{"id":16559,"date":"2019-06-14T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2019-06-17T09:31:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T13:31:12","slug":"t-o-t-s-travis-braun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/t-o-t-s-travis-braun\/","title":{"rendered":"T.O.T.S.\u2019s Travis Braun"},"content":{"rendered":"

T.O.T.S. creator Travis Braun (Disney Junior\u2019s <\/em>Vampirina, Disney Channel\u2019s <\/em>Fast Layne), who is also co-executive producer, talks about the central DNA of the show, the value of incorporating music and the excitement of landing the likes of Vanessa Williams for the voice cast.<\/em><\/p>\n

The new Disney series T.O.T.S. <\/em>follows the adventures of best friends Pip and Freddy\u2014one a tenacious penguin, the other a kindhearted flamingo\u2014who are the only non-stork delivery birds in training at Tiny Ones Transport Service (T.O.T.S.). Designed for kids ages 2 to 7, the show debuts June 14 at 9 a.m. on Disney Channel and DisneyNOW, and it has been ordered for a second season ahead of its premiere. Each episode features two 11-minute stories that highlight the use of creative thinking, teamwork and problem-solving, and there\u2019s always an original song to go along with the recurring delivery anthem \u201cBringing This Baby Home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV KIDS: <\/strong>Where did the idea for T.O.T.S.<\/em> come from?
\nBRAUN:<\/strong> As a child of the \u201990s, I grew up loving animation, loving cartoons, and a lot of them seemed to feature a delivery stork bringing the baby to its parents at some point during the run of the show\u2014every time it was that classic regal white stork. I remember wondering, why do only those birds get to deliver babies? [Laughs<\/em>] So, whether I knew it or not, the idea had been percolating for a while.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS: <\/strong>What are some of the messages you wanted to impart on your young viewers, and how do these qualities ring true in your lead characters?
\nBRAUN:<\/strong> The central DNA of the show is teamwork. Pip is a penguin, and he can\u2019t fly without Freddy. Freddy can\u2019t navigate without Pip, because he\u2019s always getting lost. But together, they\u2019re the perfect duo. They have a little slogan that they say: \u201cAnything is possible when we do it together!\u201d I feel that there\u2019s no more important time in our world, with everything that\u2019s going on, to hear that message. If there\u2019s one thing that we hope the audience gets from this show, it is that anything really is possible if we work together and find some common ground, no matter how different we might look or what feathers we have.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS: <\/strong>The show landed a season two renewal before it even premiered. Why do you think the network has such confidence that it\u2019s going to resonate with little ones and their caregivers?
\nBRAUN:<\/strong> The show really is for everyone. It\u2019s high-flying adventure, but it\u2019s also super cute, cuddly, sweet, nurturing. The hope is that whether you\u2019re a boy or girl, 5 or 50, you\u2019re going to relate to something in this show. That\u2019s what I\u2019m most excited about, and that\u2019s what the network is excited about. That vote of confidence has been awesome. It allows us all to just keep our head down and keep telling fun, sweet, silly and emotional stories\u2014that\u2019s ultimately what we set out to do.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS: <\/strong>There\u2019s an original song in each episode, in addition to the recurring anthem. Why was music an important element to incorporate?
\nBRAUN:<\/strong> We really could not make this show without our composer, Rob Cantor; he is incredible. Music is so important to what we do. We break stories in the writers\u2019 room with music as a central component. The story and music are tied to each other. A lot of times, we\u2019ll be sitting in the writers\u2019 room and be stuck on an emotional scene and not sure exactly how best to \"***Image***\"pull it off, and our first call is always to Rob. He comes up with something super clever to help with that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a huge fan of musicals. Music is so tied to the core of what Disney is as a brand that it\u2019s been central from the beginning. It transports you into this world and brings this imaginative world to life in a way that words and dialogue couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS: <\/strong>Tell us about the animation style and why you chose this look for the show.
\nBRAUN:<\/strong> The idea itself was imaginative, and we knew that we wanted to have a world that reflected that\u2014that felt whimsical and fun and had a distinct style. We brought on Chris Gilligan, our supervising director, and Vic Cook, our executive producer. The two of them really hit it out of the park in terms of finding that visual style that felt both original but still relatable, cute and sweet. It\u2019s vibrant and colorful. Our animation house, ICON Creative Studio in Vancouver, put so much love into every episode. I feel like our animation is on par with a feature film like Frozen<\/em>, and it\u2019s really something incredible coming from a TV budget and TV timeline to pull that off.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS: <\/strong>Did you have Vanessa Williams in mind for the voice cast initially?
\nBRAUN:<\/strong> Vanessa\u2019s singing ability and talent speak for itself. She has been incredible in a way that I wasn\u2019t necessarily expecting, which is her comedy. She can pull off the sweet, emotional Beakman, and sing like no one else, but she\u2019s also super funny! The same goes for Megan Hilty, who we were super excited to get. Their characters do sing a ton, and they have these emotional beats, but at the end of the day, we are doing a comedy, and they killed it! They\u2019re so funny, and we feel so lucky to have them on the show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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