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TV/Streaming
Bobs Gannaway
A New Crew Clocks In Bobs Gannaway shares a few secrets about his new Disney+ show, Monsters at Work.
T
ylor Tuskmon is an eager young monster who has to learn how to become a jokester when he lands a job at Monsters, Inc. He is one of several new misfits at the center of Monsters at Work, a charming new spinoff series based on Pixar’s Oscar-winning 2001 movie, which premieres this month on Disney+. In addition to meeting new characters such as Tuskmon (voiced by Ben Feldman), Val Little (Mindy Kaling), Fritz (Henry Winkler), Duncan (Lucas Neff) and Cutter (Alanna Ubach), fans can also enjoy the classic shenanigans of favorites Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) throughout the 10-episode run of the first season. Produced by Disney Television Animation, Monsters at Work was developed and exec produced by Disney animation veteran Bobs Gannaway (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Planes: Fire & Rescue, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Timon & Pumbaa, 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Secret of the Wings). Sean Lurie is producer, and Kat and Steve Anderson serve as supervising directors. The late Rob Gibbs (Monsters, Inc.) also served as director on some of the earlier episodes. Emmy, Humanitas and Annie Award winner Bobs Gannaway was kind enough to talk to us about Monsters at Work and how he and his team set out to bring the characters from the Pixar classic back to animated life in their charming new show:
Thanks for taking the time, Bobs. Can you tell us how you came on board this much-anticipated new show? Bobs Gannaway: Three years ago, Disney TV animation approached me to develop the series based on the wonderful Pixar movie. I was very excited about bringing everything I learned in TV animation as well as working in features to this project and to bring the audience back to the place they love. We wanted them to spend time with the characters they fell in love with and meet new characters as well. The idea was to elevate the production across the board and try to do right by this great movie that we all love. The show’s CG animation looks fantastic. Can you tell us where it’s produced? It’s being produced by Icon Animation (Elena of Avalor, T.O.T.S., The Rocketeer) in Vancouver. Working with them has been fantastic: We worked with them as partners who worked hard to continue to elevate the project. They were adding things in animation to continue to improve on the show. A lot of the pre-production, design, boarding and layout and writing is done by our team in L.A. and Burbank. Pixar was very helpful in the beginning. They provided us with a lot of the development art that had been created for the original films, so we could be inspired by things that their story didn’t ask for or understand how they got where
they got. During the process we checked with them occasionally, and Bob Peterson (who also does the voice of Roz) consulted on scripts. The great thing was that we had this blessing from them from the start. They told us, “Here, go have fun with this world.” And most importantly, expand the world and don’t just repeat the movie. Do something new. Did you have any qualms or hesitation about approaching such a Pixar classic? The thing is, we are all fans, too. Everyone in animation is an animation fan. Everyone wants to do right by something they fell in love with. We all want more of something, but you don’t want to mess it up, right? From the beginning I asked everyone on the crew, what can we do to really take the audience back to Monsters, Inc., both in terms of storytelling and to keep the heart and humor of a Pixar film? Something I told the crew was, “Look, we’re not making a series. We’re making 10 little movies!” The pacing, the storytelling, the design all needs to have a theatrical touch to it. You have been able to bring back classic theatrical characters from movies such as The Lion King, Peter Pan, Cars and 101 Dalmatians to TV shows in your career. What is your secret sauce for spinoff success? It is a challenge, because we want to do stuff that
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august 21
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