I joined the Yo Gabba Gabba! relaunch when the brand itself was between homes and between identities. The show had a devoted fanbase and a complicated history. My job was to help turn it into something that could live on Apple TV and matter again.
Three years later: two seasons, 20 episodes of Yo Gabba GabbaLand!, an Emmy nomination, a viral Coachella set, an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, a 30-city national tour and licensing deals worth over a million dollars in year one.
I was the connective tissue between the creative and the business. I wrote, produced, managed the Apple relationship and built the brand infrastructure from scratch. When I say I co-produced all 20 episodes, I mean I was in the room for every script, every edit, every mix. I led the talent curation and worked directly with Thundercat, Anderson .Paak, CHVRCHES, Gillian Jacobs, Reggie Watts and more.
Yo Gabba GabbaLand! was a first for kids’ TV in that it reinterpreted a purposefully lo-fi aesthetic into a technological wonder, without losing the magic that made the original what it was. As a creative team, we were able to seamlessly blend cutting edge volume screen tech (the same tech used to make The Mandalorian) with physical sets and props. Each background was painstakingly created to mimic the hand-carved feel of the original show, but expand the world infinitely to make it feel as if GabbaLand had no end. It’s like the ultimate play set for a kid… in this case our host, Kammy Kam.
Yo Gabba GabbaLand! Virtual Production Reel
Coachella was the moment. We brought our characters, Thundercat, Weird Al, Flavor Flav, Portugal. The Man, Paul Williams and a giant inflatable rainbow. We united the host of the original series with the new. We filled the finale with beloved characters from HR Puffnstuff to the Care Bears to the Teletubbies to the Duolingo owl. People lost their minds. Kids had no idea what Coachella was, which is pretty much our style.
Today, I’m leading the development of new seasons for Apple TV and building a digital-first strategy to meet kids where they actually are.
The kids are still singing “Party in my Tummy.” So are their parents.
