Posted by Pinky.
I was expecting planning for Pinky Show v2.0 (2022) to be a lot more challenging than how it was the first time around back in 2005. I was thinking there would be lots of pressure to re-create or improve upon whatever things our viewers used to enjoy, or maybe it’d just be very difficult to adapt our old way of presenting information to new (and presumably unfamiliar) audiences, new trends, and so on.
Well, sitting down with Drittens and Kim and making plans for the next version of Pinky Show has made me remember a few things about how things went the last time (i.e., “the first time”). The main thing was this - Bunny and I weren’t modeling our project on anything that we’d seen before. We were just focused on how to address the problem: “What’s the best way for people to learn about the big problems we’re facing in the world today?” All kinds of violence. Selfishness. Lack of compassion. Disrespect. Injustice. Et cetera. We just wanted to make useful learning materials, based on our analyses of how the world works and who we’re teaching. We weren’t aiming to become popular or even to please anyone.
And now I find us falling into the same way of thinking and working, because, guess what - we still hold the same values, and we’re still focused on speaking directly to the same category of people as before: everyone who wants social, economic, and environmental justice AND happens to connect with our cat way of doing things. Once we accept the reality that there’s always going to be lots and lots of people who will never like us, there’s really no good reason to spend any time or energy feeling down about it.
I think if we just try our hardest to do our best work without being distracted by what anybody else says, everything will turn out okay.
Everything has been going pretty smoothly so far. I think it’ll take around 8-9 months to create a solid conceptual framework and complimentary production workflow, with new work scheduled for release in the last quarter of 2022.
Personally, I’m looking forward to just focusing on direction and writing and research. I’m also willing to contribute some art-stuff (drawing, photography) but this time around I think it’s okay to admit that I really do hate the production-work, the performing in front of a camera, website design and administration - all that stuff. Ghost Bunny and I pass all of that along to you, Drittens!
All teasing aside, I have a lot of confidence that Drittens will figure out the necessary new forms for our way forward. He knows how to think everything Bunny and I ever knew inside and out, but he’s also much stranger, which I think is going to prove to be very meaningful and important for everyone.
You know, I’ve been kind of thinking about this other thing a lot too. Kim often minimizes the importance of her contributions. But even when she doesn’t lift a pen, we really depend on her insight and feedback at morning critiques (a.k.a. breakfast) every single day. She helps set the right energy and direction. I’m so grateful to her.
Take care,
pinky