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We chat to the masterminds behind the new Meatballs animation

Cape Town – Something is brewing in the Boomerang kitchen and we can assure you it is delicious!

Joining the channel is the tasty new series, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Now, if you’re fans of the movies then you are going to love this mouth-watering prequel to the films.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs the series centres on the high school years of Flint Lockwood, the eccentric young scientist we’ve all come to know and love.

I caught up with two of the masterminds behind the mouth-watering new show.

In our 10 minute chat, co-developers Alex Galatis and Mark Evestaff reveal just what it took to bring Swallow Falls to life on TV.

Where it all started

The best place to start is at the beginning so, what attracted Mark and Alex to taking on the project in the first place?

Well, in case it’s not obvious, the movies were their main motivation. Right off the bat Alex gushed about how terrific they are and how exciting it was to play around with Flint’s story.

“The movies are so terrific and a lot of fun and when we heard that they were looking to develop it into a series we were both very excited to be a part of it because we wanted to have an opportunity to play with those characters and play in that world.”

Once the seed was planted, it was coming up with a way to make Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs meatier, that’s where the idea for a prequel came from.

According to Alex, the first step was to understand that “while the movies are terrific, they are also self-contained” and they wanted to make sure that if they were creating a 52-episde series there was more to the story.

“We thought instead of trying to do a continuation of the movies we would do it as a prequel, allowing us to explore young Flint and how he became the inventor we see in the movies.”

Mark adds that both he and Alex saw it as a good platform to explore a wider range of stories while keeping true to the basics of the movies such as Flint’s hometown, Swallow Falls and the main characters namely Flint, his dad Tim and his best friend Sam and Steve the monkey.

The challenges of animation

Alex and Mark admit that their aim with this series is to make its viewers laugh.

“I want them to laugh. I want them to watch the show and think it’s as funny as we think it is. If they take away a good time We will be thrilled.”

But creating something funny isn’t always easy, the creative duo admit that working in animation has its challenges.

For Alex “the biggest challenge honestly is just coming up with ideas that we think are hilarious and that make other people in the room laugh and that’s usually the start off point. If we’re in the room and we think it’s a really funny and different idea or a different approach then that’s usually the direction we go in."

For Mark it’s much of the same however, he added that another challenge “is coming up with the original idea” which, interestingly enough, is what Flint lives for the TV producer pointed out.

“He’s always challenging himself to come up with another unique idea and the show is just filled with really funny and different stories, but also really funny and different inventions so it’s kind of interesting how those two parallel.”

Fun Fact

Mark and Alex have been working together for ten years and have kept kids entertained with TV programs like Jimmy Two Shoes and Rocket Monkeys along the way.

The co-developers have been working on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for three years. My final question, and one I’ve been burning to ask, is whether either of them actually like meatballs.

You’ll be surprised to know that Alex is a vegetarian but would be keen for a veggie meatball anytime while Mark won’t say no to a good old meaty meatball.

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS HERE:


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs airs on Boomerang (DStv 302) from Saturday, 26 August. Tune-in every weekend at 08:55.

(Photos: Supplied by Cartoon Network)

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