1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,679 Hey, I'm doing absolutely fantastic. How about you, Aaron, I'm great, 2 00:00:04,799 --> 00:00:08,000 thank you. You know what I gotta tell you. I'm an adult, 3 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,400 a grown man, but your books, when I see them, I 4 00:00:11,519 --> 00:00:16,800 become a child. I mean I literally light up like a child. That's 5 00:00:16,839 --> 00:00:21,199 a beautiful government. Thank you. Ar The way that you write and the 6 00:00:21,199 --> 00:00:25,239 way that the books are illustrated, it just blows me away because it takes 7 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,480 me to a place that nobody has ever been there. What is your magic 8 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:36,759 or your secret sauce? Look, I it's I write and draw things that 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,960 they're always like. I'm a movie fan, and they're always my version of 10 00:00:42,679 --> 00:00:45,840 a cool movie that's playing in my head. And I'm trying to I'm trying 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,719 to dictate it and get it down, but it is. I write them 12 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:55,920 on one hand to entertain myself. But the bad guys it began, they're 13 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:02,640 really writing something from my son, who is youngest, who was he was 14 00:01:02,679 --> 00:01:04,760 six at the time and didn't really like books, and I wanted to do 15 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:10,640 something that would capture his imagination and make him laugh. And that that's and 16 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:17,439 that that's It's just been my constant game with this has been figuring out how 17 00:01:17,519 --> 00:01:22,640 to do that and because he liked them happily, it meant that an awful 18 00:01:22,719 --> 00:01:25,640 lot of other kids seem to have liked them too, which is a really 19 00:01:26,079 --> 00:01:29,920 an extraordinary situation to be in. I mean, we've just we're nearly at 20 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:34,120 fifty million books in print, which is insane. I just can't even begin 21 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,519 to process that. Well, let's look at the hook of this story. 22 00:01:38,599 --> 00:01:42,159 Princess Beautiful as a celebrity cat turned outlaw. Her goal is to clear her 23 00:01:42,239 --> 00:01:46,680 name. That's got my attention because we see this every day just by watching 24 00:01:46,719 --> 00:01:52,840 television. Yeah, absolutely, it's like she and and the part of it 25 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,200 because I wanted to do a social media version of The Fugitive but with a 26 00:01:56,239 --> 00:02:02,000 cat, and but it's just struck me as a really perfect opportunity to just 27 00:02:02,079 --> 00:02:07,400 have fun with showing kids how quickly the internet can turn on you. And 28 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:14,719 I just seemed like a very rich seam of material to explore with four kids 29 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,039 in a way that is, you know, potentially you know, a nice 30 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,199 little cautionary tale and a really fun sort of format. But yeah, it's 31 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,080 it's a it's a strange time we live in, and I think it was 32 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,599 it just felt like the right time to put this in a in a story, 33 00:02:28,599 --> 00:02:30,919 and because it exists in the same universe as the Bad Guys, they're 34 00:02:31,199 --> 00:02:36,560 they're overlapping characters. It's a story that the kids can sort of kids can 35 00:02:36,599 --> 00:02:38,639 sort of step straight into and know the world and just run with it. 36 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,240 So when when we talk about The Bad Guys, Mark barn is still talking 37 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,800 about his role in Bad Guys, I'm still talking about that movie. I 38 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:51,120 mean, the way that you bring things forward is just it's a masterminded work. 39 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:57,879 Thank you so much. I had I did. I did Mark's podcast 40 00:02:58,439 --> 00:03:00,479 last year and we had a chat about all of those things. He was 41 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:06,439 just so good as mister Snake. Because that those those two characters, particularly 42 00:03:06,439 --> 00:03:07,879 Wolf and Snake, I was I was actually asked, I've been working on 43 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:12,639 The Bad Guys for nine years and it had never occurred to me. Someone 44 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,520 asked me which bag guy you most like? And I went to give a, 45 00:03:15,879 --> 00:03:17,439 you know, sort of glib answer, and then it hit me in 46 00:03:17,479 --> 00:03:22,080 that moment that I am Wolf and Snake. I'm the positive and the negative 47 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:27,439 and my sub my subconscious had taken that part of me, split it into 48 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,759 and created these two characters, and that they mean so much to me. 49 00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:36,280 Because of that, in many ways, it's sort of vaguely, weirdly autobiographical 50 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,439 that when two actors like Mark Marin and Sam Rockwell play them, it's just 51 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,960 it's it's it's you know. It's the greatest thing you can hope for as 52 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,960 a writer, I think, is to see your work adaptape, adapted in 53 00:03:49,039 --> 00:03:54,759 such a spectacular way, but also to have it voiced and performed in such 54 00:03:54,759 --> 00:03:59,360 a way that is just you know, hits the mark. You know when 55 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,560 it comes to shar in the story in this in this form that you do 56 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,479 because it's an action graphic but each and every one of these characters is it 57 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,280 because we can relate with it in the way of if I were to sit 58 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:14,560 down and doodle, these characters would be what would fall from my writing instrument. 59 00:04:15,399 --> 00:04:18,319 Yeah, that's that's that's all. That's all. That's all. And 60 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,959 again, I say this all the time, but I really remain it. 61 00:04:21,199 --> 00:04:25,839 I think there are a lot of illustrators out there who are infinitely more technically 62 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,399 skilled than I am, but it sort of doesn't matter. I think there's 63 00:04:29,399 --> 00:04:33,839 a directness to the my silly illustration styles that just seems to work. And 64 00:04:33,879 --> 00:04:38,560 I think it is that there's like a direct line from my brain to the 65 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,959 page, and I just try to stay out of the way of that and 66 00:04:42,879 --> 00:04:46,360 get it down on the page as simply as I can and with as few 67 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,879 extraneous elements as possible. I just try to tell the story as simply and 68 00:04:51,439 --> 00:04:55,759 as and make it as funny as it can be. You put focus on 69 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,800 social media fame. I thought that was very interesting and very much a connection 70 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,759 with all readers, no matter how old you are. Yeah, yeah, 71 00:05:02,759 --> 00:05:05,680 absolutely, I don't. I personally don't do it. I try to flirtter 72 00:05:05,759 --> 00:05:09,040 with it for a couple of years there, but I just I'm far too 73 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:13,519 sensitive for that to feel comfortable with it. But I just I've just been 74 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:15,480 watching my boys who are fifteen and eighteen now, and just watching them deal 75 00:05:15,519 --> 00:05:20,319 with social media and just then love the whole world. And it's such a 76 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:25,800 slippy slope. It can just you know, it can it can. It 77 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:30,800 can turn so bad so far that look, and I don't think it's going 78 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,759 anywhere anytime soon. I think it'll probably only get more complicated. So it 79 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:39,879 struck me as something that even for young kids, because my books are from 80 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,199 sort for kids from six to twelve, roughly is the sort of the age 81 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,360 group. It just seems like a perfectly relevant and topical and interesting thing to 82 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,199 introduce in and I think it's something that they'll really dig as well, because 83 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:57,480 I mean, most kids these days just live within TikTok and snapchat and it's 84 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:03,839 just doing a book series where a character is central in that world. It 85 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:08,279 just seemed like a no brainer, really, and it wrote itself very easily 86 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:12,000 because of that. You know, there is a subliminal character inside this story, 87 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,399 and it's the color red. And I found myself just going and saying, 88 00:06:15,399 --> 00:06:17,199 Okay, what's read in this one? What's read in this one? 89 00:06:17,319 --> 00:06:21,839 What was the choice behind that? What happened? It's a good question, 90 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:27,120 And again I think it was more subconscious than anything else there was, just 91 00:06:27,399 --> 00:06:32,079 because there's there's a certain level of unraveling mystery in this series, like in 92 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,759 the like in the old movie The Fugitive, where he's trying to figure out 93 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,199 who did this to him, it's the same with her, And it just 94 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:45,040 struck me as a good way to indicate clues and show things that kids could 95 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,240 then hold on too. And it would just allow me to highlight something in 96 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,120 the background that kids go, why has that been highlighted? M And it's 97 00:06:51,519 --> 00:06:57,240 I'm trying to think of the red is like a little trail of breadcrumbs maybe 98 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:02,040 through the story that that might lead them to to what the ultimate reveal is 99 00:07:02,079 --> 00:07:05,399 going to be. Because that's the thing. There's a number of characters in 100 00:07:05,399 --> 00:07:08,800 the first books who you think are a certain way, but when you get 101 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:11,319 to the second book, you're going to discover maybe that they're not what you 102 00:07:11,399 --> 00:07:15,240 thought. So I've been loving doing that. That's been really fun creating a 103 00:07:15,279 --> 00:07:18,240 brand new series. I know what it's like to create a brand new podcast. 104 00:07:18,319 --> 00:07:20,759 The ups, the downs, the questions, the doubts, you know, 105 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,439 the fears and things like that. What about you with creating a new 106 00:07:24,519 --> 00:07:28,879 series, I have, Well, you know what, I think it's because 107 00:07:28,959 --> 00:07:31,519 I have been I've been doing three to four books a year every year for 108 00:07:31,639 --> 00:07:36,480 ten years, right, and The Bad Guys was a train that once you 109 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:40,399 got on it, it's two books a year, no matter what. So 110 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:44,079 that is just such a gigantic amount of work. And when I had the 111 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,480 idea for Cat on the Run, I thought, this is crazy trying to 112 00:07:46,519 --> 00:07:49,560 do another book in the middle of all of this. But it seemed like 113 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:54,439 such a good idea that I thought I'm going to have to So basically what 114 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:59,040 I'm saying is, I'm so busy. I work like I work such long 115 00:07:59,079 --> 00:08:03,480 hours to do these books that I didn't even really have time to stress about 116 00:08:03,519 --> 00:08:05,839 it. It was just that's the idea, Samuel as the Bad Guys go, 117 00:08:07,519 --> 00:08:11,399 and that's what I did. That's that's that's how I operate, and 118 00:08:11,839 --> 00:08:16,319 it's and because I'm just currently in the process of finishing the last books, 119 00:08:16,319 --> 00:08:20,360 the last Bad Guys in the last couple on the run, i am hitting 120 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,759 after a decade of working at that rate, I am heading towards having quite 121 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,759 a long break when you're so loyal like that to a project. Yes, 122 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:33,960 yesterday was the labor day. I forced myself not to do anything. What 123 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:35,559 do you go through or do you have those moments where you say no, 124 00:08:35,759 --> 00:08:41,159 not today today, I'm all about just me enjoying life. Yeah, no, 125 00:08:41,279 --> 00:08:46,480 that hasn't happened in a long time. But I'm I'm now, I'm 126 00:08:46,519 --> 00:08:50,639 now about That's what I'm I'm very much looking forward to a time and I 127 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,360 can, I can, I can taste it. It's just around the corner 128 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,759 where I can, I can do that again, because again, you can 129 00:08:58,799 --> 00:09:03,799 think each of these books, there's two hundred pages of illustrated content. I've 130 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,600 been in three years, it's six hundred pages of illustrated content. And the 131 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,519 year begins with a blank page, every year begins with nothing, and by 132 00:09:11,519 --> 00:09:15,039 the end there's three finished books. So to do to do that is it's 133 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,279 been like I do like a roughly a ninety hour week, and and and 134 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,879 to to to consistently do that without any breaks for a decade, it's been 135 00:09:22,919 --> 00:09:26,679 a lot. But it's it's so worth it because it's I think the last 136 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,399 I've just finished writing the last two Bad Guys books, and they're the most 137 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,519 satisfying things I've I've ever been part of. I love them so much. 138 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:41,360 So the fact that it is it is panned out the way that it has 139 00:09:41,519 --> 00:09:46,600 is it's worth all of it. Writing the storyline of Princess Beautiful, that's 140 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,320 a switching characters from Bad Guys. Did you learn anything being her on this 141 00:09:50,399 --> 00:09:56,399 go around? Oh that's a good question. Yeah, Look, I loved 142 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:01,559 She's She's actually one of my favorite characters I've created. I have to say 143 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,639 she's really fun because she's really complicated, she's quiet, she's quite a difficult 144 00:10:05,759 --> 00:10:09,279 character. She can be. She has moments where she's quite obnoxious, but 145 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,840 she doesn't mean to be. She's just so. And there's this, and 146 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,919 again it's because it's very specific to this era of social media. She has 147 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:22,200 issues with narcissism and all of those things, but underneath there are hidden layers 148 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,840 that even she's not really aware of. And as the story goes on, 149 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:33,639 she finds herself discovering those hidden layers and hidden strengths and becoming a better Cats 150 00:10:33,879 --> 00:10:37,840 as it goes along. And that has been really beautiful to create in a 151 00:10:39,759 --> 00:10:45,039 genre because looks for six to twelve year old the characters, it's not often 152 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:50,799 that you get a character that goes on a reasonably complicated story arc, and 153 00:10:50,879 --> 00:10:54,519 I love messing with the format of that a little bit. The Bad Guys 154 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,480 did the same thing generally for that age group. If you do a series, 155 00:10:58,519 --> 00:11:01,519 the characters have a little adventure that they reboot in the next episode, 156 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,240 they just have a brand new adventure and they don't necessarily change much. My 157 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,240 character is because the story is always in on a cliffhanger. My characters tend 158 00:11:09,279 --> 00:11:11,600 to go on big, long arcs, and I do love that because it 159 00:11:11,639 --> 00:11:16,480 allows me to make them a little more complicated, which I personally love, 160 00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:18,919 and I love reading that and seeing that in movies in the book. I 161 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,120 just I'm so proud of you for seeing yes to your creativity, because you're 162 00:11:22,159 --> 00:11:26,320 touching people's lives out here. Please come back to this show anytime in the 163 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:31,000 future. Aaron, thank you so much. Er, Will you be brilliant 164 00:11:31,039 --> 00:11:35,039 today? Okay, you two take care.