Stephen P. Neary, Creator & Executive Producer of The Fungies!

It’s not very often that we get to exclusively interview a cartoon creator- more so when that person is based in Los Angeles. Recently, I was given the opportunity to interview Stephen P. Neary, a Hoosier-born, LA-based artist and animator. He is the creator, executive producer and voice of Pascal on the HBO Max series, “The Fungies!” produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

A graduate of New York University, Stephen started his career as a story artist at Blue Sky Studios on the animated feature films “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” “Rio,” “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” “Epic,” “Rio 2” and “The Peanuts Movie.” Stephen also directed and animated his own 2D short for the studio, “Umbrellacorn,” after winning a studio-wide pitchfest, so it was an honour to speak to him for sure!

As a mum, I was curious to know what goes on in the heads of cartoon creators- how they come up with ideas, do they think about what the children will gain from watching them or is it just for pure entertainment?

But before I delve into my interview with Stephen, You must be wondering what The Fungies! is all about:

THE FUNGIES!

The Fungies! are colourful mushroom folk living in prehistoric times but Seth, a science-minded 10-year-old is fascinated by how the world works. Whether it’s planning an epic show-and-tell presentation, trying to find his dinosaur friend Pam a job, or replacing his arm with a snake so he can be better at sports, he wants to share his enthusiasm with all of Fungietown. With a little help from his artistic older brother, Pascal, this leads to hilarious and heart-warming discoveries.

Having the opportunity to watch a few episodes myself prior to its airing date, I found the characters and animation to be very interesting and humorous too. Here are a few of the questions that I managed to ask him and his answers.

VIRTUAL INTERVIEW SESSION WITH STEPHEN P. NEARY, CREATOR AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE FUNGIES

Lily: There are so many new cartoons and animations these days, which gives children a huge variety to choose from, and now kids can choose themselves compared to last time when we’ll just watch whatever there is on tv or just switch between the limited channels that we have.. So what makes The Fungies! unique and appealing to kids in your opinion?

Stephen: I think that The Fungies! is a very sensitive show, and i think it’s a very fun show to see this world that we’ve never seen before. So many things that we’re seeing is reboots or franchises and those are great and are things that everyone wants to see, but sometimes when a property is rebooted, there’s a tendency to forget the original audience, which is the kids. So I really wanted to make something new that kids have never seen before, that they could feel that it’s theirs entirely and discovering for the first time, just like how Seth is discovering a world around him.

Lily: As the creator and executive producer of The Fungies!, do you ever think about the consequences after a child watches your show? Kids tend to imitate what they see and hear. So what goes on behind the scripting and storyline of each episode?

Stephen: That’s a huge thing that we think about for sure. It’s in our theme song- “If you’re inquisitive, inclusive, respectful and kind, you can be a Fungie too”. So a lot of the show is Seth kind of veering away from that sometimes and then always coming back to those Fungie core values. So we try to make the show a little more calming than other show sometimes, and just has really good art and is pretty to look at. The cartoons I watched as a kid definitely always had some sort of message, and hopefully it’s something that adults will enjoy too. There are a lot of messages about just being mindful and having a good attitude and good piece of mind, and there’s a lot of episodes about how we communicate with each other and just making sure that our voices are heard  and that people understand and that we’re listening to other people. So it’s my hope that kids will get a lot out of it they want to while they’re watching, and that their parents, when they’re watching it, there’s funny stuff for them and then there’s also these wholesome lessons that they can talk to their kids later.

Lily: In Asia, going into the creative live is probably something not a lot of parents would favour.. What’s your advice to kids who are dreaming to be in your shoes right now and also what would you say to the parents of these kids?

Stephen: Animation is hard. When I first started working in animation, I actually went to school for live action film because I didn’t think I could get a job in animation or I didn’t think it was a realistic career, which is what adults had kind of told me my whole life. So I think if you’re going to do it, you have to really go all out. Once I was in school for live action I realised how many jobs there are in animation and I had to really quickly switch gears. But then I realised if i’m drawing storyboards,  I worked in movies 5 years out of school, I just never considered you’re going to be drawing 8-10 hours a day. I would just wake up and my hand would start drawing, it would even wake me up in my sleep. So I think if you want to do it, you need to treat it almost academically, and make sure you put in the hours, not just dreaming about it, and keep trying things, and not being afraid to fail also, which I’ve done many times.

To the parents, do however you can to support your kids, and take an interest in what they are interested in. But also, we’re expecting our first child in January, so I don’t want to speak for parents too much, I know it’s very hard, but I like to think that I could hopefully take an interest in what my child is interested in and find a way to steer them at that direction and say ‘oh, here’s something concrete you can really do with that. Hopefully that’s helpful.

Lily: Last question, what is your hope or feeling that you want kids or adults to feel after watching each episode of The Fungies!?

Stephen: I think just to feel a little bit warm and fuzzy, like a little wholesome. I think the world is pretty scary right now, and there’s a lot going on, and I hope it just gives parents and kids 11 minutes to kind of check in with themselves, tell a little story and walk away feeling maybe a little bit more sincere or hopeful or wholesome then when they started the cartoon. That’s my hope. And also maybe to laugh once or twice.

The Fungies! will be premiering on Cartoon Network (Astro Ch 615 HD / 635), Saturday, 14 November at 9.30am, with new episodes airing on weekends.