{"id":21889,"date":"2021-11-12T08:50:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T13:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2021-11-15T09:32:26","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T14:32:26","slug":"into-big-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/into-big-blue\/","title":{"rendered":"Into Big Blue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creator Gyimah Gariba and Guru Studio\u2019s Frank Falcone take <\/em>TV Kids\u00a0inside<\/em> Big Blue\u2019s long and winding path from compelling pitch to commissioned and completed series soon to appear on broadcasters and platforms across the globe.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lettie and Lemo, the young sibling adventurers in Big Blue<\/em>, are on a mission to unravel the mysteries of the ocean. In their submarine, the duo, together with their crew members and a stowaway named Bacon Berry, discover the wonders of the underwater universe while also finding ways to protect the planet. Aimed at kids of all ages, the series is being rolled out worldwide by Guru Studio, with CBC in Canada as the commissioning partner and ABC in Australia on board with a prebuy.<\/p>\n

Big Blue<\/em> was created by Gyimah Gariba, a Ghanaian-Canadian whom Guru had spotted while he was still at university, tapping him for a design role on Justin Time<\/em>. \u201cThe idea for Big Blue <\/em>originated while I was working on Justin Time<\/em> season three,\u201d Gariba tells TV Kids<\/em>. \u201cI was inspired by an underwater episode. Guru launched an internal call for pitches for new original IP, and I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted to explore merging tangible, realistic things about the world\u2019s oceans with the myths of the underwater world. The next layer was centering the story around a goofy, unusual family. When crafting the story, we wanted audiences to care about the characters, but also laugh with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for those characters, Gariba took inspiration from his own family. \u201cThe characters started as caricatures of my own three siblings,\u201d he says. \u201cLettie represents the oldest sister who can do it all, Lemo is the obnoxiously confident little brother and Bacon Berry is the adorable yet powerful baby sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frank Falcone, president and executive creative director at Guru Studio, says he and his team were immediately attracted to Gariba\u2019s pitch. \u201cGyimah presented something he was passionate about,\u201d Falcone says. \u201cIt was unique. It was a family story. We were looking for something that \"***Image***\"could reach beyond our 5-to-9 target demo\u2014inclusive of preschoolers and adult parent co-viewers. The representation aspect was also very important to us\u2014way back in 2015! We were supporting the honest reflection of a creator\u2019s identity long before the world jumped on board. When we were presenting the show, many doors were closed to us, but in 2015, the CBC came on board and championed the show along with acquisition partner ABC Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Completing the financing was not easy, Falcone notes, with Guru Studio stepping up to deficit-finance the project. \u201cIt was a difficult decision for an independent company, but we couldn\u2019t leave the CBC and ABC high and dry and we certainly didn\u2019t want to let Gyimah down. So we committed to the show and its message and purpose, not just in word but in dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The relationship between Lettie and Lemo and their assorted crew is at the heart of the show\u2019s appeal, Falcone notes. \u201cIt\u2019s an honest representation of Gyimah\u2019s family dynamic, without being topical or having any hint of political motivations or social commentary on race relations. It\u2019s not a cartoon about the experience of Black people in society or what it\u2019s like to grow up Black. Gyimah wanted to level the playing field in representation. He wanted to present an ideal. That\u2019s something we stood behind, so much so that we wrote it into his contract as a creator, which allowed us to stay the course with his vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end result, Falcone explains, is a show that is \u201cfunny and delivers on the promise of a diverse modern family dynamic, with all of SpongeBob<\/em>\u2019sgoofy dysfunctional sensibilities, sitting at the helm of a USS Enterprise-like submarine exploring a vast underwater fantasy universe. That\u2019s what we have on-screen: missions and a lot of comedy\u2014silliness wins the day!\u201d<\/p>\n

The teamwork at the heart of the storytelling reflects the all-hands-on-deck approach the creative team at Guru took to getting the elements of Big Blue<\/em>perfect, from the look of the characters to the tone of the comedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur director Riccardo Durante, writers, editors, voice actors, board artists and our incredible designers have contributed quirks and details that made the characters come to life and give them so much more dimension and depth,\u201d Gariba says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focused on the characters and finding their voices\u2014ensuring they have integrity so you know how they would react to any situation they\u2019re written into,\u201d Falcone says. \u201cI believe that when you have strong characters, they almost write themselves. We got to that place with Big Blue<\/em>. The characters know their roles, they know their neuroses, they know their faults\u2014and their faults are what drives them and makes them hilarious!\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of Lettie, Lemo and Bacon Berry, the core characters include ship medic Phil the dolphin and onboard engineer Freddie the turtle. Falcone notes that the casting process for Freddie, in particular, speaks to the theme of diversity and inclusion that permeates the series. \u201cMany broadcasters have representation quotas for female and male characters,\u201d Falcone explains. \u201cWe fulfilled that for this show, but we also had a character, Freddie, that fell between those binary categories. We didn\u2019t care whether Freddie was male or female, so we cast the actor blindly. We directed the casting agent not to send us the actor\u2019s names so we could base our decision on their vocal qualities and their acting. In the end, we wound up casting that character without knowing whether the actor identified as male or female\u2014and still don\u2019t know to this day! It\u2019s a funny cartoon turtle; it doesn\u2019t matter, does it? That was a great way to work within a broadcaster\u2019s rules and yet land somewhere between them so we could carve out some new territory for representation. In the end, we love the character\u2019s voice and how Freddie, in many ways, embodies the real spirit of the show\u2014true inclusivity without judgment or identity politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gariba hails the creatively inspiring and supportive environment he has found at Guru following his work on Justin Time<\/em> and True and the Rainbow Kingdom.<\/em> \u201cI have always admired their development process, and they know how to support their talent. They helped me expand my raw ideas and streamline them so that every episode would build toward the larger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falcone is a fan of betting on new talent at Guru, a process that he says comes down to \u201casking questions and allowing the creator to make those big<\/em>decisions for their show. We\u2019re there to provide advice and guidance\u2014it\u2019s an educational process. Pairing a creator with a strong, talented director who has experience is key to helping new creators quickly learn the ropes of production. You don\u2019t want too much of the learning to be mid-production; you want it to be guided. Experiential learning can be expensive! You want to allow someone to learn but provide clear guardrails and priorities. We learned things in our early episodes that trigger improvements in the later episodes\u2014stronger design, stronger layout, the show continues to grow and develop as the season unfolds. The process should always get better as the creator\u2019s experience deepens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sales team at Guru, led by Jonathan Abraham as VP of sales and business development, is busy doing deals on the series ahead of its CBC launch later this year, with NRK in Norway and CTC Kids in Russia among those on board. Gariba is excited for children and families around the world to fall in love with his creation. \u201cI want people to have fun watching the show,\u201d he says. \u201cThe characters go through hardships and they overcome them like any other story, but my favorite part of the show is that they never stop enjoying each other\u2019s company and they never stop being a little silly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creator Gyimah Gariba and Guru Studio\u2019s Frank Falcone on Big Blue\u2019s long and winding path from compelling pitch to commissioned and completed series soon to appear on broadcasters and platforms across the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":21890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,21],"tags":[2022,3880,1945,6267],"class_list":["post-21889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-big-blue","tag-frank-falcone","tag-guru-studio","tag-gyimah-gariba","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nInto Big Blue - 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\/into-big-blue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Into Big Blue - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Creator Gyimah Gariba and Guru Studio\u2019s Frank Falcone on Big Blue\u2019s long and winding path from compelling pitch to commissioned and completed series soon to appear on broadcasters and platforms across the globe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/into-big-blue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-12T13:50:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-15T14:32:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/2021-09-27-BigBlue-GURU-1021.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"484\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"276\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/into-big-blue\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/into-big-blue\/\",\"name\":\"Into Big Blue - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-12T13:50:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-15T14:32:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/into-big-blue\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/into-big-blue\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/into-big-blue\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Into Big Blue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\",\"name\":\"TVKIDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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