Exclusive: Natasha Allegri On Getting “Bee and PuppyCat” On Netflix
In a day and age where I increasingly come across animation producers who are a bit high-strung, it’s refreshing to interview someone like Natasha Allegri who comes across just the opposite. If you were to go on Twitter and see all of the crazy depressed stories of producers being fired from TV shows and networks you would think the end of the world is upon us.
Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space took about four years to finally stream on Netflix after a journey that nearly saw the series premiere on the now shelved VRV streaming service to now. ANYBODY will tell you in show business, that four years is an eternity. So was Natasha ever nervous about the prospect of the show not coming to light? “nope”, is a season three on the way? “not that I know of!”, how do you feel when you see the aesthetic and tone of the series clearly influencing other TV shows and web series, “I haven’t really noticed”.
A lot of the times when reviewing an animated series early in its run, you can “see” the personality of its creator quite evident in the show. That’s definitely the case when talking to Natasha Allegri about Bee and PuppyCat. Her answers to questions have a fascinating dichotomy not unlike the back-and-forth that happens between the franchise’s two titular characters. Natasha either answers questions like PuppyCat, short and to the point/possibly annoyed, or Bee, sometimes going off on a tangent (“tangents are the funnest things to watch, write, and experience in real life”).
After Bee and PuppyCat was acquired, Netflix had asked Natasha and the producers to use the first three episodes, largely repurposed from the original shorts series on Youtube, to help set up the Lazy in Space sequel series. Normally this would terrify producers and some could possibly feel a certain way about their “intent” and what the creators deemed the direction of the series only to be told to go a different direction. Natasha seemed to relish the opportunity, “it was nice to work in a longer format! It makes writing relaxing sequences a lot easier which gives them the room to feel like real life.”
Netflix’s hands sounds like they were largely hands off with the production of Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space, and with the gluttony of TV-Y7 content made available on the streamer (a lot of which has since been canceled), it could’ve been difficult for the producers to convey that Bee and PuppyCat is a franchise deemed for a slightly older audience, “We aren’t a kids show and we aren’t trying to be nasty or edgy… or shitty really. Even the nicest, prettiest, most fancy man will say “ass” at some point in real life and burp, so it wasn’t really an issue for us to get what we wanted into the episodes. I think like… Netflix asked me to be less mean once… I don’t really remember… it’s such a blur, OH WAIT HAHA! It was… from maybe the first episode! Charles the cat poured some oil onto a fire to make it worse, and when Deckard goes to stop him by picking him up, Charles gives him a high five. Deckard originally said something along the lines of: “Don’t high five me you little freak” and Netflix was like “don’t call Charles a freak, that’s mean!” So we dropped the little freak… but then Charles still likes to throw electric cables and hair onto the fire…. like a little freak”.
The result is…well…you can read the review here. In short, it worked on every level. As to what’s next for Natasha Allegri? “Frederator is paying me to develop a movie with them for pitching!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I’m gonna make more skateboards before the end of the year!”
Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space is streaming now on Netflix
