Creating Children’s Television for SVODs: The Alignment of Global Production Practices with National Screen Policies in the Netflix Original Bottersnikes and Gumbles

Abstract

In many countries, domestically produced children's television is believed to play an important role in national cultural representation. But national policy settlements and funding schemes designed to support its production are aging rapidly and do not apply to internet-distributed television services. Using the case study of one of Netflix's first children's Originals, the Australian animation Bottersnikes and Gumbles, this article analyzes the impact of subscription video on demand (SVOD) services on children's screen production industries and their practitioners' creative practice. It reveals how the global SVOD's operations intersect with national policy instruments and explains the production collaborations developing between Netflix and public service broadcasters in the United Kingdom and Australia. The article's findings reveal that despite the advantages Netflix's large content budget and global distribution networks offer to children's content producers, domestic content quotas and the involvement of linear broadcasters remain vital to the funding and production of local children's television.