Television Writing
I Wrote Two Episodes of “Hey! Fuzzy Yellow”!
Recently, I wrote two episodes of the animated preschool series Hey! Fuzzy Yellow. The first episode I wrote is called “Sculpture Jam Abstract” (Season 1, Ep 20), and it’s currently streaming on the Irish video service RTÉ Player, along with 30 other episodes of the show.
(I don’t know when the second episode I wrote will air (or stream). And I also don’t know when Hey! Fuzzy Yellow will start airing in the United States. But when I find out both of those things, I’ll write up another blog post to spread the word. In the meantime…)
Here’s an official description of the show: “In Hey! Fuzzy Yellow, we meet a blurry bundle of fun and friends who want you all to know the world is full of possibilities.”
The series is produced by Curiosity Ink Media, Toon2Tango, Treehouse Republic, and Hotel Hungaria Animation, in partnership with Måns Swanberg. Learn more about the show HERE.
And here’s an official synopsis of the first episode I wrote, “Sculpture Jam Abstract”: “Fuzzy Yellow’s friends play soccer in the mud, then decide to make clay sculptures. Fuzzy Yellow models for them.”
I penned the script for “Sculpture Jam Abstract” as well as the lyrics for both of the songs in the episode, and I’m quite proud of how the whole thing came out. Working with the show’s head writer McPaul Smith and the series creator Måns Swanberg was such a blast!
The way you see and interpret the world creatively has value and is one of the things that makes you special. And that’s what “Sculpture Jam Abstract” is all about. I think it teaches a good lesson to kids, and it does so with silly, over-the-top slapstick comedy (the best way to teach an audience a lesson).
But if you don’t have RTÉ Player, you probably can’t see what the episode looks like. So here are some screen-grabs from “Sculpture Jam Abstract”:
And here’s the trailer for Hey! Fuzzy Yellow:
Last but definitely not least, if you’d like to find out about my other television writing credits (the ones that are neither fuzzy nor yellow), you can check out my IMDB page, as well as the Television Writing section on this very website!
My Favorite Kind of Vampires
Happy Halloween, everyone! As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I used to draw one-panel gag cartoons. Like, professionally. Only for a handful of magazines, and really just at the beginning of my writing career. These days I mostly work as a writer, and I don’t draw that much, unless you count the rough thumbnail sketches I draw for nearly every project I work on. Which definitely counts as drawing. But I don’t often show those sketches to the people I’m working with (although sometimes, I do).
Anyway, since it’s Halloween, I thought I’d post one of the gag cartoons I drew back in the day. It’s called “Vampire Nerds,” and it was originally published in the October 2006 issue of Nickelodeon Magazine. (That was the Halloween issue, as if you couldn’t tell by the cover date.) Check it out:
Obviously, vampire nerds are my favorite kind of bloodsuckers, because I myself am a massive geek. (Which you could probably tell by the fact that I write graphic novels about mythical creatures, children’s book adaptations of famous sci-fi movies, TV scripts about fairy tale characters, and scripts for uber-nerdy video games. But I digress…)
I may begin drawing cartoons again (like, professionally), because I really miss it. If that does indeed happen, I’ll definitely mention it on this blog. So keep checking this space!
Sequential Crush Podcast Interview!
Recently, I was a guest on the Sequential Crush podcast, hosted by author and comics historian Jacque Nodell. We talked about my writing career, my creative influences, and more. I had a fantastic time talking to Jacque, and I hope you enjoy listening to the episode!
Here’s Jacque’s description of the episode, from the Sequential Crush site:
“Join me for the first Sequential Crush podcast interview with writer Arie Kaplan. Arie has written for it all — TV, comics, magazines, and books, and he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Arie shares how he broke into pop culture writing, how he made a move from intern to professional, and he divulges his inspirations, faves, and dream projects.”
You can check out the interview HERE.