“Samurai Rabbit” and “Do, Re & Mi,” the highlights of Gaumont’s kids offer

With offices in Paris, Los Angeles, London, Rome, Köln and Berlin, Gaumont produces and distributes high-quality TV programming and films. Specializing in developing local stories with global appeal, Gaumont’s current slate includes distinctive titles across multiple languages for the world’s leading global streaming platforms and channels, being the kids & family segment one of its main focuses.

During the last edition of Kidscreen, Gaumont presented “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles” to the international market. The series, which is currently on Netflix, follows the adventures of Usagi, a young rabbit who wants to be the history’s greatest Samurai. When he comes to the futuristic city of Neo Edo to seek his destiny, he accidentally unleashes dozens of the bizarre, ancient monsters known as Yokai. Now, along with his new friends Chizu, Gen and Kitsune, he must clean up the mess he has made.

Another highlight from Gaumont’s kids & family catalogue is musical show “Do, Re & Mi,” which is currently available on Prime Video. A preschool series about music, emotion, inspiration, joy, and frustration, this show follows three birds whose love of music and adventure makes them best friends. Together, they go on kid-relatable experiences, with each adventure ramping up into an original song.

“‘Do, Re & Mi’ is a beautiful show. We wanted to bring to the market a preschool show with music that would also appeal to parents. Sometimes the music from children's shows can be a bit annoying, but in 'Do, Re & Mi' it has been created by real musicians. Moreover, Kristen Bell, who is amazing at acting but also at singing, is one of the executive producers of this show, and she gives its voice to the character of Mi,”  Fanny Gilabert, VP of International Sales at Gaumont, told Señal News.

Gilabert believes that the fact that “Do, Re & Mi” is a musical show really helps Gaumont to present it to many different broadcasters worldwide. “Music is an international language. It is challenge to dub the music, but a catchy song is great anywhere. A good music show can surely be an international hit. It is a form of art which is easy to get for kids all over the world,”  the executive assured.

In terms of trends, Gilabert thinks buyers are looking for content for a target between kids and teenagers. “On the market there are a lot of preschool shows, so now the buyers are looking for great content for kids 8+, which is a tricky target group. At this age, we are seeing that kids are shifting to VOD platforms. Therefore, the challenge is to find appealing content for that specific audience,”  she said.

For Gaumont, the goal with each show is to reach as many global screens as possible, something that, according to the executive, is what in the long run ends up giving the title longevity. “The key challenge is how to finance the content and, at the same time, how to enable it to travel worldwide from one platform or broadcaster to another. As a distributor, you know that the content has to travel as much as possible and for many years as possible. If a content is available in just one platform, it is difficult to achieve that,”  she concluded.

By Diego Alfagemez and Federico Marzullo