Writing and Producing for Preschoolers: Balancing Fascination/Identification and Making ‘Affordable Fiction’ with ‘Portable Characters’

This chapter explores the development, writing, and production of live action fiction for preschoolers based on a case study of the live action television series Oda omvendt/Oda Upside Down for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR’s dedicated children’s channel Ramasjang (for many years targeting 3 to 6-year-olds and since 2020 4 to 8-year-olds). The chapter outlines the DR notions of the Ramasjang DNA and audience research on the Ramasjang target audience before moving into an analysis of how the development and writing of Oda Upside Down were influenced by productional ideas of balancing fascination and identification, making ‘affordable fiction’, and developing ‘portable characters’ that can work across platforms and in live shows as well as on the television screen.