It was a tie for Kidscreen’s Gold Star this week, with voters seeking out bright spots in bad situations. First up, in a country where the invasion of big overseas streamers has led to dried-up funding for kids media, industry group Screen Producers Australia is leading the charge to do something about it. And then, there was a bit of good news amid all the carnage at Paramount: Nickelodeon Kids & Family’s business and strategy is going to be run by a very familiar face. 

GOLD STAR WINNERS – Jules Borkent – A longtime fixture of the Nickelodeon leadership team, Jules Borkent has been appointed to oversee the business and strategy of Nickelodeon Kids & Family under Paramount’s new cable leadership structure set out by George Cheeks. Maximizing the Nick brand is the perfect gig for Borkent, a familiar face who has been in the kids channel’s fold for nearly three decades. We’re keeping our eyes peeled to see what plans this veteran cooks up under the New Paramount—we just wish it had happened under better circumstances.

Screen Producers Australia: Things are looking up for the land down under, where Aussie content quotas for global streamers may finally fall into place. The country’s Labor government says it will introduce a long-awaited bill to ensure giants like Netflix and Disney+ invest a portion of their Australian revenues in local programming—including the children’s genre. It’s something that orgs like Screen Producers Australia have been advocating for hard, particularly in the context of the regional kids industry’s downturn. And who knows—we just might see another Bluey emerge from this new landscape.

Picture from the 2022 Make it Australian campaign, where industry leaders lobbied the government for more support. Courtesy of Screen Producers Australia.

And here’s what we said about the runners-up, who also had winning weeks:

A Productions: Picking through the rubble of Cyber Group Studios, A Productions was able to buy back its shares and be reborn as an indie producer once again. Not everything is back to what it once was, as joint studio head Mark Taylor is stepping away from his leadership role at the end of the year, leaving Katherine McQueen as the company’s sole managing director. But we’re thrilled the studio is in good hands to go full steam ahead on making some series we’re really excited to see. 

CBC/Radio-Canada – It seems like all of Canada has been grieving the Toronto Blue Jays’ World Series loss, but this week’s new federal budget definitely cheered up the country’s screen sector. Public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada scored a funding increase of US$106 million (CAD$150 million), just like the Liberals pledged back in April. The funding couldn’t come at a better time, given that the CBC went out of its way to highlight the kids audience as a top priority in its recent strategic plan. At a time when global support for pubcasters is far from guaranteed, the importance of such commitments can’t be overstated.

Story Kitchen: The Sonic the Hedgehog movie producer has secured the rights to adapt Roblox’s most popular game to date—Grow a Garden—into a feature film. Who would’ve thought that a simple title about tending veggies could generate more than 33 billion plays in less than a year? Now that the game is headed to the big screen, Story Kitchen can nurture this budding IP into a major film franchise for all ages. We just hope the studio  lives up to its name and cooks up a good story—because there’s none to be found in the game!

Check back on Friday for our next batch of nominees. Hope to see you on the list soon!