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PERSPECTIVE

Incredible Film on the power of kids’ programming

By Daniëlle Raaphorst 05-03-2024

How new live-action kids’ series Saïd & Anna aims to influence and inspire children, and how the industry should work together to create meaningful content for young audiences.

The fact I can still sing the opening theme tune to 90s kids’ series Arthur points to the power of kids’ programming and its profound effects on the thoughts, memories and development of children’s minds. The messages Arthur had about working together, getting along to make things better and to believe in yourself still hold true today and is an ethos we’ve taken into Saïd & Anna.

As an industry, our understanding of the influence that content has on children’s development and learning is ever-expanding. Not only is kids’ entertainment a powerful tool for shaping young attitudes and minds, but it can lead the way in terms of demonstrating social progression. Kids’ content needs to reflect diverse cultures, backgrounds and experiences that teaches empathy, tolerance and respect.

Saïd & Anna is a high-quality, live-action series for preschoolers, coproduced between three public broadcasters – the Netherlands’ EO/NPO Zappelin, Germany’s SWR/KiKA, and Belgium’s VRT/Ketnet. The series is unique in both its narrative and production, offering original and high-quality content for young audiences, with international appeal.

Saïd & Anna aims to influence and inspire children

The series follows best friends Saïd (6) and Anna (7) who hang out every day in the repair shop run by Saïd’s parents. While broken things from the locals are given a new life by using the right tools, the children also discover how to find solutions to their own challenges, in a creative and collaborative way, which inspires young viewers to do the same.

As an industry standard, kids’ content needs to reflect reality, meaning representation of different cultures and backgrounds should be consistent, and come as standard. Saïd & Anna portrays universal topics around inclusivity and diversity, that are important for the development and learning of young audiences. The characters and their backstories alone reflect this, with Saïd being of Syrian descent and Anna being from a Western European background. Zonia and Sameer, Saïd’s parents, were born in Syria but they came to the Netherlands as children, as did the actors playing them.

In the Netherlands, they used their skills and creativity to set up a small business: the Repair Shop. Following the premise of the series ‘Everything and everyone deserves a second chance. Nothing is beyond repair’, each episode emphasises that everyone is valuable, everyone is equal and no distinctions are made based on ethnicity, religion or personal beliefs.

Addressing these issues through kids’ content goes beyond educational value, it also inspires activism. Other successful series such as Hey Duggee! on CBeebies are setting examples of how kids’ content can be entertaining and engaging, while also showing young audiences how they can make a difference in the world and that their actions can hold value.

Saïd & Anna is all about second chances and repairing what’s broken

Saïd & Anna are determined to offer all broken items at the repair shop a second chance, reinstating the value of recycling and repairing, introducing sustainability in an accessible way. The customers visiting the shop come from all walks of life and they all have a different reason that brings them there. Taboos are not shunned but adjusted for the young target audience. The stories are about friendship, but more importantly about learning and finding solutions together. Each episode has a recognisable and recurring structure for the intended audience. It hopes to encourage children to actively investigate the world around them and to start undertaking projects themselves. In line with this, it aims to encourage children to explore their own limits, talents and skills, and develop core values.

With rising production costs and downwards pressure on broadcasters’ budgets, there’s never been a more crucial time for producers of kids’ content and distributors to work together by means of international coproducing. And Saïd & Anna is a great example of this.

Collaborations like this can result in high-quality, global content for young children. The creative vision and key themes such as diversity, inclusivity, creativity, empathy, environmental awareness and ‘kids-in-charge’ were a perfect match for all coproducing partners. Besides that, it always comes back to authentic storytelling and characters that generate an emotional response, and above all the stories need to be entertaining and inspiring. This positive format in particular featuring fun and joyful moments is exactly what families need right now. And the production format, alleviating budgets by sharing costs among multiple partners, sounds like something the industry needs right now.

Saïd and Anna’s adventures inspire children to create (new) toys and items with the simplest materials around and to enjoy themselves. This broadens their view, stirs their imagination, boosts their creativity and encourages children to be proactive and confident. Creativity and empowerment are key to making content that’s more meaningful for young audiences. As an industry we need to change our perception of what content young audiences can handle and understand, and work together to create opportunities for new, exciting and important content production.

today's correspondent

Daniëlle Raaphorst CEO Incredible Film

Daniëlle Raaphorst founded Incredible Film in 2009 and has been leading the independent worldwide sales agent for 15 years. Daniëlle has a passion for bringing diverse and engaging stories to global audiences, from family adventures to epic dramas, and daytime romcoms to terrifying horror. Raaphorst also has experience as an independent producer and a strong background in sales and marketing, business insights and commerce.

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