Nickelodeon is premiering a new animated adventure comedy this Friday June 6th at 7:30pm. It’s Wylde Pak. Creators Paul Watling and Kyle Marshall and executive producer Seonna Hong share how this summer series will delight families. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Paul, it’s about half-siblings, Lily and Jack, who are living together for the summer. And this is a show about a key dynamic. What was the focus for you on making sure this key dynamic is engaging and really works for audiences of all ages?
Paul Watling: The key dynamic comes from, as most of the stories and origin of the show comes from, our life, really. I met Seonna and was lucky enough to marry her. And I got a bit of a twofer out of it ’cause I also got an amazing stepdaughter and had a real sort of full circle moment. I’m a step kid, I have step parents myself, and thought, “Wow, there are some pretty amazing stories to mind here.” And I hadn’t seen too much of that in animation content. And of course with it being a Nickelodeon property, we wanted to tell it from the point of view of kids. So that’s why the dynamic of Jack and Lil is the predominant story driver for the series.
JM: And Kyle, I really like how in the first episode it is these two stories coming together. Was that interesting structurally working with that first episode of how it goes, how it plays out, and bringing these two kids together?
Kyle Marshall: We actually played around that with that a lot when we were doing the pilot. It was rearranged a few different times. And then finally we just kind of felt that it was important to show the storyline for each character rather than intercutting constantly. The idea of, “Let’s have Lil have her moment and then we’ll show Jack’s moment, and then we’ll bring those together.”
PW: And it was important to see their moments prior to coming together just to see how much their lives are blown up.
JM: It works really well. And Seonna, how did you wanna show the strength of family and also of past and present relationships? There’s some dialogue and interesting moments in these first few episodes that I’ve seen about past relationships and present ones.
Seonna Hong: As Paul mentioned, we are influenced by our own lives and trying to tell this authentic story and also trying to show a story and family dynamics that maybe we didn’t grow up with as kids ourselves — and that might have been nice to see, both in blended family dynamics… blended cultural dynamics, multi-generational dynamics. So it all just came from an authentic place in that way.
JM: Audiences relate to authenticity. That’s what’s really working with this show and what’s working in a lot of entertainment and animation today. Paul, in the first episode, Lily says at one point, “What could be more important than emotional character driven storytelling?” And it’s a funny line and I could tell it was an inside reference. But that really has to matter to you when it comes to making this show.
KM: I think it was also your line.
PW: I think I wrote that line. Definitely some inside baseball there. But it is true because that is one of the thesis statements for the series. All of these stories are driven by character and authenticity. Kyle and I, coming from story backgrounds, we’re huge fans of real experience in forming stories. So it was a fun line to put in there.
Creators Kyle Marshall and Paul Watling – and executive producer Seonna Hong.
JM: Kyle, there’s some zaniness, there’s some craziness, there’s adventure. What are the wild things that we’re gonna see over the course of this season?
KM: Oh, that’s tough without giving anything away, It just keeps getting pushed and pushed further and further as the season goes. But the one thing I think that we’re all really proud of is the genuine honesty… the heart that’s gonna carry through all the way through the season. But there’s gonna be some crazy episodes. Kind of the hope is that each week you’re getting this family… but you don’t know what’s gonna happen. We didn’t want each episode to feel the same.
PW: Keep the audience on their toes.
JM: Seonna, the animation is very sharp looking and a lot of intense movements. What are some of the standout elements when it comes to the look of this show?
SH: The art department, led by art director, Ji Soo Kim, put so much thoughtful design into the set decoration, the beautiful neighborhoods and environments that were created [and] the character design. And it’s all informed by story too. Defining who this family is… defining what this town is about. It’s so beautiful and warm. She also brought back these handmade papers from Korea and scanned them all in. And that adds so much tone and texture to these backgrounds too. And it’s just beautiful.
JM: Very nice. Paul, Gillian Jacobs voices Jack’s adventurous mom. A terrific actress. How was it working with her?
PW: We were pinching ourselves when we heard that she agreed to it. Our casting department did an incredible job of getting us the talent that we really wanted and hoped for. She was a total dream. Amazing, amazing actor. She delivers such a dynamic performance, has so much range and really just knocks it outta the park.
JM: Kyle… does it make you feel like you wanna look back on when you were 11 or 13 years old — at maybe either the adventures you went on or the animation that might’ve inspired you when you were Lily and Jack’s ages?
KM: Some of the adventures that they go on… I don’t want my 13-year-old self to go on those. There’s some crazy stuff that happens. I think we really wanted to make something that we enjoyed watching. Two of the biggest influences were “Gumball” and then in live-action, “Freaks and Geeks”. Everyone brought in a lot of life to this and I think that’s what’s made it unique but yet still familiar.
JM: Seonna, what are your plans for the summer, now that this show is coming out? I think so many kids are gonna go on adventures and be watching this show along the way.
SH: My plan is to watch every Friday night at 7:30 (laughs) and to tell all my friends and family to watch with us.
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