An 8-year-old may love a good cartoon show, but chances are, baby brother or sister would rather watch other infants and toddlers play.
It's an observation Draper residents JoAnne and Trent Pettry have decided to capitalize on — forming their own company, Little Playdates, on that premise.
Drawing inspiration from "Baby Einstein" and other educational children's media, the husband and wife team created a 26-minute DVD filled with upbeat music and footage of infants and toddlers playing. Target audience for "Little Friends," the first DVD in the Little Playdates series: infants and children from 6 months to 5 years old.
It will premier Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 5:30 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m. at Jordan Commons, 9335 S. State in Sandy, before being released. Admission is free, but moviegoers will need to obtain tickets by e-mailing littleplaydates@gmail.com.
Word of mouth about the DVD has spread like wildfire, JoAnne said.
"I can't even tell you, it's gone crazy," she said. "Just from the families of the kids who are in it, we have more than 800 people who want to (attend the premier)."
There's a need for positive and wholesome children's media, JoAnne said.
"Not that Playdate is going to be the cure, or the savior, because it's not, but if it can help and be something out there that teaches (children) good behavior, then that's great," she said.
Things started from scratch. JoAnne remembers stuffing fliers into strangers' mailboxes, inviting their children to be a part of the filming.
"By the time I got home, my cell phone was ringing with people who wanted their children's faces on this," she said. "I thought: Oh my gosh, OK. What am I doing?"
Despite the potentially overwhelming situation, an underlying feeling of peace pervaded the project, JoAnne said.
"I honestly feel that it was something that was inspired because of how I felt," she said. "I was so excited about it. Everybody that I talked to liked the idea. Nobody had any criticism."
It's been a husband and wife team effort the entire way. From the first second that Trent got home and JoAnne told him her idea, he jumped on it, she said. He's funded the entire venture and filmed the majority of it.
"It's been a long time coming," Trent said. "I told my wife it's like giving birth; it's taken nine months to produce this thing."
The biggest challenge has been squeezing in time to create a DVD on top of ordinary life — quite the feat with Trent working full-time and JoAnne caring for their three young children, he said.
"It was not only coming up with the idea, but how to make it become a reality given our schedules," Trent said.
He turned their unfinished basement into a film studio and the couple filmed nearly every weekend from May to November.
Three Coin Productions, a film production company based in Bluffdale, offered the couple filming and staging suggestions, but for the most part, the Pettrys "winged it" on their own with a high definition camera, JoAnne said.
More than 70 children from as far away as Logan turned up for the shoots, which took place at Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country, a local park and in the studio. The fact that the participants ranged in age from 6 months to 5 years added to the challenge.
"It's a lot more work than we thought," JoAnne said. "We probably have 35 hours of footage to get 26 minutes (of DVD)."
Garrett Batty, president of Three Coin Productions, who helped edit the DVD, said it was compelling to see how JoAnne and Trent made their dream a reality.
"(The Pettrys) have just been absolutely fantastic to work with," Batty said. "JoAnne had this vision from the beginning. It's really cool to see how she just gets people on board and runs with it. Trent is a great support to her, as well."
Rex Kocherhans, a licensed clinical social worker from Provo, agreed. It's interesting to see that skilled and knowledgeable people are supporting this project, Kocherhans said, pointing to Academy Award-winning filmmaker Keith Merrill as an example.
Merrill, who is a family friend of the Pettrys, advised them during the filmmaking process, JoAnne said. Kocherhans, pediatricians and child psychologists are also endorsing the DVD, as are parents and preschool owners.
It's about time that good people got together to do something like this, Kocherhans said. He's excited that the DVD portrays self-confident, cooperative and kind children playing together.
"We spend a lot of time complaining about what's wrong with TV and all the negative and violence there, but because it's been relatively unprofitable to produce anything different, nobody has taken the time to counteract it with something good," he said.
Children learn a lot through play and music, Kocherhans said. The combination of the two — presented in a format where young children can watch others their age play — is a powerful teacher.
On top of positive social modeling, the DVD includes a "layer of learning" option designed to break down prejudices and teach good behavior, JoAnne said. When the layer of learning is turned on, "social building phrases" like "we're taking turns" and "you're just like me" flash on the screen while children repeat them.
Children of different ethnicities and a little girl with a tracheotomy participated in "Little Friends," but the Pettrys are hoping to increase the diversity in the DVDs that follow, she said. It's important to expose children to diversity and to teach them to accept those who don't look like them.
Parents are already signing up to have their children filmed in May for the next Little Playdates film, JoAnne said. The Pettrys plan to stick to a specific theme for each DVD, such as "Little Artists" or "Little Cooks."
E-mail: sbills@desnews.com