Tony Hale, Teri Weiss Talk Archibald’s Next Big Thing

Today, the TV Kids Festival saw award-winning actor Tony Hale join DreamWorks Animation’s Teri Weiss to share the story behind making the series Archibald’s Next Big Thing.

Hale, best known for his work on Veep and Arrested Development, penned the children’s book Archibald’s Next Big Thing, about a chicken trying to find his place in the world. Hale teamed with DreamWorks Animation to adapt the book, with the first two seasons running on Netflix. The third season, Archibald’s Next Big Thing is Here!, launches on Peacock this month. Weiss, executive VP of television development at DreamWorks Animation, worked closely with Hale on the project. They participated in a session called Making Archibald’s Next Big Thing, moderated by TV Kids’ Anna Carugati, at the TV Kids Festival.

Carugati kicked off the session by asking Hale about the inspiration for the book. He talked about how Arrested Development was his “big thing—and I found myself on the big thing still looking to the next thing. It was that big lesson for me: If I’m so focused on my next adventure, I’m going to miss the adventure that I’m on. It was a wake-up call for me. [With] my buddies Tony Biaggne and Victor Huckabee, and the art was adapted by Misty Manley, we just put this book together. I fell in love with the story. With my buddies Jacob [Moffat] and Drew [Champion], we brought it Teri at DreamWorks and they liked the idea and it just kind of came from there.”

Weiss said Archibald’s Next Big Thing was the first project that landed on her desk after joining DreamWorks Animation. Picture books are a vital source of IP inspiration at the studio, she noted. “For everyone who loves picture books, you know how much time and thought goes into every page, and I was struck by Tony’s book in terms of the comedy, not only in the character designs but in the storytelling and just the energy that went from page to page. It just felt, visually alone, ripe for an animated series.”

The pilot script from Tony and Drew Champion and Jake Moffat was particularly compelling, Weiss said. “It felt so fresh and different from anything that I had read before, including that narrator relationship that Archibald has, which is just so delightful and unexpected. As soon as I finished reading that pilot script, I said, I see this show coming to life right off the page. The combination of those two things really set its course pretty quickly.”

Hale has been thrilled with his experience working with DreamWorks Animation. “They fully got the series and what it was talking about and the comedy; that doesn’t always happen. Many times, people bring an idea and then all of a sudden, it morphs into this other thing. [DreamWorks Animation] was so encouraging the entire way. That was a big gift to us.”

“This was Tony’s first entry point into being an executive producer in animation and running a series with the talent that we brought in,” Weiss added. “Tony has such a natural instinct—obviously for comedy as an actor, but he understood, instinctively, how to translate that into visual humor and animation. You never know how it’s going to manifest itself in a different art form, so I think that was a gift to DreamWorks as well.”

Carugati asked Hale how he brought his live-action comedic timing to his work on the animated series. “So much of comedy is in editing—taking out space that’s not needed, cutting something a certain way—and many times with just a noise. One of my favorite things that Archibald does is sometimes he’ll just make a noise. My character on Veep, Gary Walsh, really didn’t speak much; he just had a lot of random noises when he stood behind Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I was a huge fan of Beaker from The Muppet Show. Beaker was just so dear and so sweet, but he just made noises. Archibald reminded me of him. [There] was so much that he just said in little sounds and his physicality. That kind of carried over from Veep a little bit too.”

Addressing how the show fits into the overall DreamWorks Animation portfolio, Weiss stated that the studio is always on the lookout for strong comedies and properties with heart. “Also, having the message that Tony spoke about of living in the moment; that felt like the kind of emotional truth that we talk a lot about when we’re making series. It’s that wonderful formula of something that’s just hilarious but catches you by surprise and you feel that element of warmth, combined with this message that Archibald has. He lives his life with such an open heart as a character. Archibald approaches every character as his friend immediately. That’s something that we felt was powerful for kids: that you’re open to the idea that anyone you meet is somebody that you’re going to like and care about.”

Season three arrives on February 18 on Peacock, at a time “when we need an example of someone who does see the best in everyone and who doesn’t immediately criticize and doesn’t immediately see the negative,” Hale added. “Bridges need to be built. I just love seeing this little chicken who walks in and is like, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ He doesn’t judge anybody, and he’s open to whatever comes his way. We need a little more of that in the world, so that’s exciting to see.”

Hale highlighted other key themes of the series. “In every script, Archibald makes a mistake. There’s something that goes wrong in the beginning. It doesn’t bring him down. I mean, of course he gets upset, he’s like ‘Ugh,’ but he just goes with it. Mistakes get a bad rap. We need mistakes. In each story, you see these mistakes fit into the overall puzzle of what’s happening and how there was a reason for them. I do love that he just has that, This happened, let’s just go with it.”

Weiss added that Archibald “encourages characters to be themselves” and to find joy. “That happens in almost every episode—there’s a character who connects to their joy.”

Carugati asked Weiss about how the pandemic impacted DreamWorks’ animation slate. Remote work was set up quickly, she said. “This show all of a sudden was being produced on Zoom, which was quite remarkable. It was a testament to the way that the resilience of the show met with the resilience of the crew; everybody just hunkered down and was determined to preserve that comedic magic that happens when you’re in a room together.”

As for how audiences have received the show, Weiss noted, “One of the things that we were interested in was, What do you kids take away from it after watching one episode?” she said. One of the 8-year-old respondents commented: “‘Well, Archibald’s the kind of chicken that loses his way, but always finds his way back,’” Weiss explained. “That was after watching one episode. An 8-year-old understood that sometimes you don’t have it all figured out, but you’re going to find your way back. I think that that’s true of any time, but particularly now. Kids are proving to be the most resilient right now because they have this innate ability to find joy and find a way to keep their spirits up. Hopefully, Archibald’s a part of that.”

Hale was asked what he’s learned about kids’ animation since working on the series. “There’s something about telling a story with a message that tends to be a little more digestible than just hearing the message. I can think of children’s books that I’ve read throughout my life, or stories that I’ve heard, or movies that spoke more truth to me than hearing a teaching about it.”

Heading into the new season on Peacock, Weiss said the series “gets funnier and funnier with every episode, the more that Tony and the writing team got to know these characters and the one-off characters that just prove to be so hilarious we had to bring them back. It’s made the show richer.”

Hale, who is currently shooting The Mysterious Benedict Society for Disney+, does have another DreamWorks project in development. “We can’t tell you what it is yet because we’re still working on it,” Weiss said. “It’s very different from Archibald but equally hilarious, and again, has a great message to it, too. We’re excited about that and just thrilled to be continuing to work with Tony because he is such a true talent and a joy just to be around and work with.”