BBC Studios Social, which commissioned more than 1,500 minutes of original content last year, has put out an open pitching call for shorts that tie into its kids brands. 

The team is looking for original digital content centered around food and family fun for Bluey and activity-focused play for Hey Duggee (pictured). There’s also demand for younger-skewing shorts that tie into adult brands Top Gear and YouTube channel Funny Parts (53,000 subscribers). 

BBC Studios Social operates more than 90 channels across all major platforms for BBC brands, including its kids juggernauts. Looking at Bluey’s social presence alone, the preschool brand has 3.4 million followers on TikTok and 5.56 million YouTube subscribers. All told, the social team’s videos generated 6.9 billion views last year. 

Past greenlights have included stop-motion Hey Duggee videos and celebrity-led Bluey book readings (which have exceeded more than 16 million views since launching in February). And for Top Gear fans, BBC Studios Social has ordered videos exploring car-modification culture in the US.

Creatives with concepts to pitch should submit them by April 21 through the BBC Studios Social website, and the team is planning to greenlight productions by June. It’s open to working with emerging talent and indie studios of any size. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to build new partnerships with creatives, says BBC Studios digital content director Chris Allen.