A new DreamWorks animated series BE@RBRICK, based on Medicom Toy’s figures, premieres this Friday March 21st on AppleTV+. Showrunner, EP and writer Meghan McCarthy joins me to talk about the show’s vision, themes, music and spirit. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: In addition to this, you have worked on “My Little Pony” animated shows. So how do you feel about having this responsibility to put out great content for families based on these beloved toy brands?
Meghan McCarthy: That’s a great question. I take it very seriously. When I am given these things that I know people really care about, I care about them too. And I want to really bring my best work to them and surround myself with people who feel the same. And I think I’ve been really fortunate that on “BE@RBRICK”, I was able to do that. And hopefully everybody feels that way when they see the show.
JM: Yes. I’ve seen the first couple episodes. I really enjoyed it. We have Jasmine. She and her friends want to be in this band, and they want that to be their job and their profession and their career for life. You present her emotions of confidence and nervousness… anxiousness and hope. How did you want to balance all that in our lead character, Jasmine?
MM: I wanted the audience to really root for her, and for that to happen they have to really sense that she has all of the range of emotions that a person [has] or their friends do. So you have to feel very real to them and that requires her to be three dimensional and go through a roller coaster of emotions like we all do in real life.
Meghan McCarthy
JM: The BE@RBRICK figures have a very specific structure and look to them. What were the rewards and the challenges of working with that as far as the movement and the animation?
MM: So we knew that that was a foundational part of the show, that we did not want to break that form. Every character needed to have that. That was key to the central premise of the show, that they’re all the same until they’re painted. And certainly there are some challenges in animation, but our team did a fantastic job of them being able to emote. We use sort of a sticker face, but you really feel their emotions when they’re happy, when they’re sad, when they’re excited. They just did such a great job of varying their movements with different walk cycles, with different ways that they would move so that even though they did all have this same figure, you could kind of tell them apart. How they moved… hair flip… and things like that really help you identify these characters as unique, despite them all having the same shape.
JM: One of the great themes of this show is about discovering who you want to be in the future, but also who you want to be now. I think that’s really important to stress being who you want to be in the present — in the now. What does that theme mean to you?
MM: I think kids are under so much pressure to know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, they’re kind of set on a path. And that’s really challenging because you’re young, you’re supposed to try lots of things, you’re supposed to explore. And some kids know. They’re like, “I want to be in a band, and that’s what I want to be.” And some kids are like, “I’m not sure yet. I like a lot of things. I don’t want to have to choose.” I have a friend who jokes, “What’s the difference between a senior in high school and a freshman in college? July.” (laughs) That’s it. You have not grown that much in that short of time. So that was really important to me to also show [that] everybody’s still figuring it out, and that’s okay.
JM: Yeah. It’s about finding this job and the rewards of that — and receiving your job. You have such a fun job in the animation space and entertainment. What is the most fun part about your job and infusing that into working on “BE@RBRICK”?
MM: I think it’s collaboration. Every step of this involves so many people doing so many different things — and things that I’m not good at and don’t know how to do. And I’m always impressed as we move through the stages of this process, from the writing to storyboards, to animation to score, to mixing sound effects, all of that. I love that process and I love how I get to do that with such interesting, wonderful people. The animation industry really has a family sort of vibe to it because everybody who does it really does love it.
JM: Yeah. And Tim Meadows is on the show. He is one of the biggest talents in comedy. What amazed you about working with him [on] his character, Mr. Hitmaker?
MM: Oh, my gosh, I’ve obviously been a fan of his forever. It was such a get when he agreed to do the show. He was who I thought of when I was writing that character. I was like, “If we could get Tim Meadows for this, it would elevate this character into the stratosphere”. And that’s exactly what he did.
JM: And I think kids have such a fascination with music and bands. What did you discover in working on this of why kids are attracted to music and these superstars and these people that they idolize?
MM: I think music is this international language. It just speaks to us as human beings. It draws us in. For our show in particular, it allows us to express a lot of the themes of the show and the emotions of our characters in a way that you still can dance to. (laughs) I think that’s a really big part of it. You naturally feel connected to an artist and to the world at large through music.
JM: And that there can be more than one of something. This group that Jasmine has… wants to be another band. There already is one in the town, but it’s okay to have more than one. Competition is healthy, but also having a lot in the ecosystem of life and the ecosystem of bands… that’s really important. There are so many animated shows out there, and this one has a unique point of view, but it’s okay to have more than one of something.
MM: 100%. That’s a big message of the show as well — how everyone in this world is different, deserves to be different and accepted for that.
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