An Interview with Meghan McCarthy, Showrunner of ‘BE@RBRICK’

Nick Hazard (voiced by Isaiah Crews), Ada Goodall (voiced by Alison Jaye), Jasmine Finch (voiced by Brianna Bryan), Klaus Nightshade (voiced by Noah Bentley) and Holly Honeywell (voiced by Skyla I’Lece) in "BE@RBRICK," now streaming on Apple TV+.

Meghan McCarthy is a highly accomplished writer and producer, who has worked on some beloved franchises, such as My Little Pony. Currently, she serves as the showrunner, a writer and executive producer on the new Apple TV+ series, BE@RBRICK, and we had the honor of sitting down with Meghan to discuss her work in bringing this magnificent new show to life.
 
John Betancourt: Love to start by getting to know what went into the decision to create such a layered and inspiring show.
 
Meghan McCarthy: DreamWorks came to me. They said, “Hey, we have BE@RBRICK. What would you do with this? How? What kind of stories would you tell? And I was just really drawn to it right from the start. And I thought that the BE@RBRICK themselves had a story there that was kind of dying to get out, because there's this interesting thing of, they're all the same look, but then they're painted, and that's how they take on their value. That's how you know what they represent. They've done all these amazing collaborations with musicians and artists, and I said, there's a story there. You know, if you were in a world where you were painted to be something and it wasn't what you wanted for your life, that would be pretty rough, and that leads to a very cool conflict and one that I felt like was really relevant to today, of people trying to figure out what they want to do, pursue their passions, sometimes being having those shut down. And so it was really important to me to bring in that layered message while also making something that was really fun.
 
John Betancourt: I'm curious too, because there's so much you take away from every single episode. What kinds of challenges went into crafting a show that has so many layers to it?
 
Meghan McCarthy: For me, it's starting with the characters. If you build them and they and you really treat them with respect and try to create some characters that feel incredibly authentic, then that makes the rest of it a little bit easier, because it, for me, it becomes the characters telling me what they want to do, and then I just write it down. So, I think that was, that was really a big part of it, is finding this group of kids and how they relate to one another and how they relate to the world, and how the audience can fall in love with them.
 
John Betancourt: Obviously, there's a huge movement right now to make family entertainment something more than what it has been. Not that it was bad in the beginning, but obviously now there's a lot of depth to it, a lot of meaning. It's almost a standard now, especially with Apple TV Plus, and I'm curious what it means to you now be part of this movement, the revolution, almost, in children's entertainment.
 
Meghan McCarthy: Yeah. I mean, I think it's so important that we take kids seriously. They're complex, multi layered human beings, and they deserve stories that reflect that. So, that's been a key part I feel of my career all along is that I've always felt that this is an important audience, and the family is an important audience, and the family, being able to watch something together has always been really important to me. I have kids of my own and have sat through shows with them that I wish I didn't have to, and sat through shows where I was like, “Oh yeah, let's all watch this together.” So, I've always wanted to create that, that version of the show, but yeah, I really love that, that the kid audience is really being treated with the respect and love that that they deserve. Because we're so influenced by the things that we watch as kids, whether we know it or not, to help in that process, it's really important to me.
 
John Betancourt: Now, there are just so many beautiful messages to this story overall. If there's one in particular, you hope audiences take away when they settle in to watch. What would that message be?
 
Meghan McCarthy: Oh, yeah, it's kind of hard to pick one, but I think really believing in yourself and pursuing your passion and finding the people who support you, in that Jasmine has found this group of friends in the show that they're all very different, but they share a dream, and they really support each other. So, I think that's a big part of it. I think there's kind of a message for parents to open up that dialogue with their kids, that that is something that's going on with young people, that they feel a lot of pressure to kind of be in in a certain box, or that they're supposed to do something because everybody else is doing it. So, I hope parents take that away, that like that's actually a topic of conversation they should really be having with their kids, and that… I'm giving you all the all the things! (Laughter from Meghan and John) But also that your own personal, small actions actually are what help change the world, and that there are things, that sometimes you feel like, “Oh, I'm in a hopeless situation?” Or “What can I do?” And there are always actions that you can take in the ripple effect of that really does make the world a better place.
 
John Betancourt: You know, all the things are better than the “one” I asked for. The last question that I have for you today, what are you most proud of when it comes to what you've assembled here in season one?
 
Meghan McCarthy: Oh gosh, I'm really proud of the fact that we have made a show that is really funny, that is engaging and has just an incredible soundtrack, but that it does have something to say and I'm just really proud of that, and I'm really proud of the team that we assembled to help put it together, because it was just an absolutely wonderful group of human beings that I got to spend time with every day.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.