Screenwriter and CEO of Build-A-Bear: Sharon Price John talks to The Inside Reel about memory, branding and humor in regards to her new animated holiday film: "Glisten And The Mercy Mission" releasing in Cinemark Theaters.
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [SCREAMING]
00:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 Where's Marzipan?
00:13 I got to find her.
00:16 I believe.
00:17 I believe I can do this.
00:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:21 [SCREAMING]
00:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:29 Attention, everyone.
00:30 I found someone to help.
00:32 It's my new best friend.
00:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:36 Yo, what's up?
00:38 How you doing?
00:40 Oh.
00:41 That went better than expected.
00:44 It's also-- I love what you were saying about that.
00:47 It's also about perspective, how we
00:49 see the world and our experiences, but also memory.
00:52 Because the thing is, is that a toy that you had when you were--
00:55 when, say, I'm almost 49 years old.
00:59 When you see stuff that you had back in when you were 10,
01:03 you have a certain memory attached to that.
01:05 In fact, when I was watching that, this show,
01:08 it was both--
01:09 Modern, the film, was both modern and reflective,
01:12 which made me think of, to be very honest,
01:14 the Rudolph specials.
01:16 Or to be very honest, what came to mind
01:17 was the Gummy Bears, which was a television
01:21 show back in the '80s.
01:22 Because it really had that balance of humor,
01:24 but understanding the themes that it
01:26 was trying to talk about.
01:28 And I love the fact that you sort of brought that to bear.
01:31 Could you talk about that?
01:32 Finding-- but also finding the humor and the heart
01:35 at the same time in certain scenes with the script.
01:39 Yes, so you're spot on.
01:42 And that is also indicative of the animation style
01:46 that we chose.
01:47 We wanted it to feel very familiar and timeless.
01:53 So that when there's--
01:54 I would hope that there's a lot of co-watching going on
01:57 with this.
01:58 But the adult watching with the child,
02:00 I don't want this to be just something
02:02 that they plop the child in front of it
02:04 and they just walk away.
02:05 I think it'll be really fun because that also gives you
02:09 some understanding of why I wanted that Marzipan story
02:13 to be explored.
02:14 Or the crumble, the Lady Delphs to kind of be explored.
02:19 So there's some funny stuff in there
02:20 that a lot of people are going to relate to.
02:24 Women in the workplace, or again, the working mom,
02:26 or anything like that, and some of the challenges
02:28 and the guilt that you bring to that,
02:31 and how she works through that.
02:32 And it all turns out wonderful in the end.
02:35 But because she had to learn to believe too.
02:40 But that animation style as well as
02:43 sort of the mash up of the new and the familiar
02:46 was a critical part of what we were trying to balance.
02:50 Because it's almost like you want
02:52 to feel like you've seen it before, but it's fresh.
02:57 And I think that there's some twists in the end
03:01 that people might find also refreshing.
03:06 I think that that's exciting.
03:09 So far, the response, the people that have seen it
03:12 have been very positive.
03:15 But in some ways, there's a metaphor of teddy bear
03:18 in there as well.
03:20 Just that there's something always new,
03:24 but it's the familiar at the same time.
03:27 Feel my tickle power, you giant bear.
03:31 Take that, Mr. Bear.
03:33 And that.
03:34 And here's under the armpits.
03:37 This should do it.
03:38 Tickle, tickle, tickle.
03:41 Oh, right under the foot.
03:43 Yeah, it's a weak spot.
03:45 What are you doing?
03:47 I'm defending myself.
03:49 From what?
03:51 From you.
03:52 You're Grizzly the Bear.
03:54 Everyone says you're really mean.
03:57 No offense.
03:58 Eh, none taken.
04:00 You know, you elves have been giving me a bad rap for years.
04:03 And yes, I admit it.
04:05 I have a temper.
04:07 I may have pulled one or two Christmas trees out
04:10 of the ground because they were blocking my view.
04:17 That was you?
04:20 But I gave all that up years ago.
04:22 Yeah, I'm a good Grizzly now.
04:24 Although I still run with the wrong pack of wolves
04:26 on occasion.
04:27 Yeah, a bear's got to have some fun, you know what I mean?
04:29 And my last question, it actually
04:31 dovetails right back because the thing is,
04:33 is that you're able to encourage and sort of blend in the brand
04:38 without making it seem forced.
04:39 And that's what the best thing is about something like this,
04:43 is the fact that you have the bear come in.
04:45 And I'm like, how are they going to mix it in?
04:46 And the way you do it is so subtle and yet so overt
04:50 that it really feels organic.
04:52 Could you talk about the importance of that?
04:54 Because that's a definite thing to do.
04:56 If you could sort of talk about that and building
04:58 the brand in that way, and then I'll let you go.
05:01 Well, you spoke about heart and humor.
05:04 We wanted-- what we ended up sharing
05:07 is the origin story of the heart inside of Build-A-Bear, right?
05:14 And it seemed incredibly natural that--
05:18 I mean, who, if not Santa, would know the one toy
05:24 that every kid loves?
05:26 Every kid, every adult. Donner's wrong.
05:29 It's not corn.
05:32 And it's not carrots.
05:34 It's teddy bears.
05:37 And that felt like a--
05:41 he should be the authority on this information.
05:45 And so we-- and what's really funny about that,
05:49 not to belabor that term, but that we managed
05:53 to add some humor right in the middle
05:56 without it feeling forced, right in the middle
05:59 where we were doing one of the most heartfelt moments.
06:07 And we're very careful with the humor.
06:10 I have a filter on the humor that none of the humor is
06:14 meant-- it can be funny and cute,
06:17 but it can never be mean-spirited.
06:19 That's just not who we are and not what we're trying to do.
06:22 So but you can be--
06:25 so I hope that in some ways this is a proof point of that.
06:29 It's possible to be humorous without being mean-spirited.
06:32 It's also possible to have a film that
06:35 has anticipation and some scary moments and some exciting
06:41 moments and some beautiful moments
06:43 without having to have the bad guy.
06:47 That just the recognition that that's probably not
06:51 the world that we're living in, but there's a lot of deep
06:54 concepts that are woven through here that if you get it,
07:00 you get it.
07:00 And if you don't, it's still a fun ride.
07:02 Attention, everyone.
07:04 We're a gumdrop behind schedule, so we're going to have fun
07:07 and keep making toys.
07:09 Yay!
07:09 Yay!
07:10 [GASPS]
07:11 [GASPS]
07:13 What do we do?
07:14 Don't panic.
07:15 Don't panic, everybody.
07:17 Don't panic.
07:18 [SCREAMS]
07:21 Woo-hoo!
07:23 Marzipan thinks she saw Glyphon.
07:25 What's that?
07:28 We've got to launch Santa's sleigh before that storm hits.
07:32 [GASPS]
07:33 Don't suppose you know where to find another flying reindeer?
07:37 Glyphon.
07:37 [SCREAMS]
07:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:42 [GUNSHOTS]
07:46 (dramatic music)