Dragon Tales:

At first glance, the Dragon Tales team seems an odd marriage. On the one side is Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the 30-year-old, not-for-profit icon that has made its mark with several generations of kids to whom it taught the ABCs. On the other side is the children's division of monster studio Columbia TriStar Television Group (newly renamed Sony Pictures Family Entertainment Group), which has a varied collection of projects with a strong action-adventure component such as the Men in Black TV series and feature film Godzilla.

Scratch a little deeper though, and the relationship isn't all that unusual. Perhaps a few years ago it may have been considered odd, but with producer and broadcaster alliances firmed up, increased competition in the kids market, and the expensive prospect of exploiting all the accompanying mediums beyond TV, few bedfellows seem odd these days.

Co-production partnerships are becoming more creative in nature, as well as more common. The rules of the co-pro game, regardless of who the players are, are two-fold: hook up with a company that complements yours, and find a player that can inject needed cash; both of these goals minimize risk. Although a co-pro relationship is not something larger studios need to pursue, Bob Higgins, senior VP of creative affairs for Sony Pictures Family Entertainment Group, says "for a lot more of the original programming, it makes sense to at least explore it."

And for Dragon Tales, the original-programming risk is indeed there. This is an unfranchised concept; no book, movie nor CD-ROM of any kind exists-just some paintings discovered at an arts festival. So, for the time being, this is no Arthur or Paddington Bear with well-established tailcoats to ride on.

For Columbia TriStar Television Group (CTTG), which conceived the show through producer Jim Coane, the partnering with CTW allows the studio to advance into the arena of educational preschool programming while holding hands with this realm's uncontested pro. It also brings a US$6.2-million grant obtained from the U.S. Department of Education, administered through the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (a grant that Sony alone could never have secured), as well as a much-coveted relationship with pubcaster PBS.

Enticing for CTW were CTTG's access to solid in-house animation facilities and the much-needed cash acquired by the studio's rights purchase.

And neither was soured by the experience. The compromises seemed to work for both CTW and CTTG, but lining up shared objectives was key. "It's not only a financial question," says CTW's Steve Miller, group VP of international television and product, "it's also a question of finding partners who share a vision, especially when you are talking about children's TV."

Few players, regardless of size or stature, are willing or able to take the same chances, and this particular alliance just serves to illustrate that the playing field is becoming a little more even. While the landscape may be a little more complicated, the rules of the game are being applied with more uniformity.