A Personal Note: My New TV Show Is Out Today!
A break from the usual Snow report to share some news
I’m taking a break from the usual weekly Snow Report and Art of the Zag episode this week because today is a big day for me personally. Two years ago, I started working on a TV show for kids called Fluff Piece. Today that show sees the light of day on Amazon Prime’s Wonder Project channel. Check it out here! And for a deep dive into what we learned making it, check out my Hope For Film takeover on it here.
As you might know, I have a 3-year-old kid. He’s hilarious, knows the name of every Formula 1 driver (seriously), and likes to climb and jump off of all surfaces.
And he’s about to grow up in a world full of smartphones. And fake news. And AI. And who knows what else.
My partner Sylvia Brindis and I wanted to create a show that would give our kid and his peers what Carmen Sandiego and Reading Rainbow gave us, but for the skills that they will need in this high tech world they’re going to inhabit.
As such, Fluff Piece may look like a silly musical mystery series, but under the surface it’s about media literacy and the ability to think critically about the hailstorm of information that hits them in the face each day.
It’s been a long journey in the making, but it’s been an amazing exercise in combining disparate things from our careers and backgrounds—investigative journalism, musical theatre, independent film, and technology. I’d dare say that this project has been so wonderful in part because it’s great making meaningful things for kids, and also because I’ve been able to apply so many things I’ve been writing about since Smartcuts. You could say we “hacked the ladder” with an underdog dream team of misfits in order to pull this one off.
If you have any kids or parents in your life, please tell them to give the show a shot. I personally wrote the first two episodes, and one of them is about a pegasus (inspired in part by this Key and Peele sketch!).
We need to build up some future-proof kids to help us make this rock called Earth a good place for us all. I’m hoping that Fluff Piece does a little bit to help.
Back to your regularly scheduled Snow Report next week!
Make a great day—
Shane