Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello, and welcome to the Cosmic Cafe, the companion podcast to the cosmic circus.com. I'm ala Ruby, and we have a very special interview for you today. We're talking with Pilar Flynn of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and I can't wait for you to hear the conversation.
Speaker 2 00:00:27 Okay. So, first, thank you for being here. I'm so excited to chat. Um, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Oh,
Speaker 3 00:00:34 Sure. Uh, my name is Piat Flynn. I am half Ecuadorian, half Chilean, and I am the producer of Marvel's m Girl and Devil Dinosaur. And now that season two has been announced, I can say that I'm also the co-executive producer of Season two, or one of, uh, which means I'm a co showrunner. But, uh, yeah, I grew up in Europe and South America. Uh, this little girl just dying and so passionate about wanting to be in film and tv, and I was able to make that dream come true by coming to the States for college. And I fell into animation. I started at Dreamworks Features. I was there for many years. I worked at Sony for a little bit. And then six years ago, I was lucky enough to fall into Disney television animation, uh, where I produced the show, Elena of Avalor, which I was so excited about. 'cause that was gonna be Disney's first ever Latina princess. And, um, yeah. Now here I am.
Speaker 2 00:01:25 Well, you know, we're so excited to talk to you. Um, and you, you've touched on that a little bit. You know, your path to becoming a producer, um, but oftentimes a producer feels like kind of amorphous. Can you, can you talk about what a producer does? Because you mentioned for the next season you're a cos show runner. Um, I, I'd love to hear more details. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:01:43 That is such a good question. Um, a lot of us are trying to figure it out ourselves. <laugh> a producer does so many different things. And honestly, depending on your skills and personality, a producer can be many different things. Or you could do different things on different shows. But essentially the best way to describe it is there are kind of two types of producers. One is more of a line producer that's more a business executive type of person, and they are usually in charge of a schedule, the crew, the budget, and kind of just overall being the bridge, you know, for the creatives. But they tend to be more of a, like I say, a business-minded kind of person. But then there's also creative producers. And a creative producer is someone who more partners with, um, the creative leads of the show that help sometimes develop the show, bring the key talent together, work with casting music, et cetera.
Speaker 3 00:02:31 And then there's producers that are kind of like me that do both, um, that are kind of left and right-brained and kind of cross the bridge between both. Um, so it, it's been an interesting journey for me because starting in, I always thought, oh, I'm creative and I wanna be a director or producer. But then falling into the production side, I climbed the ladder mostly in production. But interestingly enough, I mostly started in the story departments and animation departments. So I started immediately partnering with creatives. And now I'm just so excited that my journey has brought me around to getting to do both sides again. And so, as producer for Moon Girl in season one, um, when I first came in, I said to everyone, I'm like, I, I'm a creative producer, you know, please let me be a part of the creative more than you know, one normally would in this position.
Speaker 3 00:03:15 And the team was so amazing to allow me to do that. And so I was able to, like I say, use both left and right brains and also help mentor, uh, people in the production to kind of step up and, and help take over for me so that I could then move into a fully creative position, which is what I'm doing now, um, uh, as co showrunner, co-executive producer. So the difference is that now I I I've handed off the, the budget, the, the schedule <laugh> all the control, which has been hard, you know, to be something that I've done for 20 years to kind of like, know all the micro details of the production mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but I've handed that off to another incredible producer, um, so that now I can really focus on the story and working with the actors and helping with the next season's brainstorms, et cetera. So
Speaker 2 00:03:57 Now I feel like that's a great transition to, you know, talk about this story. Can you tell me a little bit about Moon Girl and Double Dinosaur if you haven't heard of it? I stole this from my daughter's desk this morning, so Oh, good. You did. I love Yes. <laugh>. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:04:09 That's the exclusive comic version we did for, uh, ComicCon, which was, uh,
Speaker 2 00:04:14 Yeah, <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:04:15 Yeah. Really excited. So yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited about it. Uh, Marvel's Moon Girl in Double Dinosaur is about super genius, 13 year old Luella Lafayette, who is by the way, the first ever Marvel Black teen girl superhero to have her own show. And it's about her and her partner, A 10 ton t-Rex named Devil Dinosaur. And together they fight villains and fight to protect their beloved neighborhood of the Lower East side of New York. And the extra exciting thing for me is that she also has a best friend slash manager named Casey, who is a Latina like I am. And, uh, and it's kind of like a, a, a threesome, you know, the three of them, uh, are in most episodes and they work together and they share skills, and it's just a show about, you know, female empowerment and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, science and technology. And it's heartwarming and emotional. And we also put in a lot of, um, really exciting and powerful messages, you know mm-hmm. <affirmative> the episodes. And the more and more we created show, the more realized, oh my God, this isn't a type of show that, um, there are a lot of. And so we felt a true responsibility to, to feature these, uh, these girls in a truly authentic way, but also include messaging that was important for girls, you know, like them out in the world.
Speaker 2 00:05:29 It's, it's very sophisticated, you know, it's a show you can watch with your kids. And I've, I've watched a lot of kids shows because I have a very young daughter. Um, and that's awesome. And there are some, you know, I watched the first two episodes Oh, you did great. I did
Speaker 3 00:05:41 I ask too. I'm like, did you see any of it? Oh, wonderful. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:05:43 So like, there are some really heavy themes and and worries in those two episodes, but, um, can you talk about translating that into like, something, you know, that younger kids or, you know, um, children would understand in addition to adults, because you know, it, they're big deals. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:06:02 Absolutely, yeah. And, um, you know, from the beginning we didn't see this as, even though, um, it, it's meant to be for girls six to 14 mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we didn't see it as that kind of small slice mm-hmm. <affirmative> of a, you know, uh, an audience. We really saw it as four quadrants, something that families can enjoy together mm-hmm. <affirmative> that adults could enjoy, the dinosaurs can enjoy <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:06:22 <laugh>. And
Speaker 3 00:06:23 Because of that we layered in yes. Very sophisticated messaging at times, but also a lot of fun. Yeah. We have so much comedy, the color is just beautiful. And another huge element that we infused in there is sophisticated music. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I don't know about you, but it sounds like you have a little girl. Yes. <laugh>. I have little girls too. And as I'm sure you know, kids' music musical taste nowadays is incredibly sophisticated too. And they don't just listen to one thing. Um, they have everything at their fingertips and they're hungry for, um, incredible beautiful music and to discover more and new artists. And so that's something we wanted to infuse in there too, um, is to have original songs and music that, um, kind of elevated our themes, but the kids and young kids could enjoy. Um, uh, but also that would make it entertaining for them, even if they couldn't understand all the sophisticated messaging.
Speaker 3 00:07:14 But at the same time, as I'm sure you might agree, I think we underestimate our kids a lot of the times. Yeah. And parents don't realize what they're learning at school or what they're hearing from their friends or what they're struggling with internally. And so to me, because our, uh, writer's room right now is fully female in season one, it was mostly female. We really sat down and made a list of, for ourselves of what a 13 year old girl would be going through. And what we as little girls went through when we were that age, especially 'cause we have so many diverse women on our team. And it was amazing once we started talking about it, going, oh my God, you went through that too. And oh my gosh, I didn't have a friend to talk to about that, or Oh my gosh, yeah, I always felt that way, but didn't know how to verbalize it. So yeah, I think a lot of little kids will get a lot of the themes, like I say, more way more than people <laugh> realize. Yeah. So I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2 00:08:00 Now, she's Lou's aged up from the comics a little bit, and you, you know, you have her at that 13 year old age. Can you talk about, um, the decision to do that and maybe some of the differences from the comics? And, you know, you mentioned the Writer's Room, which is amazing. Um, and just, you know, fi figuring out, adapting the comic book for tv 'cause that's a, you know, a whole different thing.
Speaker 3 00:08:19 Absolutely, yes. And the comics, she's nine years old. Um, but in the comics she also faces a lot of pretty serious heavy themes. So in developing her, we felt that, um, well first of all, middle school is such an interesting time and coming of age time, and it just felt like the right place for her to be in her coming of age story. But we also felt that the age of 13 would allow for us to explore heavier themes, kind of like you were mentioning. So, um, yeah, we just, it just felt organic and, and right for her. Um, other differences are that in the comics, she's an inhuman and there's a whole kind of backstory having to do with TerraGen Mist, and we don't have that. We wanted her to be a super genius from birth. Mm-hmm. We wanted her to be a regular girl who, you know, only uses her brain as her superpower.
Speaker 3 00:09:06 And yes, she brings, um, a dinosaur into her dimension, but it's really her passion for protecting glory side and her community and her embracing her brains. That is her superpower in our version. Um, also in the comics, she tends to be more of a loner. Um, she's more brooding. And our Luella has a beautiful community of friends mm-hmm. <affirmative> of her family, who she's really close to Casey who's like I say, another, you know, real little girl that kind of supports her and is there to, to fight alongside her. And yeah, she's bubbly and fun and, and much lighter, you know, for our younger audience. So yeah, I'd say those are the main differences, but we did all that very consciously and purposely. Um, and I will tell you in case you're, we're gonna ask that, yes, we have been in contact with Brandon Monclair and Amy Reeder, um, who created the original comic books, and they are so excited for this version of her. We've shown them episodes and Oh, that's amazing. We've been in touch. And, um, yeah, they're so on board with this version and just the fact that we've taken, you know, what they created and kind of expanded on her. And, uh, she's gonna be reaching an entire new Disney, uh, audience. So yeah, we're super excited.
Speaker 2 00:10:12 I think the version, uh, in the show like really pops, it grabs you. It's just so, um, like, it's so unique and it's amazing and the animation is just, is beautiful. Um, can you talk a little bit about the, like animation influences of the project and, you know, some, did you guys, you know, watch any particular shows from other, other shows or, you know, kind of draw inspiration from anything else?
Speaker 3 00:10:34 Yes. So originally, um, the visual art style came from Steve Loder, who's the executive producer, Sean Jimenez, who's our production designer. And a lot came from Benjio, who's our supervising director. And they wanted to do something different, something that, you know, everyone's a huge fan of Spider version. We wanted to keep that comic book sensibility, but of course we didn't have their budget. You know, we have a TV budget <laugh>, so we were like, how can we make this just as special and pop, but make it in our own style? So we took a lot of influences. I mean, first and foremost, we wanted it to be authentic to New York mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, uh, we wanted it to have that true New York, uh, city look, but from the 1960s. So they took a lot of influences from screen printing and New York City murals and, um, Andy Warhol, you know, 1960s kind of poppy colors.
Speaker 3 00:11:24 So it's almost like a fantasy version of what New York could look like today if it still had that kind of, um, art influence. And, um, you know, they wanted to layer in, like I say, that screen printing. And we wanted the animation to be beautiful, but without having a feature budget and wanting to make, you know, many, many episodes, we decided to do a kind of pop and stop animation style that would kind of mm-hmm. <affirmative> graphic and comic bookie, but still, like you say, kind of pop outta the page and have every pose was intentional and beautiful and almost like a piece of art in itself. Um, and with, uh, on top of that, we layered, we wanted to layer in emojis and, you know, different, different kind of, um, uh, kind of artistic little bubbles that would pop in and out. Uh, which again, is similar to comic book style, but also what kids constantly do on their phones today.
Speaker 3 00:12:14 So we wanted to feel authentic to kids. Uh, so yeah, we put a lot of layers in there and there's a lot of anime influence in there too mm-hmm. <affirmative> that you'll see. And that's because a lot of our, um, staff or directors love anime and are huge fans. And just at every level, we allowed every department, every person to infuse their own style, their own passionate version of what this universe could look like into it. And because of that, I think we ended up with this beautiful tapestry mm-hmm. <affirmative> different art styles that, um, that are kind of pulled together, but work really well together, almost like us, just like true. We're, we're all so diverse and so different. And, um, and I think that really is reflected in the art style of the show.
Speaker 2 00:12:51 No, so two things. I, I'd love to talk more about the crew in the cast, because I think I read a stat that it was like 80% was, you know, women or people of color, and that's incredible. That's right. Um, and I love that, and I just wanna hear more about that 'cause it matters.
Speaker 3 00:13:07 Absolutely. Oh my gosh, it matters so much. That is something I'm so incredibly proud of. And again, we were so conscious about that from the beginning, and it is not easy to do because, um, you know, there is a huge gap. There's a huge gap between, you know, diverse talent that is just starting out versus who gets to see the table and who has enough experience to kind of be a leader in the room. And because of that giant gap, we were determined to close that gap as quickly as possible. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, especially for the show, um, to us, because this was a show about two little girls of color, we wanted to tell it authentically, and we wanted the cast to reflect them in their world, but we wanted the crew behind the scenes mm-hmm. <affirmative> to also reflect their experiences and, and the stories we were trying to tell.
Speaker 3 00:13:51 So, um, from the beginning we started looking for, okay, who's the diverse talent out there? And, you know, usually get the, the same old resumes, the same old mm-hmm. <affirmative> kind of group of people. But because we started off with leaders who were diverse and super passionate about this, we ourselves went out and kind of like mm-hmm. Searched on Instagram, you know, reached out to people. And I'll tell you, one of the things holding a lot of diverse people back or this incredible talent back is belief that they're wanted, or that you want them for their talents and not just for tokenism. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it made a huge difference that it was people like myself or Rodney Cloud or Benjio reaching out personally to them going, no, I'm here. I will take care of you. I'm here to support you. We are all here to hold hands together.
Speaker 3 00:14:34 So a lot of times we had to convince people to come over, especially for, we were doing a show that no one knows what it is, you know? Yeah. You have as a title to share, how are you gonna convince them to come over to you versus the other a hundred of, you know? Yeah. Um, a hundred, uh, shows, you know, reaching out to them, especially nowadays. So yeah, once we started that kind of, um, kind of rolling mojo, we, within the crew immediately started mentoring those people mm-hmm. <affirmative> sharing that mission, asking them to collaborate and, and, um, you know, tell us their ideas for the show. And so slowly we started kind of growing into that. And yeah, exactly what you said, we ended up, um, having an 84% Oh wow. You know, diverse crew, which means it's, uh, 84% women, people of color, or members of the LGBTQ plus community.
Speaker 3 00:15:23 And it makes such a difference. The stories we're telling, the ideas that come and, um, and the more we hired, um, that community of people, the more they knew others that were excited to come on because now, you know, they could believe and trust that person saying, yes, this is an amazing show and this is an amazing crew. Um, and, uh, yeah, we've just infused that every step of the way. Even our partners at Flying Bark in Australia, um, I think half of their team is, um, is women. And when we flew there, uh, I remember, uh, Rodney and I were pitching some story ideas for a future episode, and I'm looking around thinking, oh my God, most of the animators in this room are women. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I, my career, seen something like that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to the point where, it's funny, we pitched a couple of episodes and we started tearing up and they started tearing up, and a couple of us were crying, and I was like, okay, I've never been <laugh> <laugh> in the show's like episode pitch where so many people in the room were so touched and emotional and crying and, and that was okay.
Speaker 3 00:16:16 We could all, you know, um, you know, be emotional or touched, you know, together. And it was just such a beautiful thing. So, um, that's
Speaker 2 00:16:23 Wonderful. I love that
Speaker 3 00:16:24 For writer's room to our production assistants, to our, uh, lead animators, uh, both here and in Australia, all women.
Speaker 2 00:16:31 Incredible. That's phenomenal. Um, now as far as casting, obviously there's Lawrence Fishburne, um, but how did Diamond White come onto the project? How did you know you kind of find her and, and her voice?
Speaker 3 00:16:42 So, diamond came on before I came onto the project, and I know that the second they heard her voice, they knew she was Moon Girl, like there was mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then when I came onto the project too, I was like, how did they find this incredible <laugh> artist, this incredibly talented, uh, young lady? So she, um, had been on Broadway, she had, um, been on Line King and um, she'd played Nala on Broadway there, and she had also been a voice online guard for Disney television animation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I know our casting team kind of knew of her and about her and her singing abilities. So yeah, in the audition process, I think it was a, a small handful of people there originally put forward and the original team developing it, um, like I say, heard her and knew she was perfect. And I can completely attest to that.
Speaker 3 00:17:26 'cause to this day, um, she just completely embodies the character. She adds such a level of authenticity. I know she says she loves coming into record because she feels like her 13 year old self again, and she so relates to Moon Girl because she herself grew up as this nerdy, quirky mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, you know, quote unquote outcast who now is learning to step into her power and learning to embrace all that she is. And, uh, you could tell it's been such a beautiful journey for her, and it's been such a beautiful journey for us, seeing her grow, you know, in her confidence and, and her success. Um, so yeah, hopefully we do many more seasons together.
Speaker 2 00:18:04 So that, that's actually a great transition too, because you got the news that you have season two and you are, you know, yeah. You're the co showrunner for it. What was that, you know, what was that like before even Season one has premiered, you know, what, where were you when you heard the conver, like the, the Green Light? What did that, how did you feel?
Speaker 3 00:18:20 <laugh>? Oh my God. Uh, amazing. We, we were so excited and the fact that we got greenlit for season two without a single episode having aired and in this economy and with everything going on, I think our, the first feeling was, oh my God, they believe in us. They believe in us as much as we believe in ourselves, <laugh> like what we're doing. Um, and the, the other exciting thing was that three of us, um, were made co-Ho Runners, so myself, Kate Kendell and Rodney Cloud. So also, you know, for us to feel like we had each other as a team to, because none of us have done this role before, you know, um, all, all of us had always wanted to, but never believed that we would be given this opportunity. So for the three of us to get that together, it was just this beautiful celebration. And, and also for the crew to know that, um, not only did the studio believe in us, but they were putting their money where their mouths were basically, as far as, you know, elevating diverse representation and wanting us to be true voices in the room with full seats at the table. Um, it was just this kind of reverberating <laugh> feeling of excitement, I think, amongst all of us.
Speaker 2 00:19:27 Is there anything else you want people to know about, um, about Moon Girl that, you know, we haven't talked about or that the project that we haven't talked about
Speaker 3 00:19:34 Ooh. That we haven't talked about? I think just that I'm personally so excited to be working on a show that features girls and women in so many different lights because, you know, even having come from Elena, who I loved, you know, she was still a princess and, and there was a lot of, that was very still traditional kind of Disney per se. But Moon Girl is so different in that she, you know, is not cutesy. She is strong, powerful, she's smart, she loves science, she loves dinosaurs. And the fact that we can feature women in, in a true light, because we're all truly so different. We can like pink sparkly stuff, but we can also like science and Marvel and, you know, and, and like I say, science experiments and math and um, and the talent we've had come onto the show that also reflects that is so exciting to me. So, yeah, I think that's, that's what I'm most excited about is all, all the women featured in the show are a true reflection of the women who made the show.
Speaker 2 00:20:34 So I have kind of a larger <inaudible> question because I feel like I have to ask, does this show fit in at all to the, um, like to the regular M C U or is this, you know, its own thing?
Speaker 3 00:20:45 Ooh, very good question. <laugh>. So we like to consider ourselves, um, a companion series. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to the M C U. Um, we do have some elements, which you'll find out when you watch season one, that <laugh> come from the M C U, that Marvel was totally cool with us infusing in there. So that's been exciting. But we do consider ourselves a, a companion piece so we're not, um, actually in the M C U itself.
Speaker 2 00:21:06 Gotcha. Um, and if, if Moon Girl could team up with any of the other Avengers or any of the other superheroes, 'cause as you know, you, I was thinking Miss Marvel as, you know, as I was watching this, who do you think she would be a good team up person with?
Speaker 3 00:21:22 Ooh, well, <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:21:23 Besides Double Mind, I
Speaker 3 00:21:25 Love to see her team up with Sheri or Ironheart. Um, uh, but yeah, so many I think, um, those are my top two. But any other cool, you know, female superheroes that, that uh, uh, she could collaborate with would be great to see Kitty Pride maybe. Oh, I love her. So that would be really fun. I
Speaker 2 00:21:42 Love it. Um, well thank you so much. This has been wonderful and I'm so glad we got a chance to talk. Um, you and I can't wait to watch more episodes. <laugh>, it's
Speaker 3 00:21:50 Nice to meet you and thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 00:21:52 No problem. It was wonderful to meet you as well.
Speaker 3 00:21:54 Likewise.
Speaker 0 00:21:57 Thank you for listening. You can find the companion article for this podcast along with all the other news for those who like superheroes, science fiction and fantasy films, TV shows, and other
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