{"id":15531,"date":"2018-12-21T10:01:37","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T15:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/motown-magic-makes-mark\/"},"modified":"2019-01-02T12:25:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T17:25:53","slug":"motown-magic-makes-its-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/motown-magic-makes-its-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"Motown Magic Makes Its Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beat Bugs mastermind Josh Wakely talks to <\/em>TV Kids about his latest creation, the family-friendly musical animated series <\/em>Motown Magic, which recently made its global debut exclusively on Netflix.<\/em><\/p>\n

Home to such music legends as Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye and The Jackson 5, Motown ushered in a new wave of songs that combined soul with pop. As the first African American-owned record company to achieve widespread success in the U.S., the iconic label helped break down some of the country\u2019s racial barriers during the tumultuous 1960s.<\/p>\n

Well aware of the impact that Motown has had on the music industry, Josh Wakely, creator of The Beatles-infused animated show Beat Bugs<\/em>, decided to try his hand\u2014and succeeded\u2014at acquiring the catalog for the purpose of incorporating its iconic tunes into an animated series. \"***Image***\"\u201cWhat I then needed was a really compelling idea behind it,\u201d he says, \u201cso we could provide a platform for all of those songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was determined not to do it unless I had the blessing of one of those Motown elders, and Smokey Robinson was literally at the top of that list because he had [numerous] Motown number ones, either as a performer or a songwriter,\u201d he continues. Indeed, Wakely again achieved what he set out to accomplish\u2014he received support from Robinson, who became Motown Magic<\/em>\u2019s executive music producer.<\/p>\n

Motown Magic<\/em> follows a young African American boy, Ben Love, who has the ability to bring colorful street art to life. Similar to the concept in Beat Bugs<\/em>, each episode is inspired by a Motown song and features an original cover version. \u201cThe big theme is that creativity is magic,\u201d says Wakely. \u201cWith creativity you can overcome any problem, and creativity is birthed by love, hence them being called the Love family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wakely feels confident that Motown Magic<\/em> has international appeal for a number of reasons, from its high-quality animation to the relatable characters. \u201cStories about families are universal,\u201d he says. And then, of course, there are the catchy tunes. \u201cMotown is the biggest music catalog in the world,\u201d notes Wakely. \u201cPeople want to hear that music.\u201d The show features hits including \u201cABC,\u201d \u201cMy Girl\u201d and \u201cI Heard It Through the Grapevine,\u201d with songs covered by such artists as Ne-Yo.<\/p>\n

Motown Magic<\/em> is made by Beyond Screen Production and Grace: a storytelling company, where Wakely serves as principle partner. \u201cGrace is becoming a significant production and animation company, and we\u2019re going to be doing a lot more really significant animation projects sooner rather than later,\u201d he says. Grace is also behind the Emmy Award-winning Beat Bugs<\/em>, which recently premiered its third season on Netflix. \u201cYou take confidence as a creator that if you can do it once, you can do it again; it just takes a lot of work,\u201d adds Wakely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beat Bugs mastermind Josh Wakely talks about his latest creation, the family-friendly musical animated series Motown Magic, which recently made its global debut exclusively on Netflix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":479,"featured_media":15532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,21],"tags":[525,1576,4201,138],"class_list":["post-15531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-grace-a-storytelling-company","tag-josh-wakely","tag-motown-magic","tag-netflix","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nMotown Magic Makes Its Mark - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/motown-magic-makes-its-mark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Motown Magic Makes Its Mark - 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