PLAYTIME
Credit: Co-Creator, Producer
In order to stay on budget and hit Yippee’s targeted Thanksgiving release date, we filmed in September 2020 which required strict on-set Covid protocols. Since the cast is made of plastic, it was possible to ensure that every human on set wore a mask at all times. We successfully delivered 10 episodes with zero Covid cases!
FUN FACT: Vera VanGuard and Katherine Shead (whose hands appear puppeting Super Dan & Lizardo) are the busiest working “boy hands” in the biz! I was ecstatic to structure production in such a way that it was possible to engage these industry vets.
BACKSEAT DRIVERS
Credit: Co-Creator, Executive Producer
THE FIRST-EVER CAR SHOW FOR KIDS! My collaborator John Chuldenko and I first sold the show to Yippee and then I was hired as Yippee’s Head of Content, putting me in the unique position of being both “client” and “studio.” Figuring out how to insure this show was the trickiest part of the process, but “cracking that nut” gave me a lot of personal satisfaction. We wrapped filming on all 10 episodes juuuuuuust before Covid hit!
FUN FACT: 10-year-old Ariana Raetz really drove in the “Kid Vs. Car” episode. Her dad was a little sad to pass that privilege to Stuntdriver Sarah… but he was on-hand to enjoy the moment!
YONAS GETS A JOB
Credit: Creator, Executive Producer
Yonas came to an open casting session for Yippee and we IMMEDIATELY knew we’d build a show around him… but what? At a 2-day brainstorm with my most creative writers, we batted around several show ideas for Yonas which eventually led me to saying: “It’s like Dirty Jobs, but with a 9-year-old, and he has to try them all!”
JAKE AND THE NEVERLAND PIRATES
Credit: Co-Producer
“Pirate Rock” is one of 14 music videos filmed across 3.5 days in July of 2011.
As Co-Producer, I offered creative support to Director/Producer Mickey Corcoran, while overseeing a production staff of 45 including a full Art Department, Stunts team, Fire FX, and a complete overhaul of the Sharky/Bones Hair, Make-up, and Wardrobe.
TIME2DANCE
Credit: Executive Producer
The producers sent our team a pilot they’d filmed, and I knew I had to get this show onto Yippee before another company could snatch it up! After re-working the format and modifying it into a 22-minute series, production began in mid March. After only two days of production we made the painful, necessary decision to shut down production due to Covid. Time2Dance continues to be one of the projects I’m proudest of from my tenure at Yippee.
THE BETHKES: EPIC HAWAII
Credit: Developed by / Executive Producer
After a successful Season One, I was tasked with making an “even more epic” show. The Bethke family was well-known to our audience, so the answer was to hire a team who specialized in cinema, and bring them to Maui (where the Bethkes live) and showcase the family living their best lives, leaning into the adventures that exist there. I pitched Jeff (the Dad) my favorite 15 episode springboards, and we built out the best 10 together. After navigating the ever-changing Covid travel restrictions, production got under way in late October. On set, I served as more network executive in the corner, whispering in the Director’s ear occasionally to make sure we were hitting all our story beats.
BACKYARD BIBLE CAMP
Credit: Developed by / Executive Producer
With Covid raging in the summer of 2020, and with kids sitting out summer camp experiences, our Yippee came up with this concept that would exist in the “backyard,” the one place kids could go… but also be safer to film! To give the mini-series a snappy, YouTube feel while maintaining a solid theology, I peppered each episode with inside jokes about the “summer camp” experience.
FUN FACT: We took the set of Yippee’s popular Yippee Show and dragged it outside, and gave it a “camp makeover” to achieve the look you see onscreen.
CHARLIE AND COMPANY
Credit: Producer / Showrunner
After delivering a successful season one (as verified by research group Dubit Ltd.), I led our production team in refreshing the look of the show and adjusting the formula ever so slightly. I wrote two of the episodes for this season. This one, “Happy Holidays, Charlie!” was filmed on the hotter days of June 2015.
FUN FACTS:
– The day we filmed the Christmas episode, it was a rainy June day.
– In order to meet an aggressive production timeline, we recorded the voice actors and started animation three months before principal photography!
COME ON OVER
Credits: Co-Producer, Staff Writer
23 episodes were filmed across three summers and a winter in Holland, Michigan. I oversaw the daily operations of each episode, and finalized all the details for the following day. As Staff Writer, I worked closely with Writer Joel Schoon Tanis offering up re-writes and tweaks where needed. My contributions to this “Boreditis” episode were so significant that I ended up with a ‘Co-Writer’ credit for that episode.
FUN FACT:
Created as a partnership between artist Joel Schoon Tanis and the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum, the show airs on the Smile of a Child Network, online at JellyTelly.com, and was released on DVD by Zondervan Publishing.
COME ON OVER: Moment with Hedge
Credit: Director, Producer
Most Come On Over episodes feature a :60-second “Moment with Hedge.” Show Creator Joel Schoon Tanis’ instructed me to use a 2D collage-style, but beyond that I was left to research, conceptualize, storyboard and then direct animator Keith Heimbaugh’s execution of my boards. Heavily influenced by 1980s’ Muppet Babies, I frequently incorporated real photo backgrounds with Himebaugh’s hand-drawn characters. In addition to voice directing Lisa Buckley (Hedge), I created the peculiar sound effects with the vocal stylings of Aaron Larson & Jonathan White.
FUN FACT:
Recipient of THREE regional EMMY Awards:
– Best Animation (2006)
– Best Animation (2007)
– Personal EMMY for Outstanding Regional Craft Specialty: Research (2007)
