Penny's Birthday
The People Behind Wigglebottom Farm
Steve Bailey , Early Years Entertainment founder & Managing Director
The concept of creating interactive DVD storybooks enriched with engaging content was borne out of the awareness of emerging DVD technology and frustration. Steve wanted to create a DVD experience for his 5 year old son that would offer the engaging content usually gained from passive DVDs (movies, cartoons etc.) but also wanted something that re-enforced and under-pinned some of the learning disciplines his son was encountering in his formal early years education. As a parent he found it all too easy to sit his son down in front of the latest children's blockbuster secure in the knowledge that for a least an hour or so his son would be entertained. He soon realised what the powerful combination of DVD player, TV, and remote control had to offer, if only someone would use them.
The Wigglebottom Farm concept soon started to gather momentum. The reaction from his son and from others around clearly showed that something very special was being created. With the knowledge of DVD technology, a little creative flair, and a team of talented individuals, the project quickly passed from concept to the first volume, Penny's Birthday Party, being created in less that six months. Wigglebottom Farm's Penny's Birthday Party is the world's first truly interactive DVD storybook specifically designed for early learners. Steve is extremely proud of what has been achieved and is grateful to all those who believed in his dream. He is confident that a very high standard has been set from the start, one which other content owners will find hard to match.
Steve continues to work on new stories for Wigglebottom Farm as well as run the commercial side of Early Years Entertainment. He lives and works in his native city of Sheffield, where he is supported and encourage by his wife and four children. When asked to comment for this website he said:
"Many people go through their lives never being lucky enough to realise a dream. My dream was very quick in coming and in being realised. I am lucky to have had that opportunity. Wigglebottom Farm is not just about watching. It is about watching, taking part, learning from and most importantly enjoying. It was important that as well as the learning disciplines within the product there was a certain measure of life skill topics covered, and in some cases dealt with. Today children are not taught about friendship, honesty, safety and other important issues, in the same way that I was as a child. In a way Wigglebottom Farm has allowed us to put these firmly back on the 21st Century agenda. They are as important today, if not more so, than they were 20-30 years ago.
I hope that parent and children will enjoy the Wigglebottom Farm products, I know I do!"
Julie Pittilla, Managing Director, Pittilla PR
I’ve worked in the toy industry for 27 years and run a successful PR consultancy which has worked on some of the best known children’s products of the last two decades including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cabbage Patch Kids, Mr. Blobby, Spiderman and the world famous Teletubbies. I’m not that easy to impress! I love Wigglebottom Farm.
I love the drawings, the characters, the fact that its deals with simple issues that kids have to deal with, learning, making friends and understanding things. I love the simple lines, the Englishness of the concept and the fact that it truly is unique. I think that empowering the children by giving them control of the remote is fantastic. I love the fact that it is not animated and is presented in a simple storybook manner. I think it does prepare children for the vagaries of life in the playground, it does explain that things can be tough and it does encourage children to think for themselves and to think about others.
Steve’s enthusiasm for the concept and his unwillingness to compromise on his high standards mean that this series will soon be in every household where a 3 to 6 year old lives. A true classic in the making. Well done Steve!
Pittilla PR is very pleased, and very excited, to be working on this product.
Paul Beech, Technical Director, Early Years Entertainment
Paul, co-founder of Early Years Entertainment, is a veteran of the new media industry with over 8 years experience spanning DVD, internet, web, digital video, multimedia and computer gaming technologies. Paul was the technical guru in the team that formed ZOO Media Corporation and worked on pioneering web projects for Motorola and UEFA among others, through to a critical role in the developing of Zoo’s DVD-Extra technology and the production of the titles "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and "The Pepsi Chart Music Quiz".
Paul’s enthusiasm and desire to push technological boundries has allowed Early Years Entertainment to produce this high quality interactive DVD series. His ‘there are no problems only hurdles that need overcoming’ approach to development has allowed Steve and the rest of the team to push the boundries of interactive DVD development. The fact that the interactive DVD ‘bar’ has been set so high is a testiment to Paul’s knowledge and achievement.
“Working on Wigglebottom Farm and interactive DVD has allowed me to develop the technology to a new level. It has allowed me to develop as a technologist and more importantly allowed me to continue to be a kid, albeit at heart!”
Mark Mattocks , MRM Consulting
I have been working in consumer marketing for about 20 years, enjoying senior marketing positions in many different areas of entertainment including the Toy Industry, the Computer and Video Games Industry and the Mobile Telecommunications Industry. I am also the father of two little princesses, one at each end of the Wigglebottom Farm target age group.
So, perhaps it might be destiny. It seems like I have been drawn to work on Wigglebottom Farm – children’s entertainment and licensing meets new technology meets fresh creativity and a new market opportunity. It all makes perfect sense. Wigglebottom Farm is perhaps the focal point of my experience to date.
Professionally it’s a fantastic project to work on bringing ‘worthy’, ‘original’ ‘safe’ and ‘compelling’ content directly into the living room by unlocking interactivity on standard home DVD players. It’s not been created for the computer stuck up in the spare room or out there in the kitchen; it’s for the family space. And, when DVD eventually moves into the children’s bedroom in a few years time, children will be able to use it on their own; it’ll work first time and requires no supervision. I’m also happy that because it’s on DVD they will not come across something they shouldn’t.
Personally it works pretty well for me too! Watching my eldest daughter’s face beam when she gets Harper across the pond or helps Jack to get the cake from the Magical Wish Tree by correctly counting the suns and rainbows is very rewarding. Even driving along in the car and occasionally glimpsing my youngest just watching the DVD and enjoying the story. It all makes for many ‘feel good’ moments and a vast accumulation of ‘good dad points’.
It seems that no one has much time these days and our household is definitely no exception. To see such creativity and technical wizardry applied to entertaining the little ones in such a positive way is very refreshing. Although we consume as much ‘branded’ kids content as the next family (and much of it is acceptable with some of it even exceptional) it seems to make very little difference to the younger viewer how great the production budget is or how much the merchandising program could gross in US $. Whatever the ‘package’ it seems they enjoy the Wigglebottom Farm experience with an equal and even new kind of excitement: whether watching or interacting or both, enjoyment seems to be the key criteria for them. My two, and the many others I’ve observed playing Wigglebottom Farm, seem to bear this out. The best description is that they love ‘getting involved’ (it seems to be more than just putting on a DVD especially with the use of the remote control) and they always seem to want more, sometimes even at the expense of the major Hollywood blockbuster or classic old favourite!
Of course, professionally I’m biased, but personally, I’m just a dad like the next dad and the whole idea of the Wigglebottom Farm series and the Penny’s Birthday Party interactive DVD storybook seems to stack up with me – something more for the kids on the DVD player, which they can enjoy individually or we can enjoy together as a family. It’s interactive DVD fun with a little bit of something extra and can only be encouraged!