A whole new Disney world

Kids are going to wake up to a whole new Disney Channel this schoolyear.

"Disney is all about great storytelling and there are a lot of exhilarating and inspiring stories on Disney Channel this month," said Singapore-based Raymund Miranda, managing director of Walt Disney International (Southeast Asia) and Walt Disney Television International (Southeast Asia/Korea), who was in Manila recently.

Miranda was excited about the new offerings of The Disney Channel this schoolyear.

Kim Possible comes back with a fresh round of heroic antics as the girl-next-door in July. "Kim Possible is about a young girl who is supposed to save the day. But her concerns are just those of any other teenager – crushes and zits," Miranda said in explaining Kim’s appeal. There will also be a new season of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, the result of the success of the movie of the same name and which will have all new episodes in August.

And for the live TV, there are: That’s So Raven, starring Raven Symone – a super hit on Disney. Raven Baxter is an ordinary teen with an extraordinary gift – she can see into the future. But her ability to falsely predict upcoming events gets her into trouble. Then there’s Phil of the Future with Ricky Ullman. Phil is about 15-year-old Phil Diffy and his average family who live in 2121. They travel back in time and get stuck in the present, so the Diffys struggle to keep their identities secret while dealing with everyone they meet.

There are also two new shows coming up. The funny Brady and Mr. Whiskers is a cartoon about a dog and rabbit who end up in the Amazon and try to make friends there. Thing is, Brandy is a society pooch and Mr. Whiskers is a bunny and the result of a science experiment gone wrong. Not to be left out is American Dragon: Jake Long, a teenager trying to master his role as the last American Dragon.

Miranda, who is responsible for what shows go into Disney Channel in Southeast Asia, has gotten to know his audience very well. He shared that the Filipino TV viewers are perhaps the most open-minded when it comes to TV viewing, probably due to the fact that we were once under American rule. Miranda used to work with GMA Network before he moved to the Disney Channel in 1998.

Over the last four years, there have been big changes in the Disney Channel and Walt Disney TV. "We have been successful in doing two things: Creating franchises and creating new characters for animation," Miranda explained. The shift started with the big hit Lizzie McGuire in 1999.

Before that, Disney was focused on the fab five (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto). But Miranda said they began to notice that their audience was "skewing too young."

What all this meant was that there was a demand for something else. In came Lizzie McGuire, and things started to change for Disney. By the time Lizzie became a movie, it was estimated that the Lizzie franchise was worth about $1.1 billion. "Live action was one of the key developments for us," quipped Miranda.

"In the past, it was animation that was driving us. Now, we see it’s more the live action that is doing extremely well." That’s So Raven, Phil of the Future, and Cadet Kelly are some of the hit live action series that Miranda sees doing well.

And then came the second shift – creating new characters for animation.

In the past, what Disney did was to create characters for their movies. You watched them once and that was it. Today, there are series, like Lilo & Stitch, The Series.

"Somewhere down the road, as a result of all these programming initiatives, TV has become recognized as a business that drives franchises, creates franchises for the company, and builds them," said Miranda.

Interesting how times have truly changed. Specially for those of us who grew up watching Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, 101 Dalmatians, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and so many more.

Miranda emphasized that the Disney Channel is continually creating original Disney movies. We are also aware that the characters we create need to grow with their audience.

We asked Miranda a few more questions and here’s what he had to say.

Are the cartoons losing out to the live TV shows?

Not at all. What has happened is that the animated series has become another medium altogether. It is just another way of expressing the same thing. And, at the end of the day, 50 percent of the Disney audience is 25 and up. Matter of fact, one of the core demographics of the audience of Disney is females aged 25 to 44. Disney Channel is number one and this is because people are watching TV.

Who is the main audience of the Disney Channel?

Disney Channels and the Disney brand are all about families. And it would be wrong to brand us as a kiddie channel. Our entertainment is for tweens – the four to 14 age gap. But we move all the way up to 18. Making programs geared towards the tweens and tween agers was one of our big shifts.

How do you decide which shows to show in Southeast Asia?

There is a lot of research that goes into it. We either commission or acquire research in order to understand the market, business climate, entertainment habits and viewing habits of our audience. We also do focus groups, pretesting of shows. We spend lots of money on pretesting and research. But research is really just a guide. At the end of the day, it is a gut decision.

Are the Southeast Asian countries very different, programming-wise?

There are similarities and there are differences. The Philippines has been patterned pretty much after the US broadcast industry. We are probably the most free enterprise country. The Philippines is probably most accepting of experimental stuff. The feed that I manage gets into Indonesia and Malaysia, which are predominantly Muslim countries and have very strict TV requirements, which I have to be mindful of.

Thailand is also a relatively controlled country. There are differences with our viewers that we cannot trivialize. We have a team called standards and practices, which pretty much looks at every show before it goes on air. There are concerns like whether a character can appear in a sleeveless shirt. There are other countries where it is wrong to show the soles of the bare feet and stuff like that.

What do you like most about working with Disney?

It makes me feel happy to see the result of our work reflected in the smiles of the kids and parents. It is good to work in a company. I like the fact that my family likes that I am working with Disney. It is good to feel good about going to work and to be working in a company I feel good about.

Who is your favorite Disney character?

Aladdin. Because Aladdin describes himself as a jewel in the rough.