Long-time super hero writer (also producer) Paul Dini speaketh:
DINI: "They [TV animation execs] are all for boys 'we do not want the girls', I mean, I've heard executives say this, you know, not [where I am] but at other places, saying like, 'We do not want girls watching this show."
SMITH: "WHY? That's 51% of the population."
DINI: "They. Do. Not. Buy. Toys. The girls buy different toys. The girls may watch the show—" ... I'll just lay it on the line: that's the thing that got us cancelled on Tower Prep, honest-to-God was, like, 'we need boys, but we need girls right there, right one step behind the boys'—this is the network talking—'one step behind the boys, not as smart as the boys, not as interesting as the boys, but right there.' ...
Come on, Paul. Let's get real. This isn't about the audience, per se. It's about how many plastic knick-knacks get moved off the shelves of your neighborhood Wal-Mart.
And if that doesn't suit your artistic sensibility, well too freaking bad. We're living in 21st century America, pally. And what counts is cash flow. The girls don't run out and buy the right kinds of junk, so the girls are fungible.
The sooner you get that through your head, the better off you'll be. It's a boys' club, after all.
Posts
2 comments:
So they don't want female viewership, yet they're going to premiere a brand-new Powerpuff Girls special -- a franchise with just as many female viewers as male, if not more -- next month? The lack of logic that executives can have sometimes astounds me.
They make these shows to sell toys, that much has always been true. But the marketing of the toys is a different beast, driven not upon past success, but on "what can you do for me now." The specific targeting of demographics in their belief, (with mountains of data to prove it) in the toy world never ceases to amaze me. It has nothing to do with the tv executives--they're just pawns in the much larger, more profitable toy industry.
Betting on crossover sales (boys and girls) is a less sure bet. It sucks, but remember, tv animation mostly are commercials for toys. Most features, too.
Post a Comment