I'm much more strongly passionate about representation off-screen, I suppose, and behind the scenes, because I feel like if you are going to tell our stories, we deserve to get paid. So I didn't want to do the show if it was only kind of representation on screen. "Netflix was very much on the same page." But sometimes I tell people that with animation, they're bringing maybe a smaller percentage of the whole than in live-action because part of the acting is determined by the storyboarding and the animation. Obviously we have a trans actor playing Barney, and the actor is obviously super-important. We had two trans writers, and we had trans storyboarders, and kind of had people throughout every stage of production. So the writer's room is only five people. How many trans people worked behind the scenes to bring an authentic perspective to the show? But the first few drafts of the first few episodes were also a bit all over the place. So some had written cartoons and were coming from a very comedy comedy comedy route, and some people had written plays or soap opera and were coming from a more drama or coming-of-age sort of perspective.Įventually, we melded that into a consistent tone. And that was actually the hardest thing to get the whole writing team on board with, because we had quite a diverse writer's room in every sense, but also in the sense of experience. I hope the thing we captured is the same tone, and the same spirit. It's not a compromised vision in any way."ĭigital Spy caught up with Hamish Steele to discuss his fully realised vision, Barney's journey across season one, and of course, that musical episode. "But when I did, Netflix really pushed us to make the show we wanted.
"It took me a while to kind of feel safe," says Hamish. As creator Hamish Steele tells us, "Everyone I know who's made animation who's pushed for queer representation has had bad experiences."īut thankfully, that wasn't the case with Netflix. Given the ongoing pushback against queer animation, and trans experiences in general, you'd assume that Dead End: Paranormal Park would have struggled in this regard too. Following the success of Steven Universe, Netflix hits like She-Ra and Kipo have continued to push boundaries for animated shows that strive to reflect all kinds of people.īut now that these shows have come to an end, Dead End: Paranormal Park has arrived to satiate our endless need for adorable queer animation, and with a trans lead no less. LGBTQ+ creators still have to fight so much to see their work accepted by others, and that seems doubly true for LGBTQ+ creators who work to tell queer inclusive stories for children.Įven recently, shows like The Owl House were forced to end before their time, but things are getting better in lots of ways too.
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