Ivan Kander
Before I even watched Downward Dog—a web series that has now inspired an ABC sitcom—I had convinced myself I was going to hate it. I mean, c’mon! A talking dog piece? Again? Didn’t that recent ill-fated Kevin Spacey vehicle kill the whole talking animal schtick altogether? Aren’t we done with hacky, one-joke premises (see the entire Look Who’s Talking series as evidence)?
Well, to answer my own flurry of angry questions, the answer is actually a resounding “no.” Yes, ostensibly, Downward Dog seems like a horrible pitch turned into a rote network sitcom. But, I promise you, it’s not. While it does feature a talking dog as its protagonist (complete with CGI mouth!), it’s actually—dare I say it?—pretty damn great. The web series, which features short one to two minute vignettes (collected together here into a single 12 minute runtime), takes the obvious hook and slowly infuses it with existential meaning and emotional weight. Yes, you read that right.
While early moments rely a bit too heavily on easy jokes (Ha! He’s a dog and he peed in his owner’s shoes!), as the episodes progress, so does the film’s subtle character building. In turn, we as viewers develop deep emotional ties to the characters within—both human and canine. Towards the end, when a lump began to form in my throat, I realized the magic trick the creators has pulled off: they took a hack premise and made it touching and true. Kudos to writer Samm Hodges and director Michael Killen for pulling off that special bit of storytelling alchemy. The script is surprisingly subtle with pitch perfect vocal delivery from Hodges himself (he voices the central pooch).
Killen was uniquely suited to direct the material: he’s been working in advertising as a director and animator with a special concentration in animal work for many years (he created the animation for the famous/infamous Taco Bell Chihuahua almost twenty years ago).
As he relates:
“My experience with directing and animating animals gave me a unique perspective on what works and what doesn’t work when you decide to put an animal on camera. I just had this vision that I wrote down one morning about a dog who decided to question his existence and whether he mattered or not. I wanted to push against the tropes and traditions that followed animal creative. Then after a couple of years of not crafting it right, I discussed the idea with a coworker at Animal, Samm Hodges who thought talking animals were the worst, but was intrigued by writing against the norm. He wrote an amazing short monologue that my DP Stephen Hunter and I then crafted into a one-minute film. Stephen and I worked on many sets together, but when we drove away from that first day of shooting, working with my brother-in-laws untrained dog and a stripped down version of our normal crew, we knew we had just shot something special. I really felt it when I saw Beth Voltz’s (Editor at Animal) first cut. We knew we had created something fresh. From there it grew, Samm wrote more and we shot more episodes as time allowed, on the heels of other productions, Saturdays, whenever we could fit them in over a 16 month period of time.”
We’ve been fans of Animal’s portfolio for quite some time now—they’re a diverse studio creating interesting work that often combines visual effects and live-action footage in innovative ways. Producer Danny Yourd is even a S/W Alum! But, to get right down to it, how did they go about turning their web series into an ABC sitcom?
Killen explains further: “Jimmy Miller of Mosaic came into our offices in Pittsburgh to talk about doing graphic work for another project when we showed him a couple of the episodes. Jimmy then guided the choppy waters with Sam Hansen (head of TV for Mosaic) to Legendary TV, then to ABC, from pilot to a season of television. Which is a high wire act that would take a book to fully describe.”
In other words—as is the case with most things in the entertainment industry—right place, right time, with a whole lot of meetings, connections, and contract negotiations sprinkled in between.
Downward Dog’s unlikely journey from simple web-series to prime time show has already exceeded the expectations of its creators. Both Killen and Hodges have been able to stay on as creators and in the writer’s room. Beyond that, key Animal crew-members were able to help craft the visual fx and shoot the full-series. Amazingly, Downward Dog became the first television show to ever premiere at Sundance.
So, what’s next? We’d suggest tuning into ABC on May 17th at 9:30. Let’s keep this unlikely underdog’s dreams alive!