On October 9 – 11 I attended a Disney Press Event for Thor: Ragnarok. My hotel and airfare and meals were taken care of while I was in L.A. Opinions and observations as well as recaps and such are all my own. This post will also contain some affiliate links to Amazon.com.

On our second day of the trip we had breakfast at the Disney Channel offices where we got a chance to check out all the great Vampirina toys, books and accessories. There are a lot of things coming for your kids who love Vampirina, and I think they will love her. Andrew is already a big fan and he is going to be six. He loves the show and especially the music. Music is a huge part of this show. After our breakfast we screened an episode. Each episode is broken into two mini episodes so we watched the episode “The Ghoul Girls/Game Night” with show’s Executive Producer, Chris Nee. Afterwards the group interviewed Chris.

Chris was very warm and funny. It was cool that she was there while we were watching the show so we could all experience it together. I honestly didn’t know too much about the show prior to the trip. I did make it a point to watch the first episode and familiarize myself with the family dynamic in the show. The show is about a family, The Hauntly’s which consists of Dad, Boris, Mom, Oxana and daughter Vampirina or Vee plus pets, ghosts and a hilarious gargoyle. Vee is the new girl in town because her family moved from Transylvania to Pennsylvania. She quickly makes friends with Poppy and Bridget. These two humans know that she is a vampire. Together they learn about kindness and celebrating the qualities of what makes each of us unique. There are some really great lessons for kids within each show with a large focus on kindness. In fact we received this wonderful Vampirina Kindness Kit that you can download. Also, for Halloween I have some Vampirina Pumpkin Stencils that you can also download.

In the clip above you can see the importance of music in the show. When we spoke with Chris she was asked what her secret of writing great kids shows that both adults and children enjoy. Chris said, “What I really want to do is bring families together to watch shows. I think those shows that so actively alienate the parents really create the separation in the enjoyment. I have a great ability to remember what it felt like to be a kid and that’s obviously what I’ve tapped into for twenty years working in kids TV. I think one of my secrets is often when you ask someone who works in kids TV exclusively, who are you writing for they’ll say, ‘the kids.’ And I know that’s the right answer, but I’m writing for myself. I’m trying to make myself laugh and I’m trying to work out my own stuff and remember my own childhood and remember those feelings and write the world that I hope we can live in, but I’m really writing for myself. I’m also a mom so, I certainly know what it’s like to want your kid to watch shows that the music is something you can stand ’cause you’re gonna watch it a lot. Maybe there’s a couple of jokes for you, but everything needs to work for the kids first. I give you guys something that’ll make you laugh along the way, I think it’s a great way to make it a universal experience.“

Chris was also asked about which character was her favorite one. She said that she added the characters of Demi and Gregoria. Gregoria is a cantankerous gargoyle who is voiced by Wanda Sykes. As an aside, I love Wanda Sykes. I met her in college when I used to book acts at school. We hung out during a NACA conference when she was doing the college comedy circuit. She was incredibly funny then and is so funny now. I love when she voices characters because they are always going to be funny. Apparently Chris Nee thought so as well because she wrote Gregoria for Wanda. Chris said, “I really love Gregoria. Gregoria and Demi I added to the cast because, obviously the books are such a huge inspiration, but there’s a lot that’s not there in terms of building out a world that you can tell X amount of stories every week. I really wanted the comic relief and I really like intense specificity of character. You can see that on Doc [McStuffins] where everyone’s really solidly who they are. I wrote Gregoria for Wanda [Sykes] having no idea she would say yes. That character was the biggest leap of faith because she’s a very cantankerous character for a preschool show. There were moments where I had to say, ‘I promise you it works in my head, it works in my head.’ It’s gonna be her with this voice and Wanda’s voice is Wanda’s voice. The character works for me and I have so much fun writing her.”

Being a fan of fantasy and shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer I kind of had the same question that one of the children of another blogger had which was how is Vampirina able to go outside during the day. I mean the sun is probably the number one killer of vampires so how does a vampire get around that. And believe me, it is not sparkling and becoming super attractive. What Chris said was this, “It is a very intense sunblock and we do talk about it in the episodes. Obviously you have to find a way to get past that piece. There had originally been a line in the pilot, which would have stopped a lot of Twitter chatter that addressed it and it just got lost for time because there was so much we wanted to do emotionally in that episode. But, it will come up later on and there will be episodes where if she goes outside it’ll be very clear. There definitely are references to it. But, look, there were certain things where you have to get past it to be able to do this show and that was one we thought a lot about. And that seemed like the best way to do it. That answer makes sense to me for a kid’s show. I like that they even addressed it, it means that they gave thought to the lore of vampires in this context of a kid’s show.

The show has a big emphasis on being yourself and being kind as well as accepting other’s differences. The show is also about a family and we immediately see Vampirina reveal herself to our friends so the question was asked if we will see the parents also reveal themselves to any of their friends. Chris stated, “They will continue to show themselves to the people who know but we will definitely have episodes. One of the things that I love about this show, Doc was really a community that formed a family and her family is hugely important, but we don’t spend as much time on the family ’cause it’s all about Doc and the toys. I love this family and I love seeing a family that feels really real to me. In animation sometimes, it’s hard to have characters touch each other. And so, just the amount that the parents hug each other, like you actually believe that they’re together which sometimes you don’t in weekly animation. A lot of that, honest to god, has to do with who you get to voice the characters, but it’s hard to have physical contact. We got so lucky with the cast and they sound, there’s just such a warmth to the family. So, we will keep playing that and we’ll also meet some of the extended family. It has been announced that the grandmother is played by Patti LuPone. I was a New York Broadway kid, grew up on Broadway and again, I don’t want to date myself but I saw Evita twice in the original run with her. And getting to cast her in a role is just amazing.”

Chris went on to say later when asked what shows she may have pulled inspiration from for Vampirina that, “I definitely thought about the Munster’s and the Addam’s Family. Those are sort of the obvious callbacks. And I went back and watched some of the episodes and it’s funny what works and what doesn’t work in those. There’s some truly dark stuff in there, which I had forgotten. I mean, I sort of, I grew up watching those shows. One of the things that was interesting in tackling this was the idea that it is a fine line because obviously so much of the fun is about her keeping her identity secret. But, I also didn’t want that to be the focus. I think in 2017 it was not okay that her driving goal would be to hide who she was inherently as a character. I actually went in to Disney and I almost didn’t make the show because I said, we have to be able to figure it out, this piece. For me to want to do it, that can’t be the story that I’m telling.“

Chris also said, “First of all, we really wanted to make sure that anyone who ever found out that she was a vampire, loved her anyway. That she was clearly okay with telling people who she was. We’re telling the story which is, ‘this is not a family who’s ashamed of who they are in any way shape or form, they are worried that they’re gonna scare other characters and that there’s gonna be too much attention on them.’ So, we just try to shift it so there are other reasons why it would be best. But, instead of it being just focused on this thing that she’s trying to keep secret, we try to never tell it in that way. It’s just in 2017 it can’t be the story.“

That statement right there makes me want to support all that Chris Nee creates. She feels a real responsibility to our children for them not to be ashamed of their differences. This is another factor in the show where Kindness is so important.

A short conversation happened around this Where one of the bloggers said that one of her favorite arts of the episode was when Bridget, who is afraid of everything, finds out that Vampirina is a vampire and yet she accepts her right away. Then Chris went on to say something that I hadn’t quite thought about but it shows a real acceptance of the characters and not the character of Vampirina but the character of Bridget. Bridget can easily be written off as a whiny character but in fact, she is not. Chris said, “There was a period where there were people who were like, ‘is she whiny?’ And I was like, ‘she’s all of us.’ And Poppy’s such a great character ’cause she’s such a good friend but it’s Bridget who struggles every single time and yet she loves her friend, so she’s gonna keep facing the stuff that’s hard for her to get there. And you know, honestly we need a little more of that in this world, facing the stuff that is different. We have a huge country that’s really different. And maybe the only way that we’re gonna get someplace is to say, ‘you’re different from me but let’s hear each other and I still want to be your friend through it. We can still find common ground, and I think for me, that’s what this show is about.“

The question was asked, “What important children conflicts do you plan on addressing in this show?” Chris said, “I think fear is actually the greatest emotion that controls our lives, honestly. And I think for little kids, there’s so much that’s new for them and so you know, it’s easy to talk about the show from the perspective of, ‘she’s really different and her friends have to figure her out.’ But, she’s also in this world and she’s the new kid and she’s the kid who also knows she doesn’t quite belong. Doesn’t want to give away all of who she really is but also wants to fit in. And we’re gonna see a lot of that play out. Of her trying to understand what her identity is. Is she Pennsylvanian now? Is she Transylvanian? Is she allowed to be both at the same time? And how do you own that? And there’s some beautiful stuff coming up with Nanpire, which is the grandmother played by Patti [LuPone]. It is about what it’s like to come in to a new place and how much do you take on, how much do you hold on to yourself?“

there were so many great insights in this interview. Before the recording of the interview started Chris mentioned that she cast James Van Der Beek after sharing a table at a wedding with him. The character of Boris is very much a great father character. When we went to take the photo with Chris I made sure that I talked to her about this. I like it when kid’s shows have smart dads. Boris is a bit goofy but he is enthusiastic and wants to be this great dad for his daughter. He wants to be part of her world even as she begins to grow older. I personally am getting to that point with my own daughter. When she was younger I was the funniest thing ever. Soon I won’t be and I’ll want to be as big a part of her world as she’ll let me be. So, I love Boris and he is a great character for the dads our there.

We were provided with some fantastic Vampirina toys and books. You can find many of them on amazon.com and I have a few links for you below