Showrunner of Apple TV+’s BE@RBRICK Says Shows Based on Toys Must Be Authentic

If you’ve ever wanted to see a band of animated toy bears sing, dance, and buck societal norms, there’s a show for that.

Earlier this month, Apple TV+ debuted its new 13-episode animated musical comedy series BE@RBRICK, which was developed with Dentsu and DreamWorks Animation and features original music by Timbaland.

The show is based on the popular brand of collectible designer anthropomorphized toys of the same name, owned by Japanese company MediCom Toy Incorporated. Since BE@RBRICK’s launch in 2001, MediCom Toy has partnered with artists and designers like the late Karl Lagerfeld and Vivienne Westwood, also collaborating with brands like Nike, Casio, and Pangaia. MediCom Toy even released a special Kill Bill version in Japan to promote Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 film, Kill Bill: Volume 2.

The new show follows a group of BE@RBRICK characters led by Jasmine Finch (voiced by Brianna Bryan) who live in a town where everyone’s roles are predetermined. However, that’s not good enough for this BE@RBRICK crew, and they try to break free from the mold to pursue their own dreams of starting a band.

The showrunner of the Apple TV+ series is Meghan McCarthy, who isn’t a stranger to adapting shows based on popular toy properties. She was previously an executive producer for animated children’s series like Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy and, most notably, the My Little Pony series.

Adapting a toy brand from scratch

According to McCarthy, the biggest difference between working on BE@RBRICK and a show like My Little Pony is that the lore for the latter was already established. For BE@RBRICK, she had to develop the story and characters from scratch.

McCarthy said there were foundational elements she followed when approaching and developing the show. Those elements included keeping the toy’s distinct aesthetic, like the shape, as well as the painted patterns, which are different on each figurine. Lastly, she said adding creative and musical elements to the characters contributed to the uniqueness of each one. Once those were established, everything else fell into place, she said.

“That naturally leads to the theme of how you’re painted is how you express yourself, or how you take on this role in the world,” McCarthy told ADWEEK. “But what would be a conflict in that? What would be the worst thing that could happen if you weren’t allowed to express yourself, or if you were required to be painted one thing and couldn’t break out of that? That automatically creates a conflict for a character who wants to be something that they’re not getting to be.”

In addition, McCarthy wanted to make the show relatable to kids and families since everyone has a talent or skill they love but might be afraid or too busy to pursue because of societal expectations. She also made sure to include a villain to highlight the challenges that sometimes get in the way of those goals.

“Who’s the villain in this story? Who is stopping [Jasmine] from doing this? What’s their motivation for doing this?” McCarthy said. “Our team mapped out the full arc of the series and knew that we wanted to make every episode a cliffhanger.”

Toy brands go to infinity and beyond to create content

Studios adapting popular toy products into a film or show isn’t a new concept. Lego and Mattel’s Barbie are just some of the recent successes of toys turned into entertainment content. But McCarthy noted the pitfalls to avoid when developing shows from brands.

“Everyone in this industry is always looking for a source to build stories off of,” McCarthy said. “It’s always helpful if it’s something that people have already responded to in some way. The biggest challenge is if it’s something that doesn’t have a story. How are you going to build off of that and make it a special story and not just something that makes it feel like you’re trying to sell more of a product?”

However, she said the most important thing is making sure that the shows have engaging and genuine storylines.

“Obviously, people want to make money off of things, but if you don’t go about it with sincerity, authenticity, and a point of view, the audience knows and won’t connect in the way that you want them to because it doesn’t feel real to them,” McCarthy said. “It feels like you’re just trying to sell the audience something versus communicating with them and engaging them in a meaningful way, and giving them characters and stories that they want to spend time with because they love them.”