“It’s offered a mirror to check how we’re doing,” Caspian Films on Investment Readiness and giving female auteurs a voice
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Oliver Ellis and Helen Howells have over 50 years combined experience in TV production and rights management, which is why they were perfectly placed to create Hoho Entertainment. Founded in 2011, their company combines both of its owners’ industry expertise to provide a one-stop shop for children’s programming and its accompanying rights, with a dedication to crafting vibrant, entertaining and engaging children’s content at the core of everything it does.
“We set up Hoho with a mission to entertain children worldwide,” says Ellis, talking us through the company’s current slate of projects. “We started with Cloudbabies for Cbeebies, then continued with other shows like Shane the Chef for Channel 5/Milkshake and most recently, Toad & Friends for Warner Media Discovery. And because of our distribution background, it made sense to do the distribution of these shows ourselves as well,” adds the co-founder.
In addition to production and distribution, Ellis and Howells also oversee the digital afterlife of the content they create. “We brought all of our YouTube output in-house a few years ago and that’s become a big part of what we do,” adds Howells, explaining how controlling the online footprint of their shows provides access to key analytics. “We straddle traditional distribution models with running our own channels where we have much more control,” she says. “We can learn a lot more about our content over and above what a broadcaster can give us in ratings.”
Merchandising is an increasingly important part of their output and with detailed insights, their small team can make more informed and commercially successful decisions. “It’s effective IP management,” notes Ellis. “We can manage our brands across all of the areas where they can be experienced and the data is crucial,” he says, explaining how this information can help provide added value to shows like the bedtime-focused Cloudbabies. “It translates to our eShop where we sell ‘Bedtime Bundles’ offering bedtime story books, plush toys and pyjamas which feed directly into the key value of the show,” adds Ellis. “For other companies, this requires lots of communication with third-party companies while we can do it all in-house.”
With successful intellectual properties and the relevant analytics to hand to increase sales, Hoho Entertainment finds itself at a place where expansion is imminent. To help them on their way and raise finance, Ellis and Howells enrolled in 2024’s Creative Enterprise Investment Readiness scheme to speed up their growth journey. “It’s provided the perfect opportunity to step back and reflect.”
“Oliver and I are so caught up in the day-to-day running of our business that there was never much of an opportunity to take the proper time to sit down and talk about how we evolve for the future” says Howells on why now was the right time to join the programme. “The workshops have been useful for us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the investor viewpoint and to have somebody mentor us through the whole process has been invaluable.”
As Ellis points out, this one-to-one mentoring has given the duo some much-needed brain space to ponder the bigger-picture elements of their company. It’s also opened their eyes to the type of investor they want to attract: “It’s not just about the money for us,” continues Ellis. “Ideally we’d like an investor that understands our business and that can bring something to the table that helps us grow it whether that is experience in digital, retail, e-commerce or advertising”
Expertise aside, the pair have also found it refreshing to share their journey with other creatives who find themselves in the same boat. “If you’re going it alone, it’s a much harder thing to do but it’s always better in numbers,” smiles Howells. “You’ve got support.”
By the time Investment Readiness ends, Ellis and Howells want to find themselves in a position where Hoho Entertainment has a clear road ahead and the finances needed to get them where they need to go. “I think both Helen and I just want to see things move to the next level,” reasons Ellis, looking to the future. “We’ve bootstrapped everything to this point and we’re very proud of what we’ve done but we’re somewhat hampered by the lack of capital to take things to the next level. There’s lots to do,” he laughs, “but that’s where we want to go.”
Words and interview by Simon Bland