Creator, Writer and Producer Rick Suvalle On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Guernslye Honoré

Your education in this business never ends. There is always more you can learn. And if you allow yourself to be a perpetual student, you’ll become a stronger writer. I’ve learned something new from every writer and producer I’ve worked with, that I’ve added to my bag of tricks. On my current show, my Script Coordinator, who had zero produced work, had an interesting way of telling a story that I hadn’t thought of before and now I have that knowledge for the future. Great ideas can come from anywhere and anyone, no matter how experienced they are, and if you’re open to that concept, you’ll be a better writer for it.

As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Rick Suvalle.

Rick Suvalle is the Creator and Executive Producer of the upcoming DreamWorks Animation preschool series Dew Drop Diaries on Netflix. The series follows a group of three-inch tall family fairies who live inside teensy fairy houses on brownstone balcony gardens in “The Big City.” They have been assigned to human families to secretly help around the house with the little things that can often fall through the cracks, like making sure your first lost tooth actually makes it under your pillow before bedtime or your favorite toy doesn’t get left behind at the park.

Prior to Dew Drop Diaries, Suvalle developed and produced Mattel’s Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go series and has served as a writer on many other animated series including DreamWorks’ Doug Unplugs, Disney Jr’s T.O.T.S. and Miles from Tomorrowland and HBO’s Esme & Roy. Suvalle also co-wrote the 2018 Emmy-nominated episode of Amazon’s The Stinky & Dirty Show where he also served as Head Writer for the series. Outside of animation, he has written several TV movies including Syfy’s The Hollow (2015) and Hallmark Channel’s Campfire Kiss (2017). Additionally, Suvalle has developed series for DreamWorks, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Fox, Mattel and Roadside Attractions.

Thank you so much for joining us today. I’m very excited, and I hope you are too. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in Wayland, Massachusetts, a small idyllic town just west of Boston. My mother was a kindergarten teacher turned stay-at-home mom who brought her knowledge of kids and creativity into our lives with various crafts and field trips from the local farm to Paul Revere’s house along the Freedom Trail. My father was a sales and marketing executive at Polaroid, so we had an unlimited supply of film to document these memories, well before the era of Instagram. He also had access to video equipment so when I showed an early interest in making short films, my father was my cinematographer. But I use the term “film” loosely, as I would just make video spoofs of current movies and edit inside the camera, so sometimes you can hilariously hear my father say, “Wait!” at the end of a shot. Since my parents were both so inventive, when I showed a real interest in the arts, they supported me one hundred percent.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

In 6th grade I was given the option to either do my homework or journal during study hall and I chose to journal, but instead of cataloguing my life, I wrote short stories and quickly decided that I wanted writing to be a part of my life. In high school I started acting in plays and really fell in love with theater. I eventually married my two passions and wrote a short play that was accepted into the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival, and I got to direct that play. It was then I knew that I wanted to write and possibly direct, for a living, so I majored in Film and Creative Writing at Hofstra University, in New York, where I continued to write and act in a few plays, but ultimately decided that I really wanted to be behind the camera. So, after college, I packed up all my belongings and drove out to Los Angeles.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

On the day I arrived in Los Angeles, I stopped at a news stand to buy a newspaper so I could look for a place to live, and saw Quentin Tarantino standing there, reading a magazine. I idolized Tarantino, so my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) prodded me to go say hello. And I did. And we ended up talking for more than 20 minutes about film and screenwriting. It was exhilarating and I felt like running into one of my heroes, on the day of my arrival in Hollywood, was a sign that I had made the right career choice.

It has been said that mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I had written my first freelance episode of television and was invited to the set by the showrunner, Morgan Gendel, and when I showed up, someone handed me the script. But when I took a look at it, it was almost completely rewritten. I made the mistake of thinking I had done a terrible job, so when Morgan found me later in the day and asked, “What do you think?” I said, “Apparently I did a terrible job.” Morgan replied, “What are you talking about? I came here to ask you if you wanted to write another episode.” I said, “Really?!? But the script is so different from what I turned in.” Morgan said, “Just some of the dialogue. But all the scenes are the same and the structure you provided is still there. You gave us a script with great bones. But you don’t know the characters as well as us, so we just tweaked the dialogue.” It was then that I learned that television is a collaborative art. And that there are going to be changes that are beyond anyone’s control, even the producers, whether it’s fixing the dialogue or having a location fall out at the last minute and having to tweak the script to work with the new venue. I’m so glad I learned how television writing worked that day or I might’ve thought I was a bad writer and given up on my dreams.

Since that’s not really a funny mistake, I’ll give you a more recent one — on my current show, my fellow executive producer, Aliki Theofilopoulos, offered to do the voice of a cat character on the show and when I listened back to the recording, I thought it was terrible, so I had to have an awkward conversation with her and tell her that I wanted to replace her. She took it like a total pro, but asked to listen back to the track with me so she could get some constructive feedback. We listened together and then she said, “That’s not me, Rick. That’s you.” And it was! We laughed ourselves silly that day.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I’m currently the Executive Producer and Creator of a new DreamWorks preschool animated series called “Dew Drop Diaries” that recently premiered on Netflix. It’s about these tiny, but mighty fairies-in-training who secretly help families with children with the little things around the house, like finding a lost toy or making sure your first lost tooth makes it under your pillow before the Tooth Fairy arrives. It’s a show about resourcefulness, teamwork and girl power, mixed in with a sprinkle of gratitude. It’s a love letter to my two daughters. I also recently created “Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go” a new 2D preschool version of “Thomas & Friends” that is about to debut its third season on Cartoon Network and Netflix.

As a rising star, you’ve likely faced challenges along the way. How do you stay motivated and overcome obstacles in your career?

The life of screenwriter is filled with ups and down and in the beginning of your career there are a lot more downs than there are ups and there’s also a lot of false hope. I’ve had a movie greenlit, only for the studio to change their mind a few weeks later. I’ve had a network want to buy a show from me, only for the deal to fall apart in the negotiation process. More recently I had a project fall apart because of Covid. But each time that happens I give myself a day or two to feel down about it, and then I get back out there. I’ll either try to sell that script or show elsewhere, or I move onto another idea that I’m really excited about, and just start writing. It sounds cliché, but every defeat makes you stronger, because you’ve gained more experience and you’ve met more people, and that combination can only help you the next time out.

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

Diversity is extremely important to me, especially working in children’s television. It’s important for kids to see characters who look or act like them. My daughters are both Type 1 Diabetics and I remember the look on their faces when American Girl came out with a Type 1 Diabetic doll. They felt seen. On “Dew Drop Diaries” each fairy, while having fantastical skin colors like blue or magenta, all share racial characteristics with the children they secretly watch over because I wanted kids watching to imagine that if they had a Dew Drop secretly looking after them, that their Dew Drop looked like them too. On “Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go” I was fortunate to be part of the team that helped create Bruno the Brake Car, the first character in the Thomas universe who is neurodivergent. Thomas has a lot of fans who are on the spectrum, and it’s been so gratifying to hear them say, “Bruno’s just like me!” They are feeling seen. I want to add that diversity behind the camera is just as important. If you’re just showing a race or someone who sees the world differently, you’re missing a piece of the puzzle. You need to have people behind the camera who understand these characters. On “Dew Drop Diaries” over 40% of our writers were diverse, and on “Thomas” we hired neurodivergent consultants and writers. By doing this you make sure that your on-screen representation is accurate and true to life. And that’s what makes your characters relatable.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?

1 . Your first screenplay is not half as good as you think it is. While there are exceptions, it generally takes several years and scripts before you become proficient at the craft and even longer until you find your unique voice. I thought my first screenplay was genius — it was a mix of jazz music and scenes lifted directly from Rebel Without a Cause. I moved to Los Angeles with just that script, thinking I was going to make it. Looking back, I can’t believe how awful that script was. But there was a spark of potential in there and other people saw it, but ultimately it took several more screenplays for me to finally write something half decent. But all those terrible screenplays before that, helped me grow and learn as a writer.

2 . Learn to read the (writers’) room. Getting into a writers’ room for the first time is extremely exciting and it’s hard not to just start throwing out every “awesome” idea that pops into your head. When I finally got into a writers’ room, I would throw out hundreds of ideas. Fortunately, the showrunner appreciated my enthusiasm and pulled me aside to say that I might benefit from listening more and being more selective about the ideas I offer up. In other words, you don’t want to be throwing spaghetti at the wall, you want to be throwing darts at the dartboard. You’re going to miss sometimes, but your chance of throwing a bullseye is vastly improved. And sometimes just getting on the board is enough to spawn an even better idea that the whole team can work on and improve together.

3 . Your education in this business never ends. There is always more you can learn. And if you allow yourself to be a perpetual student, you’ll become a stronger writer. I’ve learned something new from every writer and producer I’ve worked with, that I’ve added to my bag of tricks. On my current show, my Script Coordinator, who had zero produced work, had an interesting way of telling a story that I hadn’t thought of before and now I have that knowledge for the future. Great ideas can come from anywhere and anyone, no matter how experienced they are, and if you’re open to that concept, you’ll be a better writer for it.

4 . Don’t just read good screenplays, read the bad ones too. You’ll actually learn more by reading bad scripts because you’ll understand why they don’t work, and you’ll prevent yourself from fall into those same traps. When I first started out, I only read great scripts, and as a result all my early scripts were poorly executed knockoffs of those movies. I couldn’t understand why my scripts were inferior. It wasn’t until I started reading bad scripts from other writers, that I started to truly understand the mechanics of what makes a good script.

5 . Be willing to compromise. Too many new writers think they have an amazing idea that they’re unwilling to alter, but sometimes altering your idea is the difference between getting something made and having it live forever on your hard drive. When I first pitched “Dew Drop Diaries” to DreamWorks the characters weren’t even fairies. They were just these tiny humans who secretly looked after kids. DreamWorks asked if I’d be willing to make them fairies. Had I said, “No,” I probably wouldn’t have a show on the air right now. But I also didn’t just say, “Yes.” I thought about it and said, “By giving these characters magic and flight, we’d be taking away their kid-like resourcefulness. Things would be too easy for our main characters.” So, I suggested that we make the characters “fairies-in-training” — that they have wings, but they can’t fly yet and that they only have one magic power each. DreamWorks loved the idea, and we were off to the races. It’s because I was willing to compromise, and not dig in my heels, that the show got made. But beyond that, the compromise actually made the show even better.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

It’s okay to take breaks. You don’t have to write every day. Watching a movie or a TV show in the genre you are writing in is part of the process. Research is part of the process. And taking a day to yourself to do nothing is also part of the process. The key is to not force it… unless you have a deadline, but even then, you can still take small breaks, like a walk around the block, to help yourself reset and re-center.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are so many people that have contributed to my success from my parents to my wife’s unwavering support to my manager, Jeff Aghassi, who has been in the trenches with me for almost 20 years. But I will say that my success in children’s television owes a great deal to Guy Toubes, one of the creators of the new “CoComelon Lane,” and also the creator of Amazon’s hit preschool series, “The Stinky & Dirty Show.” Guy and I had been friends for years and during the development period for “Stinky & Dirty” I was one of his sounding boards, so when the show eventually went into production, Guy tried to get me hired to write an episode of the show, but at that time I didn’t have any preschool experience on my writing resume (I had mostly written movies for Syfy and Hallmark) and Amazon was reluctant to hire me, as a result. But Guy believed in me, and he was determined to make it happen, so he made a bunch of calls and convinced other preschool showrunners to hire me, so I could build up some credits. Now with some preschool experience under my belt Amazon finally said yes, and to their credit, they thought I did such a good job on my first two freelance scripts that when Guy suggested they make me Head Writer on the second season, Amazon agreed. After that I began to get a lot more work in the kids’ space, including selling several shows of my own, and I owe that turning point in my career to Guy’s support.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I’m not sure who said this version of this quote, but it’s always stuck with me as it pertains to the entertainment industry, “Be careful who you step on, on your way up, because you might see them again on your way back up.” This sentiment says two things to me, first, this business is full of never-ending ups and downs; you’re going to go up and down that ladder several times, even in a successful career. And second, more importantly, be nice to people. I started out in the cut-throat world of live action television where your friends and colleagues actually root for you to fail. And what I love about children’s television is that it’s the opposite. Everyone is so nice and so supportive of each other, bending over backwards to help each other get ahead — sharing contacts, letting them know if they hear of open writing assignments, recommending people to their agents and managers. As John F. Kennedy famously said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Let’s lift each other up and help each other get ahead, because it benefits us all.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I’d love to sit down with fellow screenwriter Craig Mazin. He started out writing lighter fare, like the Scary Movie films and the Hangover sequels and then turns around and creates two incredibly powerful shows — Chernobyl and The Last of Us. From his Scriptnotes podcast, with fellow screenwriting great, John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), you could tell Craig has always had this range in him. And I’ve always felt the same way about my career. Having started out writing fun monster movies and romances for TV, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and would do again in a heartbeat, I’ve always felt I had the ability to go a little deeper and expand my range. And while writing children’s television isn’t super deep, it can still be very meaningful and powerful, in its own right. So, I’ve felt this kinship with Craig, even though we’ve never spoken, which is why I’d love to just share a meal with him and talk shop.

How can our readers follow you online?

They can find me on X (formally Twitter) and Threads @ricksuvalle as well as LinkedIn.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights and your experiences with us.

Thank you. Same to you.

About the interviewer: Guernslye Honoré, affectionately known as “Gee-Gee”, is an amalgamation of creativity, vision, and endless enthusiasm. She has elegantly twined the worlds of writing, acting, and digital marketing into an inspiring tapestry of achievement. As the creative genius at the heart of Esma Marketing & Publishing, she leads her team to unprecedented heights with her comprehensive understanding of the industry and her innate flair for innovation. Her boundless passion and sense of purpose radiate from every endeavor she undertakes, turning ideas into reality and creating a realm of infinite possibilities. A true dynamo, Gee-Gee’s name has become synonymous with inspirational leadership and the art of creating success.