Buddy G - Guest Blogging at Family Equality Council

January 23, 2008 Family Equality Council Blog

a guest post by the producers of Buddy GDavid on Jan 23rd 2008

We’re thrilled to bring a guest blog from the producers of Buddy G, My Two Moms and Me - a cartoon starring a kid with 2 moms. A special thanks to Margaux Town-Colley, Executive Producers of Us2 LLC, for putting this post together.

Things have been moving fast and furiously with Buddy G, My Two Moms and Me. It feels good to take a breath and reflect on how and why we made Buddy G and what we see for the series’ future. Thanks, Family Equality Council for this opportunity to write about the cartoon series.

How did we make Buddy G? We closed our eyes and ears to those who said we couldn’t do it, and we threw our caution and money to the wind. [The Animation Business Handbook is a good source if you’re curious about the cost/process of producing animated cartoons.]

The why? We made Buddy G for our son, Grayson. We were watching him watch cartoons one Saturday morning when he was only 2. (Yeah, like none of you have ever done it).

“My world is turning, Changing each day, With Mommy and Daddy, Finding my way!”

Wait… Stop… Watch… Listen.

Caillou is telling our son that Mommy and Daddy help you find your way.

We started talking about other cartoons that he watched: Stanley, Dora, Little Bill… no two mom or two dad families there. “Wouldn’t it be better if he had at least 1 cartoon with 2 moms or 2 dads?”

There was no such a cartoon so we visited Two Lives Publishing again and bought a few more books. Yet, the issue kept nagging at us and so we’d talk about it.

“Check the Internet maybe a company is making one.” …There are millions of kids like Grayson.….Surely a company is making one. …What if there was a cartoon with a little buddy like ours? …Hey, we could call him Buddy G.… Wonder how much it would cost? …Maybe we could get investors and really make a cartoon?”

Feeling as if time was running out for our family (Grayson turned 6 in October), we invoked the time-tested generational superpower of Moms and made it ourselves. And, we’re so happy we did. The feedback has been more then we’d hoped for. We’ve heard stories of kids jumping for joy, yelling “he’s got 2 mommies like me,” and wanting to call grandma or their friends or show their classmates.… Yes, all well worth it.

The bigger question to us is “How do we keep it going, making it bigger and better?” The answer to that lies with wonderful organizations like Family Equality Council who support all of our families and help spread the word about Buddy G. However, individuals like you who are buying the first DVD have brought the true success to Buddy G.

We’re also encouraged by another mom-powered entertainment option for our kids, Dottie’s Magic Pockets. We’ve never met Tammy Stoner over at Pink Pea productions but we’ve read her story and we know first hand the time, money and effort that it takes to bring these products to our kids.

So, spread the news and buy the DVDS. In return we hope to offer more diversity, longer episodes, and a theme song that doesn’t mention the word “normal.” (There is a funny story here but we’ll save it for another day.)

Our short-term plan - sell enough of the first DVD to produce more episodes and another DVD. Our long-term plans - dolls, parade balloons, and a 3 day Buddy G’s tree house/pumpkin patch event in the Heartland.

Bottom line – buying the DVD not only helps grow Buddy G and Dottie’s Magic Pockets into the mainstream of entertainment, you also send a message to the entertainment industry… Our Kids Have Been Ignored for Too Long… Get Busy!