Have you heard? Amazon Studios, a new branch of the Amazon empire, has put out some original pilots--including five kids' shows--for viewers to watch for free, comment on and help decided their broadcast fate! Amazon is following in the footsteps of Netflix, who saw an enormous increase in their business following the release of their original series, especially House of Cards. (Have you watched it? It's great.) The New York Times reported that Netflix's quarterly revenue peaked over the $1 billion mark for the first time ever, directly influenced by the release of the series.
Well, Amazon is doing something in the same vein, and it's pretty awesome. "Amazon Original Pilots: You help decide which shows become series" reads their page. They're testing five kids' pilots and eight adult comedy pilots. This isn't your typical focus group situation. Anyone can watch the pilots for free, and then the viewer can take a survey to vote on their favorites, and write reviews. Winning pilots will be made into full seasons.
We're excited about this new way to allow user input into broadcast decisions. More good ideas can be seen this way, and it opens a dialogue directly between consumer and viewer. And especially with kids' programming, parents have the immediate opportunity to provide feedback and input. We were so excited to see that three of the pilots were from some of our favorite clients and partners. You should totally check them out and leave feedback; voting officially ends next week, so be sure to get over to their site and vote ASAP!
Creative Galaxy comes to you from Out of the Blue Enterprises, who we partnered with on the SuperWhy! World for PBS Kids Play! We're so excited to see a show that introduces kids to different types of art and encourages them to think and act creatively to solve problems in their world. There's not a lot out there on kids television that does this, so we're really looking forward to this hopefully being added to the kids media landscape! We are already think of some awesome, fun and creative interactive experiences for Creative Galaxy!
Creative Galaxy explores the concept of using art to fix a problem. Friends Arty and Epiphany visit the library that Arty's mom built, but are sad to see that everyone checks their books out to read them. To entice readers to stay in the library while reading, Arty and Epiphany visit the Painting and Museum Planets to do art research. Their discoveries inspire them to decorate their library at home, making it a beautiful place for their whole community to spend time in.
Sara Solves It comes to us from Out of the Blue Enterprises and our prolific kids television neighbors, WGBH Boston. We love the textured backgrounds, the fun city world Sara and Sam live in, the catchy songs and, as we always see out of WGBH, the strong curriculum backbone.
Created by the producers of Curious George, Arthur, Blue’s Clues, and SuperWhy!, this fun, new animated series entertains kids 3-5. Sister Sara and her younger brother Sam are on their way to a pizza party in Sara Solves It. Sam forgets his stuffed animal in the elevator, which is being operated by their troublesome neighbor Victor Vector. Sara has to figure out how to find Victor and Sam's stuffed friend when she realizes the elevator is "mixed up" and complicates their search.
And from our friends at Jim Henson, we have in Jim Henson's Teeny Tiny Dogs. We love seeing names like Lisa Henson, Joe Purdy and John Tartaglia attached to this series as we're big fans of their work on Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, and Sesame Street; the show was created by Howard Baker of Rugrats. Also, who doesn't love tiny dogs? Integrated into the show is an inspiring 21st Century educational curriculum researched and developed by the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center: How to be happy!
Teeny Tiny Dogs is a puppet preschool series that follows the hilarious shenanigans of four teeny tiny dogs, Dinky, Butch, Butterfly, and Polly, during their day at Doggie Daycare. Despite their teeny tiny size these four furry friends have BIG FUN and invite the viewers to join their playful pack.
So make sure you check out these great pilots, make sure you write comments after viewing them. And congrats to our friends and partners for being part of this exciting showcase!
