Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time Exclusive: We Chat With The Producers Ahead Of Their Sundance Showcase

Get some insight on a TV series that you might be watching with your friends by next year.

A couple of years back, we spotlighted an adult animated comedy television series that was selected for Sundance Film Festival. We actually had the privilege of talking to the producers, Mike Luciano and Phil Matarese, ahead of their showing which then leads to a two-season deal with HBO and the rest is history. As we speak, Animals is being produced for a third season, but then something else happened last year. 

Two years later, Sundance Film Festival would announce the opening of a new category called “Indie Episodic”, due to the growth of television networks showcasing upcoming programming to an audience that doesn’t give a shit about superhero movies. Problem is, most of those screenings happened externally of the festival which is what the new Indie Episodic category is hoping to fix.

 

 

Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time comes from an idea that Peter scribbled YEARS ago, contrived from influences that include everything from South Park and Aqua Teen Hunger Force to Calvin & Hobbes and Edward Gorey’s books for children, he recalls drawing a picture of a messed up looking woman with a giant rabbit. A perfect cocktail for the likes of Brooklyn-NYC based Cartuna, a digital media brand focused on animated comedy for adults.

The animation studio behind NUTS!, The Adventures of Drunky, and others first heard of the project on referral from Archer producer Chris McLaughlin who had worked with Gulsvig on the FX Networks series, “our brand is really tailored to his pitches and he had a lot of good ones says” co-writer and producer Daniel Shepard. What Daniel means is that Cartuna has an affinity for animation that can be produced quickly and efficiently, and with the simple setting for Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time that revolves around Tammy and her story-book inspired friends sitting around a tea party, it made perfect sense for the studio to jump on board.

 

 

Submitted to Cartuna as part of the initial pitch was that of character design and bios for the characters, sketches, and the overall vision and direction of the series by way of Peter Gulsvig. What Daniel Shephard and Diana McCorry brought the series was “voice” both literally and figuratively. Having just watched her work on The Adventures of Drunky, Cartuna tapped Rachel Butera to voice the lead role of “Tammy” and from what we’re told, that was the correct move, “it’s so great to hear words that you write down acted exactly the way in which it was envisioned” says McCorry to which Gulsvig adds, “the second I heard her voice I couldn’t believe it, she was perfect.” Also getting rave reviews in terms of voice acting is that of Nate Corddry who voices the role of Tommy the Tin Soldier, a character whom Diana notes helps liken the series to that of the Twilight Zone episode entitled “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, with the obvious exception being that Tammy isn’t being forced to stay with her toy friends (said to be different personifications of Tammy’s personality), instead, she turns to them for advice on dark subjects like health, death, and strangers.

Other characters joining the tea party include a sex-crazed baby doll named “Dolla” (also voiced by Butera), a turtle named “Babette” voiced by Peter, a stuffed frog, and a sailor “Ken” doll that has a significant other. But, the producers promise should the series get picked up, they’ve just begun to scratch the surface in terms of the possibilities that would present themselves despite being just in Tammy’s room with potential stops including a creepy dollhouse that sits in a corner, under Tammy’s bed, and even her closet, “we’ve got an idea where Tammy gets so small she interacts with the fleas in the carpet.”

Ahead of everyone’s trip to Sundance, I asked about everyone’s general thoughts about the experience and any emotions or feelings ahead of the show. The producers of Cartuna have been there a few times, but Peter Gulsvig’s the rookie and has your typical moments of anxiety ahead of a big weekend, “I’m just worried about getting lost, fortunately (Cartuna producers) Daniel and James Belfer have been there before so I’m just going to follow them around.”

Well, if Peter’s luck is anything like the last TV series we interviewed ahead of its Sundance premiere, the car he takes home might be paid for by a network by the time the weekend is over anyway. 

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.