The Art of the big Kids' Show Idea

So, how do you come up with that GREAT IDEA?

First and foremost, you need to believe that you have the best idea and the best reason to put a new show for kids out into the world.  One of the biggest obstacles to this is - - OURSELVES.  It’s true.  So first, please, believe you can do it.  Grab hold of your inner power and decide to go for it.  Yes, I know, maybe it won’t happen, but along the way, when you believe in yourself and your ideas, the solutions will be clear with ever obstacle you encounter.   Ideas are bountiful …

My co-creator on Blue’s Clues, when we first met, drew a diagram of her head with specific ideas spilling out of it. Her ideas were plentiful, but the real ideas are the ones that we put into action.  Traci sharing her creative brain made me want to work with her more – and for 30 years!

THE NOT-SO-GREAT-AT-FIRST IDEA:  I believe that to make GREAT CONTENT –you need to be inspired and you can find inspiration everywhere.

Like anything, you want to stack the deck in your favor by educating and inspiring yourself with everything in the realm of your idea.  You would never go to an interview without learning something about the company.  You would never hop on stage to play the guitar in front of an audience without years of practice.  Same goes for coming up with the NEXT BIG IDEA.   Do your research, know everything there is to know about your target audience, the competitive landscape, and do a deep dive into the content you are about to write.  Before Blue’s Clues existed, I studied child developmental psychology – I wanted specifically to know how kids learn, what sparks them, and how they could learn from media. 

I did a deep dive into all of the research on media – from Electric Company to Sesame Street to Mister Rogers, there are multiple academic studies on why these shows were successful.  I also studied preschool curriculum documents, specifically how preschool and kindergarten teacher’s approach “kindergarten readiness skills.”  What do kids need to learn to be ready to learn?  What do they need to be able to absorb the information in kindergarten?  How do they learn best? What is their specific language?  I was always around kids – I was a babysitter, a camp counselor and a preschool teacher’s assistant in college.   When I started my career I started in Nickelodeon’s research department which enabled me to learn directly from kids and parents about what they expect from media.  I also learned what the Network wanted for their air – what they liked and what they didn’t like. 

Here’s some of the answers I came up with that can help you:

•     How do kids learn?  They learn through play.
•     What sparks kids? – They are sparked by games, humor, other kids, the arts, the play corner, and asking a lot of questions to understand how the world works.  I observed a play corner one day and laughed out loud at preschoolers on the “pretend phone” talking “teenager”.  It’s all new and fascinating to them and that’s one of the reasons I love this age group! 
•     How do kids learn from media? - In many cases, I believe, preschoolers learn through specific and repetitive formal features.  Blue’s Clues has a specific format – we find three clues in every episode.  Paw Patrol has a specific set up – there is always a cry for help.  Daniel Tiger always has a preschool relatable problem he needs to solve, and we “imagine” with Daniel in every episode.  This is backed up with wonderful academic research from Dr. Daniel Anderson,  University of Massachusetts Amherst
•     What content should your show be? For me, I wanted to put the very best preschool curriculum you could find in a classroom and adapt it for television.  So I read everything I could get my hands on for matching skills, early literacy, early math, patterning, sorting, etc. 
•     What is a kids specific “language?” – I’ve said this earlier but it bears repeating, play is the love language of preschoolers! 

TOOLKIT

•     How can your concept lean into kids are?
•     How can your concept include aspects that spark kids?
•     How can your concept include aspects where kids can learn? 
•     What is your specific content about? 

  

•     In an ideal scenario, what would YOU love writing about or working on every day?  

o   What does that look like? 

o   What does that feel like? 

o   What does that smell like? 

o   What are you wearing? 

o   Who are you working with? 

o   What does your typical day look like? 

o   What are people saying to you? 

o   What would happen on your “best day” doing your passion project?

Be as specific as you can as you “dream up” your passion project and ideal way of working. I will include some creative visualization tools that have helped me over the years! 

More on how to get inspired for your idea in an upcoming post!