Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello, and welcome to Storyteller in depth, a podcast where we go behind the scenes to learn more about the school of communications, media arts and designs, people, places, and things. I'm your host, Pat Quigley. On today's episode, we have Caitlin Langeliere. A 2016 graduate of our children's media program. Caitlin is a writer for children's animated series, having worked on several shows, including the popular show Dino Ranch, where she wrote an episode called Adoptosaurus Rex, which won a GLAAD Media award for outstanding children's programming last year, which Caitlin will discuss in just a bit. If you are interested in writing for animation and learning a little bit more in depth about that industry, you will not want to miss this episode. Caitlin will also share a bit about her and her career experiences, going from comedy to a challenger's media, which overlapped in many ways. Let's get into it.
Thank you so much for Caitlin, for being on the podcast today.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: Thanks so much for having me. It's really nice to meet you and excited to talk more about the program and animation and everything, and I just hope that I don't end up talking for 6 hours, because I could.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: That's perfectly fine, and there's nothing wrong with that. But before we get into the rest of the 6 hours of the podcast, to start off, let's talk a little about you. Can you share a little bit about yourself and what initially sparked your interest into the writing for children's media?
[00:01:23] Speaker B: I mean, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer, and, you know, I got into stand up comedy as my first profession, and I did that full time for about four or five years. And I love stand up, but I really wanted something where the people that I'm speaking to actually have, like, a chance at listening. And the, you know, a lot of adult audiences, they actually have the power to seek out points of view that they already agree with and just reinforce that. Whereas something that I love about kids media, I mean, one of the many things I love about kids media is that it's kind of like you're creating content with a conscience.
And I think that all content has some sort of point of view or agenda, if you want to call it that. But kids media is actually intentional and thoughtful about the fact that that agenda exists, regardless of whether or not you want it to be. So you actually plan, okay, what is it that we're saying? Because you're always saying something. It's just a matter of being intentional about what you're choosing to say, and that's what I really wanted to do.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: Wow. So what. What made you so interested? Like, before we get into the children's media part, like, what got you interested in comedy and what made you want to do that?
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Honestly, I just thought that I was good at it, and it was fun. I think my entire life has been determined by what I was good at. The first time I tried it, and I just, like, went with the flow from there. It's intoxicating. Any comedian will tell you the first time that you go on stage and you just kill it. Like, there's nothing better than it. So I just, I did, like, one stand up set in high school, and I was like, yeah, I guess I'll move across the country and make a career out of this. And ten years later, here I am. And I had a lot of fun, I had a lot of luck, and a lot of great experiences with stand up. I loved it while I was doing it. I loved developing my voice and learning how to write and learning how to write succinctly. That really, again, six hour podcast that we're avoiding. I can talk. I needed to learn that. I definitely needed to learn that for kids media, so it was wonderful. But I'm not a lone wolf, and you kind of need to be a real sort of self starter, grindset mindset sort of person to do stand up. And I really like being part of a team of people and having a bit of consistency and more of a cohesive, continuous project to be working on. And I just love content for kids. I love it. And, you know, I've never stopped reading kids books or watching kids shows, and it just felt unnatural.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Have you found a way to, like, marry the comedy side of your life with the children's media side of your life, like, writing for children's shows? Like, have you done that?
[00:04:42] Speaker B: I don't think.
I find it very interesting that comedy is seen as its own genre, because comedy is a natural part of life everywhere. Like, rather than phrasing it, like, have you been able to marry the two? I think that more people should be asked, like, have you ever been able to separate the two? Like, I don't think that it's possible. So I love that I have the tools and the experience from comedy to be real, to be able to kind of understand the nuts and bolts of it. Because comedy and screenwriting are similar. All forms of writing are similar in that it's a little less. It can sometimes be a little less like painting a picture and more like building a cabinet, whereas you can make a beautiful cabinet. There is artistry that goes into making a cabinet, but at the end of the day, the doors need to open and close. The drawers need to be able to function. And comedy is a lot like that. Writing for screen is a lot like that. And those skills combining together have been definitely influential on each other.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: And I'm sure that I know that every different show has a different kind of process to how you do the writing for it. But what.
What does the process typically look like for writing for a children's animated series? Like, is there something that you might not expect or different aspects that you didn't expect when you actually first started out?
[00:06:16] Speaker B: I don't remember. It's been so long. I don't even remember what I expected when I started. But typically, on a kid's animated show, so this isn't a live action kids show for animation.
What people might find surprising is that as a writer, you're not really employed by the show, like, where you're going into work every day. You as a writer are a freelancer, and you are contracted not to the show. You are contracted per episode. So when a show starts out, they'll have.
A lot of people are familiar with the term a writer's room. They do not have that in animation. They have writer summits. So at least the way that it works in the canadian kids media industry for animation, they will have two, maybe three days where all of the writers typically, there'll be, like, six to eight writers on a series, plus a story editor who is kind of analogous to a head writer in, like, common language.
They'll all meet together in a room or meet together on Zoom now, and they will quickly go over. Okay, you know, you guys have sent in these story pitches in advance. We have selected these ones as having potential. And now let's, as a room, kind of get the major plot beats beginning, middle, and end of these stories, and then, you know, you maybe spend an hour or two on each one, you'll maybe have a little bit more time to talk about, what is this show? What do we want to do with this series and these characters? And then at the end of the three days, everyone goes home, and you don't really speak to each other again until the next writer summit several months from then, you are just given whichever ones you get selected to write, and you might not get selected to write anything. It might be, you know, just. Nope, none of your stuff got picked, you know, because, again, you're only contracted by episode. There's no guarantee, even if you get contracted to write an episode, it can get terminated. So it really is that dependent on each individual draft and story.
And the only person that you're directly communicating with will be your production coordinators and the story editor, who is kind of the go between between the network and executive notes on your script. And then you revise, send it back to them, repeat the process, and then hopefully there's a wrap party that you get invited to and you'll see everyone again.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: That's intimidating. To think that, like, you only get to come in once, and then it takes that lifestyle must be a little scary and daunting at times.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. It's especially daunting for, you know, a lot of people get into writing because they don't like talking to people. And it can be pretty appealing, honestly, to be able to just go home to your own little silo and do your writing and not have to be on set talking to people. But it also necessitates you to really pitch yourself and make an impression that day. The biggest death sentence to a writer is hearing after a writers summit. When we're talking about who stood out, what did you think of the writer summit? If someone says that person was quiet in the room, that is not a good thing to be. You know, you don't want to be overpowering. And we can also get into the sort of political dynamics of who is allowed to be loud in a room, as opposed to who might have a little bit less of a good impression. Like, leave less of a good impression if they're loud and outspoken in a room.
But if you don't speak up and make some sort of impression, then you might not get asked back for the next one.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Wow. So does it kind of work based on, like, seniority? Is that kind of how it goes, or is it like, it's kind of like a free for all where everybody gets to submit at the same time?
[00:10:43] Speaker B: Well, typically, the way people are selected, it is based on. It's with everything in the industry. It's who you know and who you've already made connections with. Again, this is why, even though antisocial animation writers like myself come to the industry hoping that they can just write and the writing will speak for itself, turns out you actually need to go and network and pitch yourself, and it's horrible, and I hate it, and, you know, you gotta do it.
So when writers are being selected, it's not like there's open call for pitches on a show. In fact, sometimes people will send in pitches cold call, like, hey, I have this idea for a story or. Oh, attached is my spec script of this show that you work on. We will never open those. We will never look at those because if they are not under some sort of submission agreement, then it opens us up to liability. Right. So whenever we are starting a new show, it's typically based on who a story editor and the creators of the show and the executives attached to the show already know and think would be a good fit. They might reach out to writing agents and ask if they have any suggestions for the series, but most of the time, it is based on familiarity, and they will be directly asked on to send in pitches. And then usually, if they're good, each person will get two pitches selected at a time.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
So when, when eventually you get selected and you get to go into the writing process, how closely do you get to work with the designers of the show that you work on, or do the designers play a role with your storytelling?
[00:12:40] Speaker B: During the development process of a show, the designers will be creating concept art. So if this is a season one of a show, typically during that process, they've been working on designs. They might have even gotten together some character models of, like, the main cast. And what I always loved doing as a script coordinator is, you know, going and printing all of those out, and you tape them up all over the room trying to give some sort of inspiration, especially the environments of the show. Because another thing about animation that people might not expect is that it can be very limiting, because you think of animation as well. They're drawings. You can draw anything, you can create anything. Animation is limitless. But the downside of animation is that every single thing that you see in the show needed to be created from scratch. And that's man hours. That's time. That's technology. Physically, computers need time to process these things. And you need to be very smart as an animation writer to use what the show already has, especially in a season one, when they are burning through their new assets, asset meaning anything that you see on the show, because people might be surprised at how little we have to work with. So if you're coming in, pitching a show, and all of your pitches are completely hinged upon, in this episode, there's a hot air balloon chase, and so we need 17 different hot air balloons all racing around, and one gets popped. So it also is going to change shapes. And my other pitch is about a train. And my other pitch is about a classic, is like the mix up delivery. You know, they've got all of these packages that are all different things. And then they're tearing the wrapping paper off of the packages. And so all of those things are individual assets and those are things that can kill your script. So having production knowledge and being able to look at what designs are available and hopefully you actually get communicated what designs are available, because a lot of the time it's not. And you're just trying your very best to do something that you think is manageable.
Yeah. You might not get your pitches selected, not because they're bad stories, but because they're not within the budget.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: Yeah. It's almost like it's funny that all the different industries within media kind of work the same in different ways, where it's like you want to make sure that you play nice with the people next to you because who knows what they've got to do on their end, where you may have an amazing story idea, but because it's going to take x amount of man hours and more drawing and more creating that, it's like, you know what? We're going to put that to the side. So you need to kind of be able to work together in that instance.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's part, part of the reason why the writers summit system and the freelance animation system for writers can be really difficult, because if you are not aware of how the production is going and what assets are available to you and what is proving to be very challenging, you know, you might look at one episode and go, oh, look, they did this already, so that must mean they can do it. And then you pitch something that uses that and they go, no, we are never using that thing again. It was awful. Oh, my God. That took us so far behind schedule. We're never going to do that again. Everyone was just hating that episode. You know, you have no access to that information, and it's very frustrating and very.
I would just say it can. It can hinder collaboration at times. I know why it happens and I know that it also has valuable parts to it, but it's just another challenge of the industry.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: So what do you do to navigate that? Like, do you have tips that would help you to kind of get through that gap?
[00:16:56] Speaker B: I think that it does take a lot of proactivity from the writers, but also from the production team. So I've been on both sides. I started my career as a production coordinator and script coordinator and then just bothered everyone that I worked with until they let me start writing scripts. And so when I started writing, I was still working in the studio, and that was so advantageous for me. And I don't think that I would be where I am in my career if I wasn't in that position because I could self advocate. I knew what everyone was frustrated with and what wasn't working. I was hearing the directors on the floor saying, oh, we should do an episode like this, or, oh, we haven't used this properly, or, oh, I really want to do something like this. And that information is really valuable for the writers to have, and I do believe that it's on production, and the production coordinator, script coordinator specifically, to be able to facilitate that flow of information to the writers, really track what it is that they should be aware of for stories, because it's hard for a writer to ask something that they don't know. They don't know where to start. And, you know, you want to just be easy. And people have this impression that being a good writer just means taking every note, not questioning it, and just trying their very best. But if you are just kind of throwing darts at a board blindly, it can be difficult for you. So if there is the possibility for you to have a call with someone, you know, when you get your notes, when you get your feedback, you might feel like, well, I don't want them to think I don't understand and that I need hand holding. So I'm just going to say, yep, got the notes, and now I will just move on to my next draft. I personally think that if you feel that, it would be welcome, it's lovely to say, great. Got it. Would love a chance to have a quick chat just to make sure that I'm understanding everything right. And then you just say, this is what I'm thinking for the next draft. And it also gives you the opportunity to ask some questions about just how things are going. Anything that you should be aware of.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: So what are some of your favorite or favorite parts about the role, about working in children, television, and writing in general?
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Where to start? I mean.
I mean, I love what I do. I love just, I love the creative process. I love the teamwork of it.
You know, it can be very overwhelming at first to see all of the different feedback from different people and sometimes contradicting feedback and sometimes feedback that kind of, like, hurts your little heart and, you know, it's a skill not to, like, take things personally and to look at. I always talk about the note behind the note, you know, because sometimes someone will give a note saying, I don't get this. Like, why don't you make it like this? And you go, like, I can't make it like that. That wouldn't work. For this reason or that reason, and then you just kind of pause and think like, okay, the reason that they're suggesting this is because this thing isn't connecting. So how do I make it connect? Okay, I'm going to touch base to my story editor and everything.
And a lot of writing is communicating things that are important. You. And again, it comes back to that. Creating art with intention and with a conscience of what it is that you're saying. And so having the opportunity to do things that you care about, even like some people, I think, can kind of diminish themselves. You know, we're all. We're all just not practiced at being happy and confident about the things that we do. We all are a little bit, you know, like, oh, I'm not so. I'm not so good, because we think that that's expected of us. But I think that what we do is very important and meaningful, and being able to feel like something that you do is important and meaningful and really put a lot of thought into it and take all of the, like, pages and pages of notes on the things that you do as an indication that the people you're working with also care about. Getting that message across, even if sometimes it just feels like they're just trying to make your life difficult, is really great motivation to keep doing what I do. Yeah.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Children's media has. Holds such a power to it, and it can help tell some important stories to younger generation that have the opportunity to show inclusivity and representation. And a great example of this is an episode that you wrote for a children's animated show, Dino Ranch. The episode Adoptosaurus Rex, which focuses on the theme of adoption and how a pair of T Rex dinosaurs want to be dads and was awarded an outstanding children's program at the GLAAD Media Awards last year. Could you share a little bit about the writing process for that episode and your thoughts on the importance for creating stories that make inclusivity just a natural part of the storyline?
[00:22:32] Speaker B: So the writing process for adoptosaurus rex was incredibly simple. It was. No one batted an eye. It was very easy to get that episode through. Everyone was really on board. No one really questioned, if anything, they were saying, okay, how do we make sure that it's clear that these are two dads wanting to adopt an egg? Let's make sure that we get those lines of dialogue in there.
And it was an amazing experience. It just touched my heart so much. And, you know, as a queer writer, I am very passionate about having queer representation in kids media. In particular, I think that we're all aware at this point that there is a big backlash to queerness, especially using children as kind of a cudgel in the reactionary response to LGBTQ rights.
And I think that it's very important for children to know about queerness and gender diversity. And so that's something that I'm incredibly passionate about. And when we talk about, I want to. I want to.
I want to focus on the wording of making representation natural, making it feel organic, because that's something that comes up a lot when we try to have representation in media. Sometimes people can bump on it as well. This feels like we're maybe forcing it, or it feels like we're maybe trying to. Trying a little too hard here. Maybe we can make it a little more subtle. Maybe we can make it a little more inexplicit, a little more just, like, coded. You know, let's not make a big deal of it. And I think that that comes from a sort of vicious cycle where when you aren't seeing representation, seeing it feels a little jarring, and it's coming from a very adult place of what is normal to see. Whereas in children's media in particular, you have the incredible opportunity of a little bit of a blank slate. Not a blank slate. Children aren't a blank slate, but they don't have as many hang ups as adults do. And you can kind of take that opportunity as an adult content creator to examine your own assumptions about, why do I feel that this isn't natural? Like, why do I feel like this is forced? Why do I feel like this isn't something that I see all the time and that someone else might feel the same way where.
I mean, I work on a show called Dino Ranch, where cowboys ride dinosaurs, and I just don't think that having two dads is the most forced, unrealistic thing about that project.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: For sure. Yeah. And, like, the more that it just becomes normalized, I guess, and maybe that's the wrong thing to say, but, like, the more that it just. The less that we're breaking down. We're breaking down those barriers. Right. Of people who may be closed minded to those. Those thoughts and that.
So the more work that's done, the better tomorrow is, right? Or the kids of the future get to the. The inclusivity of the future is just. Is better.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: There's less arguments.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I think that the history of queer representation in media has had many forms where obviously, initially it was explicitly banned, not allowed, and so that forced content creators to create queer coding. And, you know, you can see queer people in media all the way back to its origin, but at a certain point, it needed to be very subtle, very hidden. And these morality expectations made it so that if someone was explicitly queer, they kind of needed to suffer for it. And so the idea of queer suffering became a very key part of queer media. And that's when you move into later forms of representation, where the entire purpose of including a queer character was for their queerness to be the central conflict and the reason why they are, you know, in a bad place. You know, they're. They're being discriminated against, they're closeted, they're suffering. They're not.
They're not getting the advantages that straight people do. And it kind of is being told through the straight lens of, like, here is a queer person suffering, and their suffering is the penance that they pay to earn your love and compassion and respect.
And now we're kind of at a point where people have started more explicitly to be, like, we don't want there to be, like, evil queer characters. We don't want there to be suffering queer characters. We just want queerness to be just, like, normal part of their identity. And you don't even really need to talk about it. It's just there. And I think that that's wonderful. I also think that there is a necessary component of queer representation, especially for children, where you do explicitly name and talk about what it means to be queer, because if you hang out with any queer people, oh, my God, they will talk to you about what it means to be queer and all of their feelings about it. And that is also a genuine and joyful part of the queer experience. So I don't think that naming queerness and explicitly talking about it is unnatural or forcing things, anything like that. I think that it's just one other aspect that I don't want to see skipped in queer representation as we get to this point of wanting to normalize it and have it just be inconsequential to someone's character.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Now, you've worked on a pretty large number of shows, and out of everything that you've worked on, do you have a memorable experience while writing that will always stick with you?
[00:29:45] Speaker B: There's so many, and I don't want to say any. I don't want to say any of the, like, weird, uncomfortable ones because, like, even though those ones are really funny to me, I just think that they're, you know, those are nd. That's NDA territory. I don't want to. I don't want to be running my mouth about anything, but I recently worked on a show where I was able to write, in my opinion, the gayest script I ever have. And we were doing a lot of talking about how to.
How to go about phrasing it, what kids can understand, what might cause some sort of reactionary backlash. And, you know, and it was all coming out of a great place of, like, wonderful consideration. And there was one particular line of dialogue that I wrote that I knew what I was doing. I knew that it would raise eyebrows. I wrote one line of dialogue that basically, like, explicitly talks about gender diversity. And because, again, just because the people involved are very caring and wanted to be considerate, it ended up being a two hour call between me and the team and an associate professor from Yale talking about gender psychology and how to, like, phrase this properly. And it just made me so happy to have the people on the show want to do this well and to take the time to talk about these things. And, you know, there was some trepidation, but there was also a sense of, we don't want to fight half a fight. If we're going to talk about this, then let's talk about it. Let's not, you know, do a half measure. And I just thought that it was one of the most wonderful, caring, thoughtful teams I'd ever worked with. And the process of being able to speak openly about this stuff was just incredibly meaningful. And I'll always remember that two hour call over one line of dialogue.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: There's going to be people listening to this podcast that are hoping to get into the same industry and to get to the same place that you're at. What's the biggest piece of advice you have for them?
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Hard to pick.
Okay. If you want to be a writer for animation, become a producer first. Those are the entry level sort of positions, you know, PA script coordinator. My first title was asset coordinator. All of these little things. Not only is that, you know, just the sort of first job that you can get, it's incredibly difficult to just go up to someone as an unknown and be like, I'm a writer, read my stuff. People hate reading, so go in and become a producer so that you can start making connections. Also, getting into production will teach you how to write and make a script that will actually be able to get produced.
The way that I got my start in writing was by starting in production and then just bugging every person on every show that I worked on, saying, I'd really like to write, and I'd really like to write. Would you read my stuff? Can I pitch for this show? Da da da da da da da da da da. Until they were like, oh, my God. Okay, fine. And you're probably gonna get a lot of setbacks, and you can cut this out of the podcast if you want, because this is very boring, but a lot of people don't know how to get started. This is how you get started, because people will initially say, we can't use you as a writer because you are not part of the writer's guild.
The way that you get into the writer's guild is by writing on a show that is in association with the writer's guild. So if someone says to you, we can't use you because you're not part of the Writers Guild, this is what you do. You tell them to contract you without a writer's guild number, without a WGC number, then you execute that agreement. You take that executed agreement, you send it to the writers Guild, saying, I have been contracted onto this show, and I would like to join the guild. The email is right there on the website. It's very easy to get in touch with them. They will send. You will also send in an application. They will get back to you within the day, maybe a couple days, and they will maybe do. You'll maybe have to do one or two more things, but then they just send you a writer skilled number. You then take that agreement that doesn't have your number, get it terminated, get it amended with the writers guild number. There you go.
You're in the writer's guild. You can write on the show, and no one can tell you that you can't write anymore.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: There's no way we're cutting that out, by the way, because you just probably gave the biggest cheat code on how to get kind of started in this. So I don't know if we're going to do that.
[00:35:01] Speaker B: It is not even a cheat code code. It's literally what you have to do. But people don't know that. That's as simple as the process is, because when someone says, we can't use you, you're not part of the guild. You just think that it's more complicated than that. And the reality is that a lot of people are just incredibly busy, and there isn't a dedicated person who is the help new writers get into the guild production person on a show. So you just kind of need to have that information so that, you know, I can get in the guild tomorrow and get that back to the producer yeah.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: Something that there's certain things about this industry that I've learned over the time that I've been here, and I haven't died my feet into, like, the world of film and into more scripted broadcast television. There's so many, like, little hidden pockets of secrets on how to get into things. Right. And what to do. And I know a lot of it is networking and doing it that way, but, yeah, no one teaches you how to become a writer and to get your writer's guild numbers. It can do these things. So what you've explained, I'm sure, is going to help a large majority of people out.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: Hopefully. Hopefully, yes.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: So I'd be remiss to talk about one of the things around this podcast, which is, you know, the story art center and, and Centennial college. So you were a graduate of the children's media program. And what helped you prepare you for. Sorry, let me rephrase that because I messed all of that up, and I'll cut this together to make it sound a little nicer. So you're a graduate of the children's media program with Centennial College. In what ways did the program help prepare you for your career in this industry?
[00:36:42] Speaker B: The Centennial kids media program is amazing. It's unequivocally how I got to where I am right now. It's so good. It is so good. The instructors are amazing. The program is so informative, so practical, gives you real information from people who are actually in the industry, talking about what it takes and how it functions.
The biggest, the biggest asset of the program is the connections that you get out of it and the real world experience and up to date information.
The people that I worked with in the program are some of my colleagues. The person who became my mentor for the internship program, which is the third semester and the third semester of the Kids media program, you go out and get yourself an internship. That person who was my first boss there is still one of the executives that I work for now.
It's really just, I could go on and on about the individual things that we learn in the classes. And it's an incredibly wide breadth of information that you do get from a lot of different departments in the industry, whether it's merchandising, writing, business, etcetera, etcetera, which can be a little bit frustrating for people who are like, I know what I want to do. I just want to learn about this thing, and I just want to get the very, very, very refined skills of this one thing. But it is so valuable to be able to understand how the whole industry works because it is so connected and it's pretty small industry, so being able to understand how they support each other, because kids media, there's not a ton of money in kids media. So you kind of do need to understand how licensing and merchandising and business works if you want to be a writer who writes on shows that can be sustained for more than a season. And it also takes a lot, you know, for someone who wants to work in business to be able to understand the creative side as well.
So even though I wouldn't say that the program's specific strength is acutely refining, like, in one specific area, it will give you a breadth of knowledge of the whole industry and then set you up with the tools and the job placement that you need to get started on that more refined path that you want to take and carve out for yourself. Because at the end of the day, that on the ground experience is irreplaceable and every production is so different that you can't just learn one and, you know, everything. So I can't say enough how much the program helped me. It's really, you know, I'm not even, like, butt kissing right now. It was just that good.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: I considered it. I consider after I finished my diploma in broadcasting, I wanted to maybe go back and go into the children's media program because it just, it seemed so cool, right? And all the opportunities and all the things that kind of came out, it, and my life took a different direction and to where I am now. And I'm very happy with it. But every so often, I'm like, you know what? Kids media is so cool. It's in that landscape. And it's funny to think that, you know, as you said, that there's not a lot of money maybe in children's media, but there's so many children's media media productions happening in Canada, right? Like in Toronto alone, there's, I don't know how many studios, but I know that there, I had a couple friends who still work for children's media program, like children's media studios and the stuff that we got to do. So, you know, there's a little bit of remorse that I didn't go into it. And every time I talk to somebody about the children's media program, they're always like, I don't know, you should have done it, man. It would have been a lot of fun.
[00:41:03] Speaker B: It was a lot of fun, too.
[00:41:06] Speaker A: So just before we wrap up and we're keeping it under that 6 hours, so maybe the next time we bring you back, we'll do a more extensive.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: Yeah, this is a part one.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Yeah, a part one of twelve. Maybe. If you had the opportunity to write for any children's show, one that's either airing or something from the past or, you know, anything like that, what show would it be?
[00:41:29] Speaker B: If I had the opportunity to work on any kids show, I would want to work on my own kids show. I would want to write my own and create my own kids show. That's what everyone wants. Come on.
I mean, come on. I mean, I guess actually entertaining the question, like all of. All of the heavy hitters, you know, the, like bluey and Peppa and Sesame street and, oh, my God, are you afraid of the dark? That would have been a good one. That would have been fun. I would love to write on something horror spooky for kids, for preschoolers. Hell, yeah.
[00:42:06] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Caitlin, for being on the podcast today, and I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your career.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Thank you. You too.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: Do you remember, are you afraid of the dark? That was such an amazing show. Good choices on that last question, Caitlin. Wow, what an amazing episode. Thank you so much, Caitlin, for being on the podcast. To share details about your industry and your insight on important messages shared throughout children's media. If you liked this episode, head over to our Instagram story artcenter and let us know what you thought. We currently have several episodes in the series we're running right now about the entertainment industry, from creating a children's show to songwriting to directing for film and television and so much more. So now that you've finished this episode, be sure to catch up on the other episodes as well. Until next time, I'm your host, Pat Quigley, and this is storyteller in depth.
