There are writers..and then there are WRITERS that breathe such creativity & understanding of their characters into their work, which ultimately leads to an engaged audience. This week we take another behind-the-scenes look at one of our WRITERS for Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. We sat down with Writer/Story Editor extraordinaire, Becky Friedman (@That_Girl_Becky) to hear about her experiences writing for the series. 

Explain your role as Writer/Story Editor and a bit about your creative process.

My role as staff writer is to write scripts.  LOTS and LOTS of scripts.

Also, as a part of the creative team, I’m involved in the conceptualization of each episode, working to generate the elements needed for a Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood episode: a social-emotional theme, a musical strategy, the essential ‘Fred’ approach, a dramatic story arc, & of course, lots of imagination!

My role as the story editor is, essentially, to be the guardian of the ‘voice’ of the show.

So for every stage of every script, I do an editing pass to make sure that the characters sound like our characters, that the story feels authentic, & most of all, that the scripts are… you know…good! I try to balance keeping the individual color & flavor of each script with the overall voice & vision of the series.

My creative process moves fluidly between creative collaboration & solitary confinement. Initially, I hammer out the germ of the story idea with Angela. Then, I head off on my own to flesh out that idea into a more full story. We send those ideas out to the Out of the Blue Creative team, & they’re discussed, shaped, & crafted by the group. Then, it’s back to my writer cave to work on the draft one of the script! Back to my boss, & the rest of the team & then back to my writer cave…and so forth, until at last I send the Final Production Script to our producer, breathe a deep sigh of relief…& start all over again.

What is your favorite aspect of “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”?

I have 2 favorites! From the perspective of a former preschool teacher (which I am) I love that this show is teaching kids how to be people in the world. Essential things like: how to be a good friend, how to deal with mad feelings, how to express love, how to share, & why if you take a highly anxious & neurotic owl camping, you will live to regret it. I take that responsibility very seriously.

From a creative perspective, I love writing for characters with such colorful & distinct personalities. It’s great fun, as a writer, to sit down and think “what can I throw at Miss Elaina that will challenge her?” or “What can we do to turn Daniel Tiger’s world upside down?” or, my favorite, “What would be the silliest possible thing we could make O the Owl do?” Having such great characters to write for really leads to endless story possibilities.

Oh shoot, I just thought of a 3rd favorite aspect.  The music! I really love the music on the show.

Which character in the series do you most relate to & why?

The character that I’m most like is, without a doubt, Miss Elaina. She’s quirky, she’s silly, she’s  impulsive & quick to react, she’s mischievous, impatient, passionate, & she likes to have things her own way. My parents, my boyfriend, my therapist, my friends, my co-workers, & probably anyone reading this Q&A will pretty much all agree…that’s me. Heck, if it was appropriate for an adult to wear a backwards-dress to work…I’d do it.

However, I’m also really excited about a NEW character we’ll be introducing later on in the season. I won’t say much about her except that her name is Chrissie, she’s a real spark-plug, she has a lot that she can teach kids, & I really went to bat to get her on the show. I can’t wait for everyone to meet her!

What was the funniest moment for you while making the show?

You want ONE funniest moment? When your weekly meetings include discussions of how many meows per sentence is intelligible (2), how much glitter is too much (there’s no limit!) & if there’s a way to incorporate more pickles per episode (there is a way, & her name is Becky)…funny moments abound.

We pretty much live to make each other giggle around here. 

I just remembered my other favorite character: Daniel’s stuffed tiger, Tige-y. His name is a reference to a beloved stuffed eagle…aptly named Eage-y.

Becky Friedman is a staff writer and story editor for Out of the Blue Enterprises LLC.  Becky has written & story edited for the emmy-nominated, PBS hit superhero literacy show Super Why! & is currently writing & story editing for Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Becky also writes mysteries for Dramatic Fanatic, & wrote & created “Yoga with Becky,” for Kids Health. Prior to becoming a writer, Becky taught a pre-k program in a full-inclusion preschool in San Francisco.  Becky also contributed an essay for the anthology: When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children’s Classic & the Difference it Made.

Amazon Studios has ordered the math test pilot, Sara Solves It, developed by WGBH and Out of the Blue Enterprises. 

Sara Solves It  follows who else but Sara & her brother Sam to find answers to mathematical mysteries every kid can relate to. This time, we at Out Of The Blue Ent. have joined forces with the creator of Curious George & Arthur to create something special for children.

The need for a strong mathematics foundation has never been more evident and the proper assistance outside of the classroom behooves the learning within.

Sara Solves It has been added to Amazon Studios’ Series Development Slate and will be free to be preview later on this year.

“Mathematics expresses itself everywhere, in almost every facet of life.

Mathematics is the language of science and engineering – describing

our understanding of all that we observe.”   -www.science.edu

Related articles:

HuffPost.com   Hollywonk.com   CNBC.com

PCMag.com   Kidscreen.com

My daughter proudly showed me a little, balsa wood purse that she made at school on Friday. It had 2 tiny, decoupage buttons, a stubby wooden latch and a brown, imperfect shoestring handle which, when viewed from the top, formed a face.

 creativity

“I like her smile” I said to my daughter.

“What smile? ” unconcerned about what her arrangement formed when viewed from another angle.

Even though her crafted smile was not intentional, it was there.

There’s something about creativity that allows one to feel content or whole. But when many exit childhood, they often lose this emotional connection because they have drastically slowed down their creativity.

This is not to say that everyone needs to be creative or artistic. BUT if we go about our day without enjoying the work, which is often the case when one’s only concern is the end return/product, we are not much different than machines.

Machines have no need to smile..we do.

I think we can all agree on that 

[For more info on creative projects go to PBS]

 This week, we’re giving you a behind-the-scenes look at an integral phase of development for Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood & Super Why!. I sat down with our Research Director, Rachel Kalban, so she can tell you a bit about the research process & her experiences working on the series.

Explain your role as Research Director & a bit about your creative process.

At Out of the Blue, we believe that the only way to know if children will enjoy or understand a story is to ask them! We start doing this very early on in the process of creating a Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood episode. The research team creates a storybook based on an early draft of each script, & takes it to where the kids are: preschools, daycare, Head Starts. We sit on the floor with small groups of preschoolers & read them the story, asking questions along the way. In doing so, we are able to assess if & how the kids are understanding & learning from the story.

The time I spend with the kids is not only the most fun part of my week, but also the most important, as the process teaches me so much about how kids think & process new information.  After each research session, I sit down with the writing team & explain what the preschoolers taught me: what they liked, or didn’t like, how they understood the story, how much they were interacting and singing along… & we then work together to rework the script so that it is both maximally educational & appealing. I use the information that the preschoolers give me along with my knowledge of child development to give notes at all stages of production.

What is your favorite aspect of “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”?

Oh wow, there are so many! As a child that grew up with Mister Rogers, I of course love the nostalgia elements that are woven into the new series. And I love that we push kids to use their imaginations. I think my favorite thing is how we are right where the kids watching are, dealing & grappling with the same issues. I have had parents tell me that their child “IS Daniel!”

I love that we take themes like not wanting to share, or feeling jealous, or even not wanting to stop playing to go to the potty as serious issues, because they are for these little ones, & they deserve to have them recognized and dealt with as such. We strive to do so with love & even some humor!

What was the most emotional moment for you while making the show?

I get very emotional when I get to talk with parents of viewers. When the pilot episode premiered, 1 parent told me she overheard her son singing, “Grownups come back” when he was put to bed. Another parent said her son now tells his friends, “You can take a turn, & then I’ll get it back,” (he, like Daniel, also reminds her ‘When you feel so mad you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to four!”)

I don’t want to say I was shocked to hear these responses, because we worked very hard on getting the ‘strategies’ just right & that was always the plan, but it really moves me that we have given kids tools they can use in these hard day-to-day situations.

Just recently, an aunt of a child with Asperger syndrome told me that Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is one of the few shows he is allowed to watch because of how much it has helped him.  The family had just been to a restaurant, & in this new place, with new people, he knew just what to expect, because he had seen Daniel do it in “Daniel’s Night Out at the Restaurant”. Something that was very hard for him just a few weeks before was now manageable & enjoyable: he looked for the waiter, sat with his menu, waited patiently & had a wonderful night – just like he had seen his friends do.

Sure, I like hearing that we get high ratings, but these stories are the reason I do what I do.

What was your most embarrassing mistake while working on the show?

In the beginning I was always saying Prince Tuesday instead of Prince Wednesday & X the Owl instead of O the Owl.  Almost thirty years later, those original characters still stuck with me!

On behalf of  hundreds of thousands of children, Thank You Rachel!

Rachel Kalban is the Director of Research & Curriculum at Out of the Blue Enterprises, a leader in children’s educational media.

Prior to her work with Out of the Blue, Rachel completed her Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University & held several positions at Nickelodeon & Penguin Publishing Books for Young Readers. Rachel received her Bachelors from Cornell University.

On a typical January day up North, one of our many SUPER talented contributors to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood went shopping at Home Depot with his son. And while typical of many that work in preschool TV, he was naturally dressed in a cape.

To be perfectly fair, his son rarely goes out without his cape & upon realizing that his Dad was without, he simply asked,

“Daddy, where’s YOUR cape?” Hence, the matching cape (sans “F”).

The duo’s photo was taken by none other than Mom, and shortly after she posted the photo for friends, it went viral in no time at all. Far be it from us to disclose the secret identities of the fearless crusaders but let this be a lesson to all mortals:

• Super Dad did what he did solely for the enjoyment of his child

• His only incentive was Boy Wonder’s happiness

Take time out of your week to not act your age with your kid, because before you know it, they’ll stop asking you to wear a cape in Home Depot.

And to our Super Talented B–, “Sincere thanks for all you bring to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood & simply for the record, You ARE the man!!”

“The proof that the little prince existed is..that he laughed and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists.”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince