Tinker Bell is getting some major competition this month as DreamWorks Animation is introducing a group of three-inch-tall fairies in its new preschool show, Dew Drop Diaries. The CG-animated series, which premieres July 24 on Netflix, centers on three fairies in training who love to help kids find their lost items and clean up their rooms. The voice cast includes Scarlett Estevez, ViviAnn Yee, Sydney Mikayla, Zehra Fazal, Spencer Moss, Jakari Fraser, Olivia Trujillo, Nick Kishiyama, Olivia Daniels, Reggie Watkins, Bob Bergen, Bill Farmer, Dee Bradley Baker and Brec Bassinger.
We had the chance to chat with show creator/executive producer Rick Suvalle (Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go, T.O.T.S., Esme & Roy) and executive producer Aliki Theofilopoulos (Doug Unplugs, Phineas & Ferb, Harvey Girls Forever) about their charming new preschool show:
Animation Magazine: Congrats on your great new show. Can you tell us a little bit about how you came up with the idea for Dew Drop Diaries?
Rick Suvalle: I have two daughters with Type 1 Diabetes and we teach them that they can still do anything they set their minds to, so when I was creating the series I wanted it to encompass that same “can do” spirit. And I thought that making the central characters these tiny fairies who defy the odds and do big things, was the perfect metaphor for being a little kid. Beyond that, I wanted to create a show that I would enjoy watching too! So, you’ll find multi-level jokes and homages to famous movies, that both our youngest and oldest viewers will appreciate, in their own ways.
When did you start working on it at the studio?
Rick: I originally pitched the series to DreamWorks at the end of 2017 and we spent a couple years developing the show and eventually sold it to Netflix in the Spring of 2020, right at the start of the pandemic. We then started working on the show in earnest in August of 2020. It may sound like a long development period, but DreamWorks puts so much attention and detail into their presentations. We walked in the door at Netflix with an animatic of an action sequence, a full animation test, and we had tons of artwork and designs to share — not to mention a pair of scripts and a bible, already written. DreamWorks goes all out, and that can take time, but it makes all the difference in the world.
Aliki Theofilopoulos: I was introduced to Rick when I was an executive producer on another DreamWorks show, Doug Unplugs for Apple TV+. He was busy developing Dew Drop Diaries at the studio, but freelanced a script for us on our show. I just loved his warm writing sensibility, and we got along so well! So when the studio mentioned that they were looking for someone on the animation side to partner with Rick on his newly greenlit series, I was delighted at the thought. Then when I saw the preliminary artwork and pilot animatic, I was totally sold!
How many people work on the show? Who is the overseas production studio? Which animation tools are used on the show?
Rick: We had over 200 people working on the show, including Aliki and myself. The bulk of the show’s production crew, including our directors, artists and animators were in France, working for our partner studio TeamTO, who did an amazing job bringing this show to life.
As for which animation tools they used: Storyboarding was done in Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. All editorial (including animatics) was done in Adobe Premiere. Modeling and lighting was done with Maya. Rendering in RenderMan. VFX were done with Houdini. Compositing was done in Nuke. And all Animation was done using TeamTO’s proprietary, artist-centered environment called “Tangerine.”
One of the amazing things TeamTO was able to achieve was resizing a prop well beyond the standard 20% limits. Normally a prop will degrade after 20%, and with a show about tiny fairies, virtually every prop needed a giant counterpart when we’re with the Dew Drops. Initially we thought that meant our prop count would be cut in half (having to create two versions of every prop, one giant from the Dews’ perspective and one regular-sized, from the humans’ perspective), but thanks to the behind-the-scenes innovations of TeamTO we were able to do this with a single prop. As for what tools I used as an executive producer, beyond Final Draft and Zoom, I used SyncSketch more than anything to do every kind of review from animatics to lighting passes.
What do you love about show?
Rick: One of the things I love about our show is that unlike other fairy shows that typically take place in the forest or a garden, our series takes place in the city. This allowed us to have the unique opportunity to play with size and scale in a way we really haven’t seen before, especially with our opening teasers, which are fun scale misdirects wrapped up in homages to classic action-adventure films. For example, in our pilot, it appears that one of our fairies is in a cave being chased by a giant boulder (our nod to Raiders of the Lost Ark), but when she jumps out into the light, we realize she was really behind the couch being chased by a soccer ball. We had so much fun creating these moments and we’re sure our audience, both young and old, will enjoy them as well.
Aliki: I mean … helpful, fantastical fairies in the city with an action sequence at the start of every episode?! All the yes! I absolutely loved the idea that there could be fairies living amongst us, maybe even right out on our balcony, that are excited about helping children. I loved that these fairies were “tiny but mighty,” and felt like the potential for some really great messaging and fun was immense. I just couldn’t wait to jump in and help bring these ideas to life!
Can you describe the show’s visuals and animation style?
Aliki: Having my start at Disney Animation Studios, back during the hand-drawn days, it’s been my goal to always bring the fun and snappiness of 2D animation principles into the CG series I work on. I feel like TeamTO really got this and ran with it. If I jumped in and did any 2D draw-overs over the CG work, they’d totally get what we were hoping for. I think when people watch the characters’ performances and action sequences they’ll really be able to feel the animators having fun with the work! Visually, we wanted to make sure and have just the right mix of fairy fantasy along with the feeling of being in an everyday human home and city. With the animation team predominantly working in Paris, it made sense to let a bit of a Parisian influence seep into the look of our exteriors. We focused on a mostly spring palette which matched the feeling of hope and joy that these fairies bring to the world.
What was the toughest aspect of bringing this show to animated life?
Rick: One of the most challenging aspects of the show was figuring out the lighting. With a show about secret fairies, they are naturally going to be hiding on shelves and in corners of rooms, places where traditional lighting doesn’t hit. So with our more realistic lighting design for the show, we had to find unique ways to create additional sources of light from moonlight reflecting off a surface to making the fairies’ wings glow to help illuminate an area a little better. While difficult to achieve, the end result is truly beautiful, especially our nighttime lighting set-ups.
Aliki: I’d have to say the toughest aspect of bringing our show to life was having to do it almost completely from home. While we were of course grateful to be able to do so and so, so lucky to have such a strong partnership with each other and strong studio support from DreamWorks, like everyone we missed having more in person time.
How would you say the series is different from other CG-animated preschool shows of the past?
Aliki: One thing that I really love about this show is the focus on gratitude. Yes, there are other shows that have great stories, humor, animation, too, but emphasizing some form of gratitude in every episode and marking that gratitude with a fairy’s special “fairy-bility” is something that is especially unique about our series.
Rick: In a lot of CG-animated preschool shows you’ll find bright, in-your-face colors and flat lighting that you walk away from not remembering if the show was even CG. In Dew Drop Diaries, we have a beautiful color palette, and we went for more realistic lighting where characters would be dappled by the sun poking through the leaves of a tree, or a long shadow from a fire hydrant creates a place for the Dew Drops to hide when they’re out in public.
What is your take on the streaming animation scene in 2023?
Rick: When the pandemic struck and everyone realized animation could continue to be produced, there was an initial buying spree — which timing-wise, we probably benefited from. However, the pandemic lasted a lot longer than anyone expected, and it began to take a financial toll on not just streaming and traditional TV and film outlets, but the whole world, so everyone began to tighten their purse strings and we saw less shows being purchased, and some outlets stopped new animation programming altogether. But lately, I’m seeing signs of everyone dipping their toes in the water again, buying again — but they are more discerning about what they are buying, which ultimately is a good thing, especially in the preschool space where quality of content is extremely important.
Aliki: I think it’s exciting that there are so many types of shows being created right now. I love that we are pushing storytelling styles, visuals and age groups to share those stories with. I also think that although there are so many wonderful shows from previously established franchises, I definitely hope we can continue to see original series be created! All in all I still think with the challenges that are out there, it’s an exciting time for animation.
What would you love young viewers to take away from the show?
Aliki: Though we may face an obstacle of some sort in their lives, we can almost always try and look at things another way. We might just find a silver lining and be “fairy grateful” that we discovered something new because of it. And with good friends and family in our lives to help us along the way, there is always something to be grateful for.
Rick: With gratitude being a recurring theme in our show, as seen through the Dew Drops’ unique gratitude journals, I would love our viewers to walk away from the show thinking about what they are grateful for and for them to find ways to preserve those memories and feelings like the Dew Drops do.
The first season (28 x 11′) of DreamWorks Animation’s Dew Drop Diaries premieres on Netflix on July 24.
