3 puppeteers make a pitch to create The Undercover Kids

I met three wonderful puppeteers today…Emily DeCola, Michael Schupback and Eric Wright. They call themselves The Puppet Kitchen. They were passionate in their belief that they have the abilities to bring  Katie, Jake and Cooper to life so that the kids will identify with them. Just as author Gloria Smith Zawaski and illustrator Karen Connelly brought Katie, Jake and Cooper to life in book “The Trunk in the Attic.”

 The puppeteers realize that it is their responsibility to create characters with personalities that the kids will readily identify with. And it is my team’s job to develop a script that gets the kids involved.

For those who have read the book, I would love to know what you think Katie and Jake should look like. What clothes do you think they would wear? Let me know, and we will try to incorporate your ideas into the newly created puppets.

I have given the three puppeteers a budget and am now waiting in a coffee shop around the corner from their studio to see whether they agree to be Katie, Jake and Cooper’s creators. They are in a pow wow in their studio trying to figure out if they can do the project  for the budget I quoted.

They told me that as a relatively new company (They are a year old.), housed in a moderately sized studio with limited overhead, they can offer more reasonably priced project costs than other shops in the region. But they also told me that the budget I quoted was on the low end of the spectrum.

I told them I would give them the project if they could give me an answer today. And that is why I am waiting in a coffee shop on Avenue B and 4^th Street.

Whether they say “yes” or “ no” I have learned more about the world of puppets than I knew before coming down to Manhattan.

Here they come… Emily is smiling but Michael is more reserved. “We want to do your project, but I need some clarification on some issues,” says Michael.

I knew then that the Puppet Kitchen puppeteers were going to be the creators of The Undercover Kids. And let the adventure begin.