Video: Traci Paige Johnson & Jennifer Twomey Talk Gabby’s Dollhouse

Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey have a long list of credits to their names, among them Gabby’s Dollhouse. The hybrid live-action/animated series from DreamWorks Animation has been a hit for Netflix and has been sold to a number of other platforms by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.

As part of the TV Kids Festival, the creators and executive producers took TV Kids behind the scenes of Gabby’s Dollhouse, discussing their inspiration, the mixed-media style and the growth mindset curriculum.

Inspiration for the series was drawn from “all the things that we loved as kids,” Twomey explained. “We loved dollhouses, miniatures, cats. We were very tuned in to this unboxing phenomenon and how much preschoolers were into it. We thought there was something there, but we wanted to take it to the next level. So instead of unboxing a toy or a product, what if we unbox a story? We put it all into the mix and came up with the idea for Gabby’s Dollhouse.”

The creators also used their own lives as inspiration for some of the show’s characters: “Pandy is based on Jen’s youngest son Matias, and Gabby is based on her daughter Gabby!” Paige Johnson noted.