Wikia Bureaucrat, FowlerHedgehog01, has been in contact with episode writer, Daniel Share-Strom via email for another new exclusive interview, here on the Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!
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1. So let’s start before you started to work on Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go. Before Brake Car Bruno. You have written a book and have done some public-speaking, both related to autism. I want to know what originally got you inspired into becoming an author and speaking in front of the public?
I've always loved to write. Even in early grade school, I'd write these little two- and three-page stories, and my classmates always wanted to hear them. It got to the point where my teachers started using readings of my stories as rewards to the class (which definitely didn't inflate my ego at all!). I was a voracious reader and consumer of TV and film, and always wanted to get into the industry one day.
Meanwhile, as school demands got harder when I transitioned to high school, with my mom's help, I started gathering all my new teachers together each semester to introduce myself and discuss my needs and my strengths as an Autistic person so that they'd feel more comfortable around me and I'd have a better time in their class. Eventually, I was asked to give my presentation at a local Vice Principals Association, and I just started booking bigger and bigger venues as my public speaking career grew from there. Highlights included a 2016 TedxTalk and giving the keynote speech at the Atlanta Centres for Disease Control's annual Autism Awareness Month event.
Eventually, I was able to bring my passions together to produce my children's book, "Do You Want to Play? Making Friends with an Autistic Kid", and of course to Thomas & Friends with Bruno, as well as some other stuff that I'm excited to talk about when the time is right. I believe the way we change the world is through the stories we tell young developing minds, and I've been truly blessed to have these opportunities.
2. Continuing on with writing, it’s my knowledge that All Engines Go is your first time writing for a TV Show. Compared to writing a book, how different is the process from writing a book to writing a TV script and how were you able to manage it?
So different! When you're writing a book, it's yours. You can write what you want, the way you want it, bound only by your personal storytelling ethos and what you hope will be interesting to your target audience. It really doesn't work that way in TV, just due to the sheer number of parties involved.
On a show like Thomas, you've got a very specific set of rules you need to follow in order to be in sync with everyone from the other writers to consultants to the animators to the executives to the networks and, eventually of course, the viewer. This helps to give the show a specific identity that it couldn't have if every writer just went off and did their own thing.
Which one's better for you depends on if you prefer a freeform expression of ideas or if you thrive when there's more structure. I love both!
3. With you now having experience in TV writing, have you had any thoughts to possibly pitch an adaptation to your book: Do You Want to Play?: Making Friends with an Autistic Kid to any media company?
Stay tuned ;)
4. Since you are autistic, has that ever impacted your career as a social worker and writer?
Of course! It's part of who I am, and I don't think there's anyone that doesn't bring who they are to their work. Be it my social work, my public speaking, my writing, or anything I do, I always do it with an aim toward a more inclusive and accepting world, and part of that comes from knowing firsthand the ways in which our society wasn't designed for people who are different. On the social work side, I work exclusively with Autistic folks in a strengths-based way, which means we work from the perspective that they have something important to offer this world and we just need to find and nurture it to improve their mental health and quality of life. That's in stark contrast to most therapies for those who are neurodivergent, which really follow a medical model of trying to 'fix' someone who isn't actually broken, just different from how some others expect them to be.
I try to get that across in my writing, as well. In my book, "Do You Want to Play?", for example, our non-Autistic protagonist tries to make friends with a new kid at school who is Autistic by trying to get him to play all the games that she likes to play. He's not interested, however, and it's only when she tries a different tactic and lets him keep lining up his toy cars while she does her own thing near him that they start to form a real connection.
5. In a world trying to understand neurodiversity, what would you say comes to be one of the most rewarding things at the end of the day with your work?
It's my hope that my work can help to address the massive mental health crisis we have in the autism community. If people are made to feel like the odd one out their entire lives, it doesn't feel good, to put it in terms suitable for a Wiki like this, and I work to address those barriers both one-on-one in my social work practice and, on a larger scale, in my writing.
So, the most rewarding thing in my work is that moment when I'm able to challenge a harmful misconception and meaningfully change someone's life, whether that's through media representation on-screen or with a severely depressed, at-risk person in my practice. Take Bruno, for example. Contrary to popular belief about autism, he does want friends, he's super empathetic even if he doesn't always show it in a neurotypical way, and he's got a great sense of humour. In the weeks since we've revealed him, it's been incredibly humbling to see all the messages I've gotten from folks who tell me that they feel seen, heard, and validated because he's such authentic representation.
Helping people to be comfortable and confident in their own skin is a real joy.
So these next 10 questions are related to Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go. I received some questions from the community of questions I thought it would be nice for you to possibly answer.
6. This question comes from Ilovetrains323, from the AMA session. He wants to know if you and the rest of the writing team ever go back and watch any of the original Thomas & Friends series to gather information on how certain characters act or interact with each other? Also, if you had advice for writers, in our fandom, on writing for Thomas?
That's a funny story. When I first came onto the show, I started watching some of the old episodes so I could better understand the characters I was writing for. When I mentioned it to Craig Carlisle, the head writer, he laughed and said that he did the same thing at first, but that there was no point. AEG was going to be such a revamp of the show, what with being aimed at a younger demographic and with somewhat different personalities for the main cast that it was mostly pointless.
Makes sense, right? Could you imagine if Diesel, in an episode like "Shake, Rattle, and Bruno", acted like his villainous previous self? They'd never have gotten out of Crumble Canyon!
7. Another question from the AMA session, this comes from TheAusterityEngine. He wants to know if Bruno has his own shed in the show, since the rest in the BAC has their own dedicated sleeping place? (The main 5 living at Tidmouth Sheds and Carly and Sandy living at The Maintenance Yards).
That's my understanding, yes, although none of the episodes I personally wrote spent much time at the Sheds so I can't guarantee as of yet. What I do know is that Mattel has been very careful to show that the Island of Sodor and the BAC welcome, include, and value Bruno in every way possible.
8. This one comes from Brennen, aka TheRedJinty on Twitter. Are there plans for more neurodivergent characters in the series, perhaps things like ADHD? He mentions since he’s autistic and has ADHD, he would love to see more neurodivergent characters in the show’s future.
Can't really answer this one, as if I did know about any such thing, you can be sure I wouldn't be allowed to talk about it until Mattel was ready. I certainly hope that characters like Bruno signal a continuation of the show's recent push to be more inclusive of all kinds of folks, and I would expect Mattel's not planning on changing course on that perogative any time soon.
9. Continuing on with the last question, there’s a character from Thomas & Friends from the CGI series that I want to refer you to. This character specifically is a traction engine called Theo, who appeared in Journey Beyond Sodor. When he was revealed in 2017, he was said to have traits of autism like “being shy, direct and blunt in his speech, extremely cautious and keeping to himself and his friends”. With that said, if you ever wrote something that includes Theo, what would change and/or keep to make him feel more representable for those with autism?
Oh yes, our dear friend Theo--you can imagine I've heard a lot about him, and a few others such as Duck, since we revealed Bruno a few weeks ago. :)
I can't really speculate, other than to say that Bruno's our first character that we're officially saying is Autistic. What I would say is that, if we were to explore and evolve some of those legacy characters through a neurodivergent/Autistic lens, I would hope that we put just as much into developing that aspect of them as we did with Bruno. If you've met one Autistic person, you've met... well, one Autistic person, and so it would be great to one day explore a different presentation of it on the show.
10. This question comes from Thomasfanforever2002. You've mentioned before that you didn't have a lot of knowledge of Thomas when you were brought in and that the wiki has helped you a lot, is there anything in particular that you learned from it that especially helped with writing your episodes. As well as that, he wants to know if you checked out the “Thomas The Tank Engine Wikia”, which is the wikia about the original Thomas that All Engines Go is based on.
This Wiki helped a ton! I couldn't use much from the main TTTE Wikia since, as I said above, previous character descriptions didn't really apply for All Engines Go!.
Once Bruno's character was developed, and it came time to start on scripts, this Wiki helped me get a better sense of how a given character would act in a certain situation. I could get that information from my friends at Mattel, but sometimes in the middle of a lengthy writing session, you don't want to stop what you're doing, pop off an email, and wait for that reply. So I would be like "Okay, I need something heavy lifted... who do I get for that? Oh right, Carly." And then boom, I could move on. It helped things run a lot smoother.
11. So with episodes that are written by another writer, that you didn’t write, and it features Bruno in those episodes: do you still help out with giving those writers feedback about how they handle the brake car properly?
I'm definitely still a consultant on the project, and they've asked me to help out in various ways on some other episodes. For instance, even though Peter Gaffney is the sole writer on "Percy Disappears", which is where Bruno makes his debut (outside the US, anyway), I did write the scene where Thomas consults with Bruno in that capacity. Along with another Autistic writer on the team, I also developed the premises for the All Aboard YouTube shorts, which were then handed off to Mattel's partner MoonBug for further development and production.
In terms of general feedback on an episode to episode basis, that's handled by the fine folks at the Autism Self Advocacy Network and EasterSeals, for the time being at least, with the team reaching out to me if they are having trouble making a story beat work or are divided in their opinions on something. So yes, that indeed means that there are some Bruno episodes I actually know quite little about, and I'm excited to see how the other talented Thomas writers do him justice!
12. As you confirmed before in the discussion pages, you’ve been working on The Mystery of Lookout Mountain with Craig Carlisle, assisting him with making sure that Bruno was written authentically, what was it like to help write an hour long special?
It was a lot, especially as it was also my first time co-writing TV with another person! Luckily, they already had the premise and overall story worked out by the time they asked me to be a part of it, as Craig was originally the sole writer before they decided to give Bruno a larger role, so I was mostly able to just jump into the script. Writing half of an hour-long script is still as much as writing three ten-minute episodes, though, so it was certainly a challenge.
The specials are on a much grander scale than the regular episodes, too. For instance, due to budget considerations, there's a limit to the amount of characters that can have speaking roles in an individual episode. In the special, on the other hand, there's nothing stopping you from having all eight members of the Biggest Adventure Club, several of the adult engines, Sir Topham Hatt, and maybe even a new figure or two all playing their role in the story. The expanded budget means you can also bring in new locations and other assets when necessary, whereas in the episodes they understandably prefer to reuse what they already have where possible. You have more storytelling options, basically, and that's always exciting for any writer.
But outside of that technical level, I was just honoured that Mattel valued my skills and knowledge of the subject matter enough to offer me such a prized writing role. It just goes to show, once again, that they're really taking inclusion seriously both in front of and behind the metaphorical camera. Without giving too much away, the expanded runtime has given us time to explore some of Bruno's strengths, interests, quirks, and challenges with a greater depth that you don't necessarily have time for in a 10-minute episode. Every member of the BAC gets their time to shine in MoLM, to be clear, but without giving anything away, I'm really proud of how Bruno plays an integral role in solving the mystery, with even some of his supposed deficits actually turning into boons that help them find important clues.
This has been one of the most enjoyable writing projects I've ever participated in, and I can't wait for you to see it!
13. Got a simple question from C2SExtra and RoninThomasVideos, they both want to know if you have a favorite song, episode and character from All Engines Go? What’s the reason why you find those as your favorites?
Oh, this one's easy--Bruno all the way! "Shake, Rattle, and Bruno" and its accompanying song, "You Can't Stop Me" (also known as "Give Me a Brake!") are easily my favourite things I've written for the series so far, and also my personal pick for the best of the series so far. Maybe I'm biased since they're mine, but I think the message and the delivery are really powerful and lovely.
Contrary to what I see in most Autistic characters in the media who always have to change a part of themselves to fit in, our mandate from the beginning was to present Bruno as proud of who he is, and for his stories and life lessons to reflect that. Many stories, given the same circumstance of having Bruno and Diesel trapped in Crumble Canyon due to their differing speeds, would have forced the characters to change part of who they are, with Diesel learning he needs to go slower and Bruno learning he needs to go faster. But if you watch the episode, you'll see that they glumly consider those options before finding that they can only escape if they work together and make use of their innate strengths by going fast and slow at the same time.
And then to have that joyful absolute bop of a song cap it off with them both asserting their newfound confidence in themselves?
*starts singing*
You can pull me fast... I don't mind the speed... but if you wanna slow your roll, I got what you need... here we go, fast and slow. It's all a give and take... if the speed you pick is too quick, then I just say 'Give me a brake!'
Good luck getting that out of your head now. :P
Outside of that easy answer, I really love Sandy, as her sense of humour is just so compatible with mine and always makes me laugh. As for my favourite song from before I came aboard?
...I'm gonna chug... I'm gonna choo...
(I know, I know, sorry if you were planning on being productive today...)
14. Here’s a question from Thomasfanno123, so when you got hired to work on the show; to help Bruno’s development, what was your initial reaction to it?
Okay, so it's 2020, I'm sitting there browsing one of my writer's groups on Facebook, and I see this post from a 'large media company' looking for an Autistic writer to help with one of their 'legacy children's brands'. I had no industry experience, but I took a certificate program in Children's Media and I had some sample scripts to send them--I figured I'd give it a shot, and a few months later they get in touch. It's very secretive, they have me sign what my agent describes as one of the toughest non-disclosure agreements she's ever seen before we even talk, and eventually I jump on a call with Monica Dennis and Teale Sperling from Mattel and I can finally ask them what this is all about.
Then Monica asks, "Are you familiar with 'Thomas & Friends'?"
...I do a double-take. Probably would've been a spit-take if I was drinking something at the time.
I had to clarify, "That's Thomas the Tank Engine, right?"
"...Yes."
And I just absolutely flipped--I didn't expect it to be nearly so renowned of a production, and when they started talking to me about Bruno (then named 'Bruce'), it started to dawn on me how perfect this was. Autistic kids often love trains, and the show has always had a huge following in our community, so to be given the opportunity to have such an integral role in bringing that representation onscreen in such an iconic show just blew me away...and I've never really gotten over that, to be honest.
15. I’m not sure if this is allowed to be asked, but might as well try, do you have any fun behind the scenes facts that you could possibly share with us? This could be about development of the show, the crew that works on All Engines Go etc?
It's a big challenge and a lot of fun to try to tell meaningful stories in a context like this. I've written academic papers dozens of pages long, and they've been much simpler to put together than some of these stories aimed at small children. There's a hard limit on the number of overall lines of dialogue in the script, the child characters' lines can only be two or three sentences long because their similarly-aged actors can stumble with longer ones, and the vocabulary needs to be very simple so the audience can understand it. If you must have a more complicated word for the sake of the story, you have to make sure you explain it in a way that feels natural, which is why Diesel in "Shake, Rattle, & Bruno" says "Avalanches? Hah, I'm not scared of a few falling rocks."
It's a really interesting challenge to work within all those parameters while getting across the surprisingly deep messages of friendship, love, and understanding that this show is known for, all without being preachy and making sure to include all the comedy, action, and fun that will keep the viewer interested. It's been such a great experience so far!
And finally, one more bonus question coming from a lovely chap called MrPickles1 ;). They want to know: how did you come to be so cool?
Sorry--trade secret. But he seems like a very handsome man with great taste in usernames.
Thanks for having me!
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One more thing, there is another interview with Daniel that I have helped set up for The MilanTooner. If you want to see it, you can do so here: https://youtu.be/IqyN2pLReVY
- Note: All opinions expressed in interviews belong solely to the crew or cast member interviewed, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of All Engines Go or Mattel Television.