Re: How Pony is Formed: Production and Business Thread
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Corpy
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It appears as though some fans forgot that there was a new episode last week. “Make New Friends But Keep Discord” drew just an estimated 307,000 viewers last Saturday. That is the lowest total for the show since the start of Season Three. The previous low was “Just for Sidekicks” (324,000). The low is also low enough to knock down the Season Five average to just under 500,000 per episode.
Hasbro has named Meghan McCarthy as Head of Storytelling for the company’s Girl brands. In her new position, effective immediately, McCarthy will drive a multi-year strategy, developing deep story and characters across the company’s portfolio of brands, including My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Show. She also will work with film producers on the upcoming My Little Pony animated feature film currently slated for release in 2017. She will be based in Hasbros Studios’ Los Angeles office, reporting to Stephen Davis, EVP, Chief Content Officer.
McCarthy is an executive producer on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The series, currently in its fifth season, airs on Discovery Network in the U.S., on leading networks in more than 180 territories globally, and distributed on digital platforms, including Netflix, iTunes and Google Play. Additionally, McCarthy is credited with writing and producing for several My Little Pony spin-off films, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013), Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks (2014) and Equestria Girls: Friendship Games (2015).
The move is a signal of Hasbro’s further integration of storytelling across its blueprint. “Having worked closely with Meghan during the past four years and seen first-hand what an adept storyteller she is – clearly one of the best in our business – words cannot express how thrilled we are that she will be joining our organization,” said Davis. “To be able to benefit from Meghan’s ability to create expansive worlds and characters across our entire portfolio of brands is an incredible opportunity for the Company. Storytelling is at the center of our brand blueprint and Meghan will help us continue to advance our strategy of building deep connections and relationships with our consumers and audiences globally through rich content in all forms and formats – across digital, television, animated and live action films.”
Headless Horse wrote:Is that a newly created position? Sure sounds like it; it sounds like one of those things where a company goes "whoa shit, we're supposed to be all about X, but we don't have X all over every press release and executive statement", much like Apple naming Jony Ive "Chief Design Officer".
Headless Horse wrote:More likely I forgot.
Bakertoons wrote:So yeah, it makes me wonder what McCarthy is going to do on Ponies on season 6+. Will she give the story editing position to Larson/someone else? If the latter happens, she might still have a consulting position.
Headless Horse wrote:Putting someone in charge of "storytelling" across all your brands sounds to me like it could hardly be anything but an explicit attempt to reconcile the toylines and the cartoons with one another, after all these years of the two worlds living at cross purposes and really only intersecting more or less by accident.
ShieldedDiamond wrote:Could a possible reason she was brought to this position now was to discuss a new brand direction for the next generation?
Bakertoons wrote:Isn't it a bit early for the next generation? G1 lasted 13 years (1982-1995), for example.
The Doctor wrote:
Show staff have been pretty adamant since EQG started that it wouldn't affect FiM though. I don't see any advantage to joining them up more when both are doing well on their own.
Wylie wrote:I think it's less making EQG and FIM be in sync than it is making FIM and the actual plastic horses and horse accessories that are made available be at least somewhat related to one another.
Like, I still can't believe that Princess Twilight was a thing for almost a whole year before the episode aired, and then when it finally did, there was literally nothing in the stores about it. A company with their waterfowl aligned properly would have had Princess Twilight Sparkle coronation playsets and vehicles (they literally gave her one in the episode that screamed "LOOK FOR ME IN STORES") and, I don't know, maybe an actual Princess Twilight Sparkle figure for sale? But there was not a single thing available for months afterward.
Every princess needs a special set of wheels – and all the better if it’s driven by a dragon. This “fabulously ornate” aqua convertible comes with its very own magical chauffeur – a.k.a. Spike, Twilight’s confidante – as well as Rarity, a pony who enjoys the finer things in life. “Our major objective [is] to completely sync entertainment and our toy line,” says Tobin, noting that Hasbro and My Little Pony’s overseers regularly discuss “story arching, how that works from an entertainment perspective, and also how it works for our core line and our brand development.” ($22.99)
Wylie wrote:I think it's less making EQG and FIM be in sync than it is making FIM and the actual plastic horses and horse accessories that are made available be at least somewhat related to one another.
ShieldedDiamond wrote:No, that's G1. You're not thinking in terms of current day toy sales and gimmicks, these things go much faster. As it was just the 80s, they didn't have a grasp on switching generations of anything just yet. 8 years seems like the point where they would switch the cartoon at least. Remember, the past MLP cartoons never lasted like this. That does change things.
Headless Horse wrote:
Yeah, this is what I meant.
I still think the toys look like more like tropical fish or something than the characters in the show.
ShieldedDiamond wrote:But that position has always been around, and there is naturally a boy counterpart as well (GI Joe, Transformers, that stuff).
Fizzbuzz wrote:That's what SD said earlier:
If what you suggest is true then I would be interested in hearing why Hasbro's executives think they have to market things so differently just because of the genders of their customers.
Kate wrote:there are as many female characters in the base game as there are Cole McGraths
Fizzbuzz wrote:Yeah, but by bowing down to the shitty aspects of our culture, they're only perpetuating it. Wouldn't it be in their financial best interests to help eliminate gendered marketing in the long run? After all, once it's gone, then they don't have to pointlessly divide their brands and have separate people making separate campaigns for selling the same stuff to both boys and girls.
Master_Twig wrote:Girls are different than boys. The problem is when those differences are seen as negatives. Feminism isn't about saying everyone is the same and should be the same. It's about saying that the differences in our genders are a good thing, and that we should embrace femininity as something positive rather than subservient.
That's what's so great about Friendship is Magic. The Mane six are very diverse and show of many different ways to be a girl, but they're all still feminine.
I will agree that a lot of the gender norms marketed are harmful, but recognizing the differences between boys and girls and marketing to that is just common sense.
Master_Twig wrote:It's mainly that girls do tend towards preferring stories that deal with emotions and nurturing. Things like friendship lessons, exploring your emotions, and romance are things that generally are more appealing to girls than boys. If you market a story towards girls that has these elements, it's going to be more successful than if you market things towards them that are considered more masculine like transformers and GI Joe. Basically, stuff that deal with war and heavy conflict.
And of COURSE there are going to be exceptions. But if you want mass success, you don't market to the exceptions. The problems are when we say that it's not okay for a boy to like these things, and not okay for a girl to not like these things. I'm completely against any marketing that "just for boys" or "just for girls." But the fact of the matter is that most girls like girly things because they're girls, not because we have forced a gender norm onto them.
Headless Horse wrote:E: But my point above is that Hasbro is not in the business of social engineering or creating gender equity; rather, they're in the business of exploiting every non-equity they can. In that sense their goals and Lauren Faust's are kind of at odds.
Fizzbuzz wrote:That's what SD said earlier:
If what you suggest is true then I would be interested in hearing why Hasbro's executives think they have to market things so differently just because of the genders of their customers.