TBI Kids' Briefing : New Day Dawns On Cloud 9's Tribe Franchise
May 20th 2005

The show: The Tribe: The New Tomorrow (26x30 minutes)
The producer: Cloud 9 for Five (UK) and Seven Network (Australia)
The distributor: Southern Star International
The concept: A live action drama for eight to 12 year-old kids about a world with no adults, in which children have to recreate their own society
Delivery: September 2005

Over the last five years, Cloud 9 -; a UK indie which produces shows out of Australia and New Zealand -; has delivered 260 half-hour episodes of its children's drama The Tribe. Based around the concept of a group of kids fending for themselves in a post-Apocalytic world, the series has sold to more than 40 territories worldwide and built up a cult following among its target audience of tweens.

But last year, Cloud 9 founder and creative chief Raymond Thompson and The Tribe's chief backer -; Nick Wilson at UK broadcaster Five -; began to sense a problem. "The show was still performing well," says Thompson, "but we felt that the cast was getting too old. It was beginning to stretch the core proposition."

Given that the story deals with an isolated group of children, it wasn't possible to refresh the cast by introducing new characters from outside. So Cloud 9 and Five hit on a bright idea. "We decided to create a sequel called The New Tomorrow," says Thompson. "It has the same basic premise of kids fending for themselves without adults, but it tells the story of descendants from the original series."

Creatively there are some clear differences between the two. While the Tribe was targeted at tweens, The New Tomorrow is for eight to 12 year-olds. And while the original series was set in a disused shopping mall, the backdrop for The New Tomorrow is snow-capped mountains, streams and the rolling verdant landscape of New Zealand and Australia. "We wanted to create that sense of not knowing whether this was a prequel or a sequel," says Thompson. "In places it looks like a nuclear war zone, set a thousand years in the future, and at other times, vestiges of tribal art and spiritual monuments make it seem like one thousand years in the past."

Thompson compares the link between the two series with the relationship between the original Star Wars trilogy and its more recent follow-up: "As I got deeper into writing The Tribe, I became interested in the backstory that surrounded the main characters. That provided the inspiration for the new series."

In the new series, action centres around three tribes of children, all dressed in funky clothes and daubed with wild make-up: The Barbs, a primitive bunch of kids, who are at one with nature, and led by warrior girl Zora; The Ants, a disparate bunch of children hankering to the past, led by the flamboyant high priestess Faygar; and The Privileged, a hedonistic gang led by megalomaniac dictator Flame.

It all sounds like a turbo-charged version of The Tribe -; though Thompson is keen to stress that the original is not being replaced but rested: "The Tribe still has a big fanbase so I see potential for it to re-emerge at a later point. The existing Tribe series are still in distribution and I am working on a movie screenplay. I definitely see it as a franchise which has long-running potential -; of which The New Tomorrow is the latest creative chapter."

After being in constant production with The Tribe for five years, Thompson is keen for The New Tomorrow to develop into a long-running franchise as well. But he is also continuing to explore other areas. Earlier this year, he opened up a 3D animation joint venture called Dreamcloud with Brisbane-based animators Light Knights, and he is also in development on a live action/CGI drama series called Penny Drew -; about a girl who uses a magic pen to bring the things she draws to life.

"The market is so competitive and fragmented that it's important for us to be developing new ideas all the time," says Thompson. "But one of the main advantages we have is that we own our own studio in New Zealand. That allows us to produce at wholesale prices instead of hiring everything in."

Production on The New Tomorrow starts next week (May 30) with Five and Australia's Seven Network on board as the major partners (alongside Cloud 9 itself which has put up money for production). Seven Network is an important new addition to the fold, but Five has been in with Cloud 9 since the start, says Thompson: "Nick Wilson took a big risk with us because the concept was so unusual. It was his support which allowed us to get the franchise off the ground."

The series debuts in the UK and Australia in autumn. It will then be launched at Mipcom by Southern Star International. This is a big strategic shift for Thompson, who also runs distribution arm Cumulus. "The problem as an indie is that you want to retain rights but it becomes very time-consuming to manage them," he notes. "We now have around 500 half-hours in our catalogue and I found I was spending less and less time writing. So I decided to bring in Southern Star, which I think is a great distribution outfit."