wait, you co-wrote WHAT??? I’ve followed you since 2015 and I had no idea you ever worked on anything barbie related.
…how did you get involved in that, anyways, it seems fairly out of your usual wheelhouse?
(chuckle) I am, and was even two decades ago, an experienced screenwriter (and former animation story editor) with a strong background of working in/creating worlds for children/young adults. My screen agent in L.A. (gods rest her hardworking soul) was as usual looking out for work for me, and when she realized Mattel was hunting for someone to help develop this property, she said to them "I've got just the writer for you right here." And so she had. :)
Here's the problem, as usual: my readerships / viewerships are wildly fragmented. The Young Wizards fans often have no idea about all that Star Trek.* The Trek fans don't know about all the animation work. The readers of my short and long fiction don't usually know about the computer games, or the assorted live action TV and film. Etc., etc.
(shrug) ...This is what happens when you Follow Your Heart and jump into interesting new work when people offer it to you, instead of attempting to slavishly Brand Yourself. Most of the TV and film stuff is here (though still not all the Hanna-Barbera credits: I've got to look into that...). For those interested in what else might be going on, the best bet is to go over to DianeDuane.com, pull down the "Works" menu, and rummage around.
HTH!
*Last time we took an inventory, it looked like I've written Star Trek in more formats than anyone else alive: TV, audio, books, computer games, comics, manga. The only significant one I'm missing is film, but somehow I doubt I'll be able to fill that gap before I fall over. That's all right: I've got other fish to fry. :)
1K notes
·
View notes
Barbie movies settings (including mentioned places that aren't the setting of the movie)
Nutcracker and Swan Lake - Russia. Based on Russian ballets, Tchaikovsky can be seen in a picture in Clara's house, Ivan has a Russian name and accent
Rapunzel - Germany
12 Dancing Princesses - Germany. Based on a Brothers Grimm story
Princess and the Pauper - England. Based on The Prince and the Pauper, which was set in England
Magic of Pegasus - Netherlands during winter. Annika is a Dutch name and several characters, including her, wear vaguely Dutch clothing. Other places that have been theorized are Scandinavia and Russia.
Fairytopia trilogy - Portugal. Elina mentions knowing Mariposa, who's from Spain, and is "cut off from Flutterfield".
Barbie Diaries - Malibu, California
Island Princess - Italy. Names such as Rosella, Antonio, Luciana, and Ariana already tell us a lot, but the sunny weather, the characters all having tans, and some of the architecture also indicate this.
Christmas Carol - London, England
Three Musketeers - Paris, France
Diamond Castle - Europe, likely Germany/France, and/or Greece. Liana and Alexa wear stereotypically European dresses, the house looks like a traditional French cottage, but the Muses wear togas and the Diamond Castle itself looks vaguely Greek temple-ish on the inside.
Thumbelina - United States. Updated the setting and time period to the 2000s, clearly not in Denmark.
Fashion Fairytale - Paris, France
Mermaid Tale - Malibu, California
Mariposa - Spain. Also because of the accents.
Mermaid Tale 2 - Australia (the Ambassadors are however coded as Korean, African, Brazilian, and Russian), maybe New Zealand (Aquellia is implied to be near it)
Fairy Secret - Malibu, California (Gloss Angeles is another dimension)
Princess Charm School - Europe. No indication as to where "Gardania" is. However, most speaking Charm School students are from other places (Hadley is from South America, Isla is from Japan, Portia is from Scotland, and Josette is from Africa)
Princess and the Popstar - Monaco. Meribella looks like Monaco, with it's small status and how rich it is. Also Amelia mentions her grandma knowing the King of Spain.
Mariposa and the Fairy Princess - Malta. Shimmervale is "across Fairytopia", and the British accents of many people, as well as several dark haired background fairies, some with light skin, some with dark skin, a common feature of Maltese people.
Pink Shoes - United States, France, Russia (The ballet world uses Giselle, a French ballet, and Swan Lake)
Pony Tale - Switzerland
Pearl Princess - Denmark. A mermid story with some similarities to The Little Mermaid.
Secret Door - Europe (Zinnia is another dimension)
Princess Power - Europe or an alternate reality America, or somehwere in the near distant future
Starlight Adventure - Space, in the future
Great Puppy Adventure - Willows, Wisconsin
Puppy Chase - Hawaii
Rock N Royals - Europe (with campers from other European places: Sloane from Scotland, maybe her two friends are American as they resemble Dua Lipa and Halle Bailey vaguely, Aubray from Ireland, Genevieve from England, Svetlana Petranova from Russia)
Spy Squad - Los Angeles, California
Video Game Hero - United States, "Japan". Her video game is heavily Japanese inspired, with animesque characters and Nintendoesque visuals.
Dolphin Magic - Malibu, California
Princess Adventure - Europe
Lost Birthday - United States
Big City Big Dreams - New York
Mermaid Power - Malibu, California
87 notes
·
View notes
Barbie: Fairytopia, Laverna —Aesthetic
Laverna's Character & Personality
Laverna is the twin sister of the Enchantress, the ruler of Fairytopia. She's a selfish and careless dark fairy. In addition, Laverna is quite temperamental around her minions or those who get on her nerves. Despite this, she has a sarcastic sense of humour. Overall, Laverna will stop at nothing to achieve her goals of either taking over Fairytopia or destroying it altogether. This is because she has always jealous of her sister's prosperity and lovable nature. Laverna is also a consummate actress. She's able to mislead other people and use trickery to get what she wants.
31 notes
·
View notes
*record scratch*
Wait a minute... YOU DEVELOPED THE BARBIE: FAIRYTOPIA MOVIES???
Ohmygodohmygod I loved those moves as a kid! They were beautiful and the story was so engaging and asdgssf j lhf
Ahem. Thank you so much for brightening my childhood! (And definitely other people's, too, but I'll only speak for myself here xD)
You're very welcome.
I developed the basic universe from Mattel's early notes, and wrote the Fairytopia bible. I then wrote the first movie (and was rewritten, so you'll see another couple of writers' names there as well on the IMDb page: but over a screenwriting career, sooner or later rewrite happens to us all). :)
HTH!
(ETA: A lot of my prose readership has no idea that I’ve also been a screenwriter for forty years, or of what I’ve done. If you want to find out, here’s my page at IMDb.)
545 notes
·
View notes