Disney Channels Australia executives have some advice for up-and-coming screen producers: “Stories can come from anywhere. Don’t be afraid to think of a new platform.”
That will be among key points presented at the Generation Next Kids conference held in Melbourne on July 22-23. Staged by the Open Channel and supported by Film Victoria and Screen Australia, the event is designed to serve as a launching pad for emerging screen and gaming practitioners.
Disney’s panel is entitled Storytelling in the Digital Space – Bringing Stories and Characters Alive on Multiple Screens.
“The digital space gives us opportunities to bring characters and new stories to life through non-traditional media such as gaming and digital publishing, “said panel moderator Leisa Sadler, General Manager/VP Branded Media Content Disney Channels Australia & New Zealand. “We can bring established characters into a fresh and contemporary environment as well as develop new characters.”
That sounds relatively simple for a global brand with the rich resources and storied history of Disney, but how can an aspiring Australian content creator get his work seen?
“It’s easy and inexpensive to develop characters and stories in the gaming world,” said Sadler. “The digital space gives you more opportunity as a young producer to invest in story-telling for multiple screens and merchandising.”
Sadler said the studio is open to working with independent Australian producers as it did with Suzanne Ryan’s SLR Productions on the pre-school animated series Guess How Much I Love You, which aired on the Disney Channel.
Disney is using linear and new media to re-energise Mickey Mouse, the iconic character created by Walt Disney and his colleague Ub Iwerks in 1928.
A new series of 19 2D animated short films that premiered in June on the Disney Channel US and Australia portray the plucky mouse facing silly situations in modern settings including Santa Monica, New York, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Venice and the Alps.
Tying in with the shorts, Disney launched the Where’s My Mickey? online mobile game, part of the Where’s My Water? franchise, on the Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Store. Designed to introduce the iconic mouse to younger audiences, the game features life-like, physics-based gameplay with weather mechanics and humorous animations.
Several Disney Junior appisodes have just launched in Australia after enjoying success in the US. They include the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally appisode, which topped the US iTunes charts and won the 2012 Mobile Excellence award for best content extension made for mobile and the iKids award for best web/app series; the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey and Donald Have A Farm appisode; and Jake and the Never Land Pirates appisode.
Also taking part in the panel are Sadler's Australian-based colleagues Richard Wiles, Director of Multi-Platform Content, Disney Channels, Scott Bagshaw, Senior Manager, Disney Interactive Studios, and Andrea McMillan, Senior Manager, Publishing, Music and New Business Development, Disney Licensing.
Held at the Docklands Studios, the conference will include sessions on co-producing in Asia, getting ideas financed, how to make a pitch bible and an update on gaming.