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"The co-creators of Beanie Sigel's new animated show, "The Playpen" interview
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-- Posted by Henz on Monday, February 27 2006
.jpg) "The co-creators of Beanie Sigel's new animated show, "The Playpen" took time out of their busy day to talk to us about the cartoon and how it came about. Read on to see more."
RT: Please introduce yourselves to our readers?
BRIAN: I'm Brian Ash, co-creator/exec. producer of The Playpen. I'm a ten-year vet of the movie, animation and music video biz.
MYLES: I’m Myles Reiff, co-creator/exec. producer of The Playpen. I’m a television writer/producer, screenwriter and adventure seeker.
BRIAN: I’m Bronx, he’s Brooklyn, but we’re both LA now.
RT: How did you guys meet each other?
BRIAN: Myles and I met back when WE were in The Playpen. (Laughs) Actually, we met almost a decade and a half ago working as museum tour guides in NYC.
MYLES: Yeah Brian and I were a couple of College kids, struggling in NYC. We bonded over trading bootleg Jerky Boys tapes back before they had CD’s or anything. I knew if this kid was into the Jerky Boys back then, he had something going for him. (Laughs)
BRIAN: We had a lot of common taste in music and movies, so we hit it off, decided to give a writing collab a try and the rest is history. I met Beanie Sigel through Dave Daniel who was the director of Photography on "State Property I" and director on "Paper Soldiers". Dave was kind of my mentor. He gave me my first directing job on a Gang Starr video and shot all my projects when I was coming up. Universal and Rocafella were getting ready to do "Paper Soldiers" which at the time was a drama script written by Charlie Murphy who went on to make his name on Chappelle's Show. The studio and Dame Dash who was co-director with Dave wanted to turn it into a comedy at the last minute…
MYLES: Murphy’s original script was actually really serious and hard hitting. It was based on some people’s real experiences as B and E (breaking and entering) hustlers.
BRIAN: They brought me on to do a re-write and to be a producer. Can you imagine that? Turning Charlie Murphy's shit into a comedy? That's like one of the funniest dudes and I'm supposed to bring the comedy to his project? That's Hollywood for you. So Myles gave me a hand on that one and we did our thing. On the set I was doing a lot of re-writes and that's when me and Sieg started hanging out. I found him to be a down to Earth and accessible dude. Good people, you know? I was interested in learning more about the studio process, so he invited me to come check it out. As a creative person, I was blown away by his process. Like he says in the song, "There's no pen when I write it." The dude pulls inspiration out of thin air.
RT: Give us a little bit of background on the designers and producers?
BRIAN: The EPs are Beans, Myles and myself. On the art is Carl Jones as character designer with Lesean Thomas as art director. You can't imagine more talented dudes with regard to comics and cartoons. Right now they're doing Aaron Mcgruder's "The Boondocks". Carl draws the strip and produces the show on Adult Swim, while LeSean is supervising character designer and a co-director on some episodes. We're very privileged to be working with the finest art team in the game.
RT: Where did the idea originate from?
BRIAN: During the down-time on the set and in the studio, Mack and me kicked around all kinds of ideas: movies, cartoons, video concepts, you name it. But one thing stuck – this idea about kids in a nursery who behaved and were treated like convicts. We just kept coming back to it. The concept had it all: street cred, social commentary and endless comedic possibilities. People don't realize, but Beans is a really witty dude with great comic instincts.
MYLES: He’s also got pretty eclectic taste. I think that’s the sign of a true artist, someone who isn’t locked into one particular scene or genre for inspiration. Hip Hop may be your bread and butter and your foundation, but it’s important to leave yourself open to other things. Inspiration can come from anywhere as long as it’s real.
BRIAN: Beans also a great observer of human behavior in general. If you listen to his lyrics, you'll hear just how clever he can be. So off of my initial back and forth with Sieg, me and Myles started to flesh out the characters, concepts and world the cartoon is set in.
MYLES: We just went crazy with it. We really wanted to see how far we could push it off of that initial idea. Just like okay, it’s kids locked up, so what does that really mean? What happens inside and how are we gonna interpret that for these little kid characters?
BRIAN: Then we got the whole team together in NYC while Mack was recording and just hung out. The writers, the artists, members of the State Property group and we just fleshed it out. We wrote a bunch of concepts, then a Pilot script. The beauty of this thing is that its always evolving.
RT: What does the story line revolve around?
BRIAN: The story line revolves around a crew of hard-headed toddlers doing their time at "The State Nursery"—like the worst, meanest daycare center from hell. Its kind of a metaphor for becoming a man and the choices we make, but done in a very comedic way. In the Pilot, we follow two new kids entering day care for the first time. We get into their expectations, anxiety, how friends are made and lost. What is credibility and what's just being foolish and going overboard. In a lot of ways there are parallels between little babies and grown ups. Sometimes adults can be total babies. You know, immature, selfish, short sighted. Other times, little kids display wisdom, maturity. The kind of qualities you'd like to see in a mature individual.
MYLES: There are also all kinds of supporting characters. We’re always keeping ourselves inside that framework of being locked up, so what comes with that? We push it as far as we can outside of that framework, but that’s always our starting point and our base. So in other words we’ve got the different types of characters and situations that you would find in that world only interpreted through these little kids eyes. But we’re gonna be sticking it to a lot of different things in society and making some statements without ever getting heavy handed.
BRIAN: With "The Playpen" we try to keep it deep as hell and silly as fuck at the same time. (Laughs) It works on a lot of levels, that's the beauty of it.
RT: Where can we expect to see Playpen on?
BRIAN: The six-million dollar question! That answer will be forthcoming in the very near future. In the meanwhile, we're rocking the myspace community. Check us out and drop us a line at www.myspace.com/the_play_pen.
MYLES: Just keep your eyes and ears peeled. Everything’s gonna drop in ’06. This thing has been cooking for a while now so, when it hits it’s gonna hit big.
RT: Will you be licensing out Playpen?
BRIAN: Without a doubt. We already have some licensing offers on the table and will be releasing some hot gear soon. Tees, toys, you name it.
MYLES: Candy bars, fruit roll-ups, snow boards… (laughs)
BRIAN: We're not sleeping until everybody is seeing these kids even with their eyes closed! Also we're working with Mack on a mixtape for the near future as well. It's gonna be something else. You can see with (MF)Doom and "The Boondocks", the world is ready for the Hip-Hop/Cartoon connection. It's what '06 is all about.
RT: Can we expect to see any celebrity features on there?
BRIAN: I don't doubt it. I can't name names yet, but Beans has been putting the bug in many a celebrity ear. Singers, sports stars and comedians were once babies too, right? Also, tons of people in the industry have been hitting up Carl to draw them as a Playpen baby, so I know people are gonna be lining up out the door to do cameos.
RT: Do you Beanie have a character on there?
BRIAN: Hell, yeah. Little Mittens is the Mack of the yard. Running shit, just like in real life (laughs).
MYLES: Beans is holding the cookie jar (laughs).
RT: Is Playpen for a mature audience or is it child friendly?
BRIAN: It's interesting, because its' a fine line. This thing isn't Sponge Bob, but it's not rated R either. Really we're looking for a balance and trying to be subtle, but I'd say it favors grown-ups over kids.
MYLES: It’s definitely not Saturday morning cartoon stuff. |
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