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Backyard Buddies Sunil Hall and Lynne Naylor-Reccardi give us the scoop on The Mighty Ones, their hilarious new show about a twig, a pebble, a leaf and a strawberry!
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twig, a pebble, a leaf and a strawberry are the unlikely main characters of DreamWorks Animation’s new series The Mighty Ones. The 2D-animated show, which is exec produced by Sunil Hall (Pickle and Peanut) and Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (Samurai Jack), follows the adventures of these four best friends as they face the many challenges of life in an unkempt backyard, which is owned by a trio of disheveled humans. The origins of this eccentric show go back to about eight years ago, when Naylor-Reccardi (widow of late animation veteran Chris Reccardi) approached Hall to develop a show together. “I jumped at the chance,” recalls Hall. “She had seen some of my drawings and liked my sense of humor. Lynne pitched me some rough ideas and characters she had and I was drawn toward these tiny creatures made of yard objects that she had sketched. We decided to create a show around them. As kids, my brother and I used to spend hours in the backyard coming up with weird adventures and imagining hidden worlds. I think a lot of that inspired this world.” www.animationmagazine.net
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Naylor-Reccardi says she was impressed with the way Hall would describe a situation in life. “Because he was a great storyteller and had experience directing, storyboarding, working in our industry, I wanted to see if he would like to co-create with me on show concepts I had. I pitched a couple to him and he liked one that had a few characters that you would find lying around a yard: a stick, a leaf, a raspberry. We decided to push the raw materials further and I reached out to Dani Michaeli, asking him if he would help us out with the writing to develop the show. We dove in, finding the main characters through their dysfunctional dynamics, misunderstandings, and the world they had to survive in.”
Eight Years in the Making The trio began developing the pitch in 2012 and began working on the pilot for The Mighty Ones at Nickelodeon in 2013. Nick eventually left the project, and the show found a new home at DreamWorks in 2016. The series will finally premiere on Hulu this month. The show’s animation is produced at Snipple Animation Studios in the Philippines. “They work in Harmony and they have a really fun, snappy animation style that feels a lot like traditional 2D animation,” says Hall. “We don’t sheet time this show, and Snipple works straight from our (pretty rough) animatics, so they contribute a lot to the timing and acting in the show. It’s been a great collaboration that’s really grown over the course of the season.”
‘As kids, my brother and I used to spend hours in the backyard coming up with weird adventures and imagining hidden worlds. I think a lot of that inspired this world.’ — Exec producer Sunil Hall
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december 20
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