a cellphone."
That's how, last October, he got the idea of testing video recording on cellphones.
"The only one that worked was the Sony-Ericsson W900I," he says.
He still had to see if his images would be transferred to 35 mm film. To his astonishment, no laboratory from South Africa agreed to help him.
Kaganof finally found a laboratory in Denmark willing to give it a try.
And what does he think about his movie possibly helping increase the use of cellphones? "I signed a deal with the devil," he admits. "But you know, one day, we have to face reality."
TV star Daniel Cook, 8, likes fame and politics, but prefers dinosaurs
His TV show is a hit in Canada and the United States.
He's mobbed by fans at McDonald's and Disney World. His website offers T-shirts, clocks and bumper stickers plastered with his image. CTV even hired him to interview the federal party leaders during the recent election campaign. And Daniel Cook, of Stoney Creek, Ont., is only eight years old.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the little red-head in the trademark orange shirt is that he doesn't seem to be one of those Hollywood-type kids.
You know, eight going on 28?
He seems to be, well, just a regular kid who happens to be the star of This Is Daniel Cook, seen on Treehouse TV, TVOntario, several other educational channels across Canada, and even on the Playhouse Disney channel in the U.S.
During a recent interview, he was asked which he preferred, being interviewed, or doing interviews on his own show.
"I think I'd rather be the interviewer," Daniel says after thinking about it.
"No offence!" he hastily adds for the reporter's sake. None taken.
A pilot for his show - in which Daniel tries out jobs ranging from construction work to chocolate making and disco dancing - was prepared back when the youngster was only five.
Executive producer Mark Bishop says the program filled a void.
"There's so much animation out there, which kids love and enjoy and will always be there, but (educational broadcasters wanted) role models for preschoolers being able to see themselves reflected onscreen with kids that are their own age.
"He's a role model but he's also a friend. And they all know he's Daniel Cook. That's his real name."
Bishop says Cook has to wear a hoodie and sunglasses when he goes to McDonald's and recalls one question-answer session with fans where youngsters just wanted to come up and touch him to see if he was real.
"They couldn't understand how he got out of the TV!" he says.
There was a similar reaction at Disney World last June after Daniel's show began airing on Playhouse Disney.
"Literally we had kids and parents coming up to him. 'Is that Daniel Cook? That's Daniel Cook?' And the show had only been on for two weeks!"
Cook himself appears to take it all in stride. He signs autographs and answers fan mail, but when he gets bored, he plays with his Transformer toys (or his BlackBerry) and sometimes his mom has to take him aside to get him to focus.
When he does, the results can be fascinating.
He stopped Stephen Harper in his tracks during the election campaign by asking the Conservative leader who he would vote for if he couldn't vote for himself. Harper could only mutter something about preferring to jump off a roof. Daniel swears he thought up the question all by himself.
"It was quite fun, I really liked it," the fledgling reporter says about his political assignment for CTV. "Politics, it's pretty neat, now that I've gotten to see more about what they do, I'm liking it more."
As for Harper?
"I think he'll make a pretty good prime minister, but I thought Paul Martin was doing a great job."
Season Two of This is Daniel Cook began on Treehouse in December. A second DVD compilation of previous TV episodes is scheduled for release Feb. 28.
He regrets that he's had no callbacks yet from some movie auditions, though.
Cook says he's pondering future series ideas and would especially like to do something involving his favourite pastime, dinosaurs. His favourite prehistoric lizard?
A monstrous meat-eater called the Giganotosaurus. And he can spell it, too: "g-i-g-a-n-o-t-o-s-a-u-r-u-s."
Asked if he was satisfied with the allowance he gets as a bona fide TV personality (his parents won't say how much he makes), Daniel immediately took the bait.
"I want more! You could raise it by $200," he says turning to his nearby parents.
When it's suggested he just might be able to fire mom and dad - who works in the computer industry - his eyes widen with glee.
"OK, your interview is over!" dad declares with mock anger.
This is Daniel Cook's broadband breakthrough
Taking the next step into the multi-platform world, live-action preschool series This is Daniel Cook is to have a broadband extension in Canada.
Toronto-based television and interactive production company Marblemedia has joined forces with Bell Globemedia-owned portal Sympatico.MSN.ca to feature Cook in its High Speed Zone.
So now, in addition to fronting his namesake live-action, preschool, magazine-style series, the pint-sized presenter (above) will have his own feature page on Canada’s Sympatico/MSN portal.
The initiative includes high-speed broadband video excerpts from season two of This is Daniel Cook, as well as creative games with themes that include music, baking and painting.
The site also offers links to allow purchases of the show’s first DVD, This is Daniel Cook Making Gingerbread. In addition, there is an online store with the show’s theme song available as a ringtone and an MP3, provided through an exclusive pact with music download service Puretracks.com.
Coproduced by marblemedia and fellow Canuck indie Sinking Ship Productions, This Is Daniel Cook follows Cook as he explores, learns and creates with everyone from yoga instructors to bakers to stunt car drivers.
The show currently airs on Treehouse, TVO Kids, Knowledge Network, Access Alberta and SCN in Canada, and on Playhouse Disney in the US.
In Canada, a Real Boy Joins Those on the Bus
During the current Canadian election, CTV, the country's largest private broadcaster, built a nightly campaign show around Mike Duffy, one of Canada's best-known political reporters. Less conventional is the reporter that "Count Down With Mike Duffy" uses for its interviews with Canada's party leaders: He is Daniel Cook, and he is 8 years old.
Since the start of this month, viewers have been treated to a weekly interview by Daniel with each of the three party leaders running national campaigns.
Putting an 8-year-old on the campaign buses gave a "unique perspective" to CTV's coverage, said Robert G. Hurst, the division's president. The election, which is today, is the second Canadians have had in about 18 months, so the event has little novelty on its own.
During Daniel's session with Paul Martin, the current prime minister, both drank milkshakes and played the board game "Operation" during a discussion about Canada's public health care system. Mr. Martin noted that, based on their game skills, improving the system required better surgeons than either himself or Daniel.
Both the prime minister and one of his challengers, Stephen Harper, the Conservative leader, dodged the junior reporter when he asked which of their opponents could get their votes.
In an interview, Daniel acknowledged that political news had not been high on his television viewing list. "But I like watching the police reports," he added.
While the program is Daniel's political reporting debut, he is no stranger to television. Since he was 6, he has been the host of "This Is Daniel Cook," a children's program that appears on several Canadian channels and in abbreviated form on the Disney Channel in the United States.
Mr. Hurst said Daniel's parents imposed the condition that Daniel have a tutor while he is on the campaign trail.
Mr. Hurst said the child reporter concept was criticized by some journalists as a gimmick, "but we decided to forge ahead with the beautiful idea of a fresh perspective." But he is skeptical that it will fulfill every television news program's quest for younger viewers.
"We'd be kidding ourselves if we think that grades three, four and five kids will be flooding to this," Mr. Hurst said.
Daniel Cook would rather be a scientist
CTV political correspondent Daniel Cook may have a knack for asking tough questions, but that doesn't mean he's found his calling as a journalist -- the eight-year-old star reporter says he'd rather be a paleontologist when he grows up. The star of the children's show This is Daniel Cook has spent the last couple weeks covering the election from the eyes of a child, filing weekly reports for Newsnet's Countdown with Mike Duffy.
In an interview Thursday with Canada AM, Cook said he's enjoyed interviewing politicians like Prime Minister Paul Martin and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, but hopes to become a paleontologist, a video-game designer or even prime minister.
"And if I can't get those ones, I think I'll be a reporter for CTV," said Cook, who has not taken his role lightly, asking some of the election campaign's more unique questions.
The inquisitive Cook even stumped Harper during their interview by asking which of his opponents he would vote for if he had to choose.
"I think I would jump off a tall building before I did that," replied the surprised Tory leader. "That's a really tough question."
In Thursday's interview with Martin, Cook and the Prime Minister discuss goals and achievements over frothy chocolate milkshakes.
"When I was younger, I wanted to be a great football player, but I wasn't," Martin says, responding to a question about dreams that haven't come true. "And then I wanted to be a great basketball player, and I wasn't.
"Life, I think, is meant to have dreams. I think you've got to have them, but we don't always achieve them. Can I have another sip?"
Cook -- who attends interviews dressed in a sharp suit jacket -- told Canada AM he usually knows just what he wants to ask, so he didn't need to prepare questions before heading into the Martin interview.
"I didn't write them down, but I mostly thought of some and then I asked him," he said.
While Cook isn't talking about a future in journalism, he already has some strong ideas for his political platform -- if he could make laws in Canada, the young animal lover says the first thing he would do is to ban all hunting.
Daniel Cook's full interview with Prime Minister Paul Martin will appear on CTV Newsnet's Countdown with Mike Duffy at 8 p.m. Thursday.