Kit and her boot tickle at Kidscreen Summit

In February of this year I went to the Kidscreen Summit in New York. It was awesome! The Kidscreen magazine and online newsletters and website have been vital for me learning about the greater business of kids TV (outside of dreaming up concepts and finding ways to produce pilots or proofs of concept.) And the summit was just fantastic for me to meet people LIKE ME from all over the world, ie those that just love to make kids TV, and the people who might be able to make it possible!
Thank you to all those people that helped make it reality.. ScreenWest and Lotteries West for the funding, Susie Campbell for her fabulous mentoring, Chris Hunt for doing my marketing materials and my husband Rob for looking after the kids and the kids for looking after him and all my friends that pitched in.
Obviously New York is a buzzy place to visit whatever, but the conference really did re-energise and inspire me to keep going. I am realistic enough to know nothing is going to happen over-night (as if six years of work to get to this point would be overnight!?) but it at least feels like a really positive step.
The thing that really makes me giggle to myself whenever I think about it is, Kit and Ker-Boot. This little idea was what first drew me back to the business of TV, it led me to get into animation, but most people around here thought it was a bit odd. Because of the ways in which I have managed to develop it - it has never had proper designs or sparkly treatment and I have never quite been sure how to pitch it. But I still believed in it as a show and as a voice for my storytelling. Anyhow I decided to go for it anyhow. I pitched it at Kidscreen and quite a few people liked it and asked to see more!
You can find the Kit and Kerboot mini-pilot which was part of a Jelly Jym episode deeper in these blogs or by going to www.jellyjym.blip.tv or clicking on the "watch jelly jym" link over to the right.