IR Z Direct Interview: Sharon Price John For “Glisten And The Merry Mission [Build-A-Bear] - Part II - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

Screenwriter and CEO of Build-A-Bear: Sharon Price John talks to The Inside Reel about memory, branding and humor in regards to her new animated holiday film: "Glisten And The Mercy Mission" releasing in Cinemark Theaters.

Transcript

00:00 [SCREAMING]

00:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:04 Where's Marzipan?

00:13 I got to find her.

00:16 I believe.

00:17 I believe I can do this.

00:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:21 [SCREAMING]

00:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:29 Attention, everyone.

00:30 I found someone to help.

00:32 It's my new best friend.

00:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:36 Yo, what's up?

00:38 How you doing?

00:40 Oh.

00:41 That went better than expected.

00:44 It's also-- I love what you were saying about that.

00:47 It's also about perspective, how we

00:49 see the world and our experiences, but also memory.

00:52 Because the thing is, is that a toy that you had when you were--

00:55 when, say, I'm almost 49 years old.

00:59 When you see stuff that you had back in when you were 10,

01:03 you have a certain memory attached to that.

01:05 In fact, when I was watching that, this show,

01:08 it was both--

01:09 Modern, the film, was both modern and reflective,

01:12 which made me think of, to be very honest,

01:14 the Rudolph specials.

01:16 Or to be very honest, what came to mind

01:17 was the Gummy Bears, which was a television

01:21 show back in the '80s.

01:22 Because it really had that balance of humor,

01:24 but understanding the themes that it

01:26 was trying to talk about.

01:28 And I love the fact that you sort of brought that to bear.

01:31 Could you talk about that?

01:32 Finding-- but also finding the humor and the heart

01:35 at the same time in certain scenes with the script.

01:39 Yes, so you're spot on.

01:42 And that is also indicative of the animation style

01:46 that we chose.

01:47 We wanted it to feel very familiar and timeless.

01:53 So that when there's--

01:54 I would hope that there's a lot of co-watching going on

01:57 with this.

01:58 But the adult watching with the child,

02:00 I don't want this to be just something

02:02 that they plop the child in front of it

02:04 and they just walk away.

02:05 I think it'll be really fun because that also gives you

02:09 some understanding of why I wanted that Marzipan story

02:13 to be explored.

02:14 Or the crumble, the Lady Delphs to kind of be explored.

02:19 So there's some funny stuff in there

02:20 that a lot of people are going to relate to.

02:24 Women in the workplace, or again, the working mom,

02:26 or anything like that, and some of the challenges

02:28 and the guilt that you bring to that,

02:31 and how she works through that.

02:32 And it all turns out wonderful in the end.

02:35 But because she had to learn to believe too.

02:40 But that animation style as well as

02:43 sort of the mash up of the new and the familiar

02:46 was a critical part of what we were trying to balance.

02:50 Because it's almost like you want

02:52 to feel like you've seen it before, but it's fresh.

02:57 And I think that there's some twists in the end

03:01 that people might find also refreshing.

03:06 I think that that's exciting.

03:09 So far, the response, the people that have seen it

03:12 have been very positive.

03:15 But in some ways, there's a metaphor of teddy bear

03:18 in there as well.

03:20 Just that there's something always new,

03:24 but it's the familiar at the same time.

03:27 Feel my tickle power, you giant bear.

03:31 Take that, Mr. Bear.

03:33 And that.

03:34 And here's under the armpits.

03:37 This should do it.

03:38 Tickle, tickle, tickle.

03:41 Oh, right under the foot.

03:43 Yeah, it's a weak spot.

03:45 What are you doing?

03:47 I'm defending myself.

03:49 From what?

03:51 From you.

03:52 You're Grizzly the Bear.

03:54 Everyone says you're really mean.

03:57 No offense.

03:58 Eh, none taken.

04:00 You know, you elves have been giving me a bad rap for years.

04:03 And yes, I admit it.

04:05 I have a temper.

04:07 I may have pulled one or two Christmas trees out

04:10 of the ground because they were blocking my view.

04:17 That was you?

04:20 But I gave all that up years ago.

04:22 Yeah, I'm a good Grizzly now.

04:24 Although I still run with the wrong pack of wolves

04:26 on occasion.

04:27 Yeah, a bear's got to have some fun, you know what I mean?

04:29 And my last question, it actually

04:31 dovetails right back because the thing is,

04:33 is that you're able to encourage and sort of blend in the brand

04:38 without making it seem forced.

04:39 And that's what the best thing is about something like this,

04:43 is the fact that you have the bear come in.

04:45 And I'm like, how are they going to mix it in?

04:46 And the way you do it is so subtle and yet so overt

04:50 that it really feels organic.

04:52 Could you talk about the importance of that?

04:54 Because that's a definite thing to do.

04:56 If you could sort of talk about that and building

04:58 the brand in that way, and then I'll let you go.

05:01 Well, you spoke about heart and humor.

05:04 We wanted-- what we ended up sharing

05:07 is the origin story of the heart inside of Build-A-Bear, right?

05:14 And it seemed incredibly natural that--

05:18 I mean, who, if not Santa, would know the one toy

05:24 that every kid loves?

05:26 Every kid, every adult. Donner's wrong.

05:29 It's not corn.

05:32 And it's not carrots.

05:34 It's teddy bears.

05:37 And that felt like a--

05:41 he should be the authority on this information.

05:45 And so we-- and what's really funny about that,

05:49 not to belabor that term, but that we managed

05:53 to add some humor right in the middle

05:56 without it feeling forced, right in the middle

05:59 where we were doing one of the most heartfelt moments.

06:07 And we're very careful with the humor.

06:10 I have a filter on the humor that none of the humor is

06:14 meant-- it can be funny and cute,

06:17 but it can never be mean-spirited.

06:19 That's just not who we are and not what we're trying to do.

06:22 So but you can be--

06:25 so I hope that in some ways this is a proof point of that.

06:29 It's possible to be humorous without being mean-spirited.

06:32 It's also possible to have a film that

06:35 has anticipation and some scary moments and some exciting

06:41 moments and some beautiful moments

06:43 without having to have the bad guy.

06:47 That just the recognition that that's probably not

06:51 the world that we're living in, but there's a lot of deep

06:54 concepts that are woven through here that if you get it,

07:00 you get it.

07:00 And if you don't, it's still a fun ride.

07:02 Attention, everyone.

07:04 We're a gumdrop behind schedule, so we're going to have fun

07:07 and keep making toys.

07:09 Yay!

07:10 [GASPS]

07:11 [GASPS]

07:13 What do we do?

07:14 Don't panic.

07:15 Don't panic, everybody.

07:17 Don't panic.

07:18 [SCREAMS]

07:21 Woo-hoo!

07:23 Marzipan thinks she saw Glyphon.

07:25 What's that?

07:28 We've got to launch Santa's sleigh before that storm hits.

07:32 [GASPS]

07:33 Don't suppose you know where to find another flying reindeer?

07:37 Glyphon.

07:37 [SCREAMS]

07:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:42 [GUNSHOTS]

07:46 (dramatic music)

IR Z Direct Interview: Sharon Price John For “Glisten And The Merry Mission [Build-A-Bear] - Part II

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended