Human Discoveries Q&A: Creators Chris Bruno and David Howard Lee

 

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. An animated series with a prehistoric setting that deals with present-day issues. The Flintstones? For it’s time, yes. When the very first animated series for primetime aired for ABC on September 30th, 1960 the Hanna-Barbera series had to do things a bit differently than all of the kids stuff that used to inundate the daytime hours for children and it successfully deployed those ideas. Yes, for the most part, Fred Flintstone spent a lot of his airtime worrying about quick rich schemes, tropes that to this day still work on franchises like The Simpsons or Family Guy, but the series didn’t stray away from more adult-skewing topics like being new parents, having enough money to pay bills, or the importance of smoking cigarettes. Instead, those topics were hit head on much to the delight of viewers.

Fast-forward to 2019 and we’re talking to Chris Bruno and David Howard Lee creators of a new series for Facebook Watch called Human Discoveries. Like The Flintstones, Human Discoveries deals with present-day topics in a prehistoric animated setting. However, that’s pretty much where the comparisons between the two series end. Instead, Human Discoveries takes a more contemporary approach. And yes, Human Discoveries is a liberal-leaning series, but the most important thing that the producers want you to know is that they want EVERYONE to have a good time regardless of which aisle of the political spectrum you reside on. And on a social platform that’s dying for help to help sow the seeds of redemption in the eyes of a public that may feel betrayed after seeing owner Mark Zuckerburg take a stand against the Senate in what would eventually amount to a $5 billion fine over breaches in privacy, an episodic television series that’s of good quality might be the start of a hopefully convincing wary detractors of coming back and at least giving the San Francisco-based company another shot. 

To do that, you’re gonna need star power and Human Discoveries has that, “when you bring Zac Efron into rooms to pitch a television series, people listen” says David who swears that he put together a wish list of dream cast that he wanted to really work with for his first original animated series and they all joined the call with Zac Efron as Gary, Anna Kendrick as Jane, Lamorne Morris as Trog, Jillian Bell as Minerva, and Paul Scheer as Ugg. Furthermore, the guys promise a stellar guest list line up that includes the likes of Emmy-winner Alison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Randall Parks, and Ben Schwartz. Need more?

As mentioned, the producers of Human Discoveries were going to need to do things to differentiate themselves from other prehistoric animated comedies. Fortunately, the duo counts franchises like Beavis and Butthead and South Park as early influences. In fact, the Mendham-New Jersey creator duo have actually been friends for nearly three decades, and it was Chris who made the first move to pursue a career in show business starting off initially as an assistant for big time agents like Brian Lourd and Scott Stuber where he was privy to fruitful conversations with noted actors and directors that would indirectly push Chris into a different path with more creative responsibilities. With stops on such movie sets as those for Ted, Ted 2, and a bunch of others, Chris was able to take the experience he gained from the inner-workings of movie sets and would soon set off on doing his own productions. When he needed a writing partner, he phoned his childhood pal and creative writing major David in an effort to begin collaborating on new projects. After a Yahoo Screen series that never made it to air, the duo inadvertently came up with the idea for Human Discoveries after Chris had made some popcorn and thought, “Who was the first person to think that a heated kernel could be turned into popcorn?”

Don’t worry, that’s not the sole extent of the type of humor that comes from Human Discoveries. While yes, the show pokes fun at whoever was the first to stand on line or how domesticated animals came to be, the ten-episode series gets into more serious affair like comments on gun control, racism, immigration, and the economy, “when we opened the writers’ room we had hundreds of index cards with topics that we wanted to write about”. No, Human Discoveries is not a political show, in fact perhaps the most fascinating arcs that the show has employed thus far revolve around the budding relationships happening among the cast. When writing for Gary and Jane’s eventual coupling, David made it a point to introduce the relationship earlier in the series thereby eschewing the more cliche cat-and-mouse type romantic comedy that is seen everywhere else and instead giving us more of a focus on characters trying to deal with relationship obstacles that the producers say are going to become even more of a focus as we get into the latter half of the show’s first season.

And what about working with the show’s star and producer Zac Efron? We already know he’s an excellent negotiating piece. We already know he’s a sexy motherfucker (“I’ve never felt uglier”). But Zac also loves adult animation series just as much as the next person, “He ran into the writer’s room for BoJack Horseman down the hall from us and told everybody how big of a fan he is of that show.” The big time star has been just as instrumental as anyone in ensuring the success of Human Discoveries up until this point. 

Let it be known that both Chris and David want us all to know that working with the creative executives at Facebook has been a rewarding experience with David even noting, “they are by far the easiest studio I’ve ever worked with” and that’s really great news. But, don’t think for five seconds that the Facebook empire is impenetrable to death. In my lifetime, I’ve seen the days when America Online was THE place you had to go to if you wanted the internet and needed to check your email. I remember when Yahoo would take part in billion dollar acquisitions (remember that Yahoo Screen series that never aired from David and Chris?).  “What we do isn’t anything life-saving” says Chris, well I’m here to tell you Human Discoveries might be the start in helping save Facebook’s life.

Watch Human Discoveries Tuesday Nights @ 9 pm ET/6 PT only on Facebook. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.