Field Dispatch
Matt Connarton Unleashed: Gracie Gato talks about Adam's World
Speaker 1: Well, we have a great show for you today and
Speaker 1: right now for the first hour, someone who has not
Speaker 1: been with us for Yeah, it's been at least a year.
Speaker 1: I think a year. Gracie Gatto is here. Welcome, Hello, welcome.
Speaker 1: You gotta just pull that pull that up a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right.
Speaker 2: Right to your face, I feel like, the only face
Speaker 2: that makes you feel weird.
Speaker 3: Then you got it in the right place.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 4: There you got the boner here.
Speaker 1: Well that that reminds me. Today's show is audio only. So, Gracie,
Speaker 1: what have you What have you been up to? It's
Speaker 1: it's kind of a general question, but it has been
Speaker 1: over a year since since we've seen you, and uh,
Speaker 1: and you do have a very interesting project we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about. But uh, what's been going on?
Speaker 2: Well, it's been grim the past year. So I've been
Speaker 2: I kind of disappeared. I was my mother's caregiver for
Speaker 2: a year.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that so yeah, so you mentioned so sorry
Speaker 1: to hear about your mom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she passed away and it was it was rough,
Speaker 2: but it took me out of you know, making whatever,
Speaker 2: you know, my projects. Yeah, so eventually I'm working on
Speaker 2: something called Adam's world, and it is a television a
Speaker 2: child a children's television show celebrating your diversity. Okay, so
Speaker 2: did you know that one out of thirty six children
Speaker 2: in the United States has autism or a form of
Speaker 2: or on the spectrum.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't know it was that many.
Speaker 1: But but I'm not surprised in a sense because I
Speaker 1: do know, uh, and you know, I only know a
Speaker 1: little bit about the subject, but I do know that
Speaker 1: they've gotten much better at identifying autism than they used
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 2: Certainly right, and yeah, I'm definitely on a spectrum myself.
Speaker 2: So there's not really good representation out there. I've seen
Speaker 2: the television shows and uh, they all seem a little robotic,
Speaker 2: are just sort of like an android type character. They
Speaker 2: weren't really like charismatic, and you know, having to deal
Speaker 2: with you know, working with children who have autism, you
Speaker 2: got them all over the place. You got some really
Speaker 2: charismatic kids who are just obsessed with one thing, you know.
Speaker 4: So I made that a part of the show.
Speaker 2: Okay, So we have Adam, who's my son, and he
Speaker 2: is autistic, nonverbal, and there is absolutely zero representation. And
Speaker 2: I'm noticing that a lot of other mothers have come
Speaker 2: up to me saying, hey, my kid's autistic nonverbal. I
Speaker 2: thought I was the only one. Oh okay, and oh
Speaker 2: I thought I was the only one. And wait a minute,
Speaker 2: you're gonna make a TV show with a kid who can't.
Speaker 1: Talk, and just and just so, just so we're clear.
Speaker 1: So when you say nonverbal, no, no speech at all,
Speaker 1: no speech at all, okay, wow.
Speaker 2: But he understands everything and he uses the talking device. Okay,
Speaker 2: So I made that?
Speaker 4: What was that?
Speaker 1: Jen?
Speaker 4: M Oh, yeah, that face, like, what's going on?
Speaker 1: Jen?
Speaker 5: Oh no, no, I'm doing other things. Oh well, you
Speaker 5: guys are Yeah, don't look at my face.
Speaker 4: It looked like some really bad news over there.
Speaker 2: So so yeah, it just I came up with three
Speaker 2: characters and it kind of sets up the whole show,
Speaker 2: and it's you know, Adam doesn't speak, but he can
Speaker 2: touch things and upload information directly to his brain and
Speaker 2: a lot of internal dialogue. Ok So that's how I
Speaker 2: get around the whole not talking thing, because the audience
Speaker 2: and the kids are in on a secret, and that
Speaker 2: is they are super geniuses, only they got to play
Speaker 2: dumb for the adults. Interesting, so you know, everybody's in
Speaker 2: on it, but the teachers, you know, so it's it's
Speaker 2: really cute. And you know, we got one character who's Sam,
Speaker 2: who is obsessed with numbers, and I've seen that before
Speaker 2: where it's like everything is numerical. The girl Zoe, some
Speaker 2: little blonde pigtails, you know, she runs really fast, and
Speaker 2: she can run so fast she can travel through time.
Speaker 2: So it sets up the premise for many adventures. Okay, yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: So I pitched.
Speaker 4: This already to PBS kids.
Speaker 2: I'm waiting to hear back for somebody soon, and I'm
Speaker 2: doing the Kickstarter too.
Speaker 4: I'm getting a lot of the you.
Speaker 2: Know, people involved in the autism community as well, So
Speaker 2: I'm getting from both sides, you know, Like I'm from
Speaker 2: you know, LA, and I'm getting the LA side and
Speaker 2: i got the East Coast side with the academics, and
Speaker 2: I'm just sort of marrying the two. And it's becoming
Speaker 2: really interesting and really really exciting.
Speaker 1: That's great. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I saw on your
Speaker 1: website the clip that you had posted, and how like,
Speaker 1: what is the process in terms of so basically you're
Speaker 1: pitching this to say to PBS and others.
Speaker 3: What is that?
Speaker 1: What is that process? Like, what is the process of
Speaker 1: pitching a series?
Speaker 2: Essentially, basically, it's just what I'm doing right now. I'm
Speaker 2: this is sort of like a pitch, you know, you
Speaker 2: talk about who it's for, why it needs to exist,
Speaker 2: and and just kind of go from there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like it's a lot to take on.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I mean, I would imagine just
Speaker 1: you know, just like going out into the marketplace and
Speaker 1: pitching it. That almost sounds like more challenging than making
Speaker 1: the actual content. Yeah it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but luckily there's a hole in media that hasn't
Speaker 2: been filled yet. Yeah, so hopefully I'll get a bunch
Speaker 2: of copycats and we can help autistic children feel more
Speaker 2: together and less uh you know, ostracized.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is this an idea that you've had for a
Speaker 1: while to do this?
Speaker 2: I've had it for a while, I just haven't really
Speaker 2: done anything with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So at first, it was like, you know, something I
Speaker 2: did for my kid only it was just me and
Speaker 2: him on his tablet and make little cartoons and stuff,
Speaker 2: and he would love it, loved it. And then and
Speaker 2: then I got really you know, just turned around with
Speaker 2: the whole like, you know, the political stuff, Like I
Speaker 2: just pulled the plug on that for now.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I want to go back to that.
Speaker 4: We'll see. Yeah, but I'm really I feel like they're
Speaker 4: a lost cause.
Speaker 2: And children, you know, you can help them question reality,
Speaker 2: question where they come from and why things are the
Speaker 2: way they are.
Speaker 4: There's still hope for the kids, so to speak. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, I don't do that.
Speaker 1: The political side, Yeah, they're gone, they're gone.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but the children are great.
Speaker 2: I love working with children, and especially you know after
Speaker 2: a major death, you know, it really helps heal the hearts.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. Have you done anything like that before involving
Speaker 1: a cartoon project or I know you've done you know
Speaker 1: you're from LA and yeah, you've done a lot of things.
Speaker 4: Well, I dated a lot of animators. That helps. And
Speaker 4: I actually called in a.
Speaker 2: Few animator friends here in the you know, the New
Speaker 2: England area, and they seem really excited.
Speaker 4: So that's another thing I'm pitching too.
Speaker 2: The story takes place in New England, in you know,
Speaker 2: New Hampshire, and I want to use East Coast to animes.
Speaker 1: Okay, so yeah that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Is the idea that every uh so, will every episode
Speaker 1: be a full length thirty minute episode or twenty two minutes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully the pilot episode they want. They are so
Speaker 2: curious about dinosaurs they will see them for themselves.
Speaker 1: That's cool. Yeah yeah, yeah. You mentioned one of the
Speaker 1: characters can go so fast she time travels. Yeah, now
Speaker 1: that's uh, yeah, there is. I can't think of anything
Speaker 1: I've ever seen quite like what you're what you're doing.
Speaker 1: So you're right, I mean there is a hole in
Speaker 1: the market for that, right.
Speaker 2: There's a major hole in the market. They have something close.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, readjust myself here. Yeah, they have something close.
Speaker 2: And I think there's a show called Attorney Wu Okay
Speaker 2: that's on Netflix. Yeah, I was doing my market research.
Speaker 2: I was watching it, and it's like, you know, she
Speaker 2: is basically unable to live her life normally, but she
Speaker 2: is a whiz when it comes to law, so that
Speaker 2: the law is kind of like her superhuman power. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, she can recite things really fast, and that's
Speaker 2: the way the autism world works.
Speaker 4: But it just wasn't as fun.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: You know, it's like a legal drama, but God as
Speaker 2: solve everything like Matt Locke.
Speaker 1: Right, and.
Speaker 4: It just disconjoined.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, Yeah. It's nice too though, that we live
Speaker 1: in a time where you've got if you think about it,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you've thought about this if you were
Speaker 1: doing this thirty years ago, or actually even twenty years ago,
Speaker 1: the possibilities in terms of where you could go with it,
Speaker 1: where you could take it and pitch it to Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're very limited. But now we live in a time
Speaker 1: because of streaming, you know, I mean Netflix has a
Speaker 1: million different shows, and you know, you've got all these
Speaker 1: streaming services. You could even you know, put it, you
Speaker 1: could put it yourself on YouTube and you know, go
Speaker 1: with that strategy. You've got so many different options. So
Speaker 1: it's kind of like from your perspective, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you're thinking about it this way, but I would
Speaker 1: imagine it's kind of like, well, you know, something will
Speaker 1: work out, you know what I mean, Eventually something will
Speaker 1: work out with this because you know, there's so many
Speaker 1: different options.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with a big hole in the market, right, you know,
Speaker 2: I want to eventually bring in other characters based on
Speaker 2: real children, and that's something I want to do eventually,
Speaker 2: where we could do sweepstakes to get written in to
Speaker 2: the show, like someone who did something awesome and neuro divergent.
Speaker 2: You know, we'll write to you in the show.
Speaker 1: Can we define that term too, neurodivergent for people who
Speaker 1: don't know, because I think that means more than just autism,
Speaker 1: right or does it?
Speaker 4: Well, it's it just makes you fall into the spectrum. Okay,
Speaker 4: so yeah, it is autism.
Speaker 2: Just you know, you're just neuro diversion. You're you can't
Speaker 2: you have sensory overload.
Speaker 1: Okay, it happens.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think I have that too, and
Speaker 2: you know I don't and a lot of people do
Speaker 2: when they go into crowds all of a sudden, they
Speaker 2: just feel like overwhelmed, right, Yeah, you know I can
Speaker 2: relate to that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, as you mentioned earlier, there's
Speaker 1: a spectrum obviously, and you know the ways that autism,
Speaker 1: the ways that they're able to identify autism, they've gotten
Speaker 1: much better at it, which I I often will point
Speaker 1: out to people. You know, there's people with their weird
Speaker 1: conspiracy theories about it all.
Speaker 4: And vaccines cause autism. That's the big one. That's the
Speaker 4: big one.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly, we don't know all that. We don't know
Speaker 2: when when my son got diagnosed as a mother. I
Speaker 2: took it hard because I thought it was something I did.
Speaker 2: Oh really, yeah, wait, you know, maybe it was my diet.
Speaker 1: Maybe.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's just something a mother does.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense.
Speaker 4: But no, he is a brilliant, smart kid and he
Speaker 4: loves his song Adam's World.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so he's like, that's mine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, But I want to bring it to
Speaker 2: other children who need that, you know, Like I want
Speaker 2: to do kind of like a resurgence of like I'm
Speaker 2: actually talking to some of the old Hannah Barbara.
Speaker 4: Guys really involved in this.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, whoever's left, you know, And it's great because
Speaker 2: they have that childlike spark still even though they're older,
Speaker 2: and they're like, oh my god, I could do something
Speaker 2: with this.
Speaker 4: I could do something with.
Speaker 2: This, you know, and it's just, you know, it puts
Speaker 2: a smile on my face versus what I was doing before,
Speaker 2: which was turning me into a monster too unplugged, unsubscribe. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so this is so much more fun.
Speaker 1: I can I can somewhat relate to what you're saying.
Speaker 1: You know, there was a time when we used to
Speaker 1: do politics on the show, and we stopped that, and
Speaker 1: now we keep that separate from what we do here
Speaker 1: at w M and H and from a mental health perspective,
Speaker 1: I do think it benefited me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because these little prejudices start happening, and you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's not a good look, and I think that
Speaker 2: we need to get back to humanity and less of this.
Speaker 4: He did this, but he did this, but he did
Speaker 4: this enough of that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Enough? Yeah? Absolutely, absolutely, I agree. Do you find
Speaker 1: that in terms of well, how old is Adam?
Speaker 4: Adam is?
Speaker 2: He just turned nine on December twenty fourth, Okay, so
Speaker 2: happy birthday at him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, happy birthday Atam. Over the course of these nine years,
Speaker 1: do you think that, I mean, what's your experience been
Speaker 1: in terms of uh? Is there a lot of uh?
Speaker 1: Is there still a lot to learn? I assume there's
Speaker 1: still a lot to learn about autism? Is there still
Speaker 1: a lot that they don't know?
Speaker 4: Or I had to tell you the truth? We're learning
Speaker 4: with the kids.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So luckily he goes to I'm going to do
Speaker 2: a shout out to Nottingham West Elementary School because they
Speaker 2: go above and beyond for my kid that. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's the state pace ward, it's not a private school.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So but they go above and beyond help children. So
Speaker 2: I've seen my my kids rise like he's been.
Speaker 4: You know, he's a different kid really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like now he gets into trouble now yeah with
Speaker 2: his top little goose, you know. Yeah, now he gets dirty,
Speaker 2: you know, gets into things.
Speaker 1: Oh that's fantastic though, that's that's that's good to hear,
Speaker 1: you know, because public schools get a bad rap.
Speaker 2: They do get a bad rap, they really do. But
Speaker 2: I'm let's just say I was cautiously optimistic, uh huh,
Speaker 2: but now totally blown away.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh that's great. That's great. And obviously for you
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's a challenge. You know, I mean
Speaker 1: an autistic is Adam your only child?
Speaker 4: My only child?
Speaker 2: Oh okay, okay, so I wanted uh well it was
Speaker 2: really crazy. So I was missing for a year and
Speaker 2: a half and I have I was caregiving to my mother,
Speaker 2: taking care of my autistic kid, so I had like
Speaker 2: zero time to myself. Yeah, and you know, when she
Speaker 2: was sick and he was at school or she was asleep,
Speaker 2: I would do these little animation things. Yeah, and it
Speaker 2: just sort of kind of grew from there.
Speaker 1: Okay, like you know I.
Speaker 4: Could do this. I could do this and.
Speaker 1: You done anything like that before. On your you know
Speaker 1: you mentioned you had dated some animators.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well we used to do like we're adult versions
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: This is my first time ever doing children's television, so
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean I'm spiling a lot more
Speaker 2: so that goes to show you I'm doing something right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I started a kickstarter. We need some cash,
Speaker 2: help help, so I need to do one polished pilot
Speaker 2: and that's gonna be our vehicle to you know, shoot
Speaker 2: to the top. I'm actually I got in touch with
Speaker 2: the CEO of New Balance because I was thinking about
Speaker 2: doing product titans and since Zoe's sneakers light up, which
Speaker 2: she's about the time travel, I thought that might be
Speaker 2: something that we can kind of team up on. I
Speaker 2: haven't gotten response, an official response yet, but yeah it
Speaker 2: is and it's you know, everybody knows someone with autism,
Speaker 2: so I just styled it could be a good tie
Speaker 2: in and for Autism Awareness months, you know, we'll have
Speaker 2: a special brand sneakers that happened to look just like
Speaker 2: Zoe's in the show Excellent.
Speaker 1: When is When is Autism Awareness Month? June June? Okay? Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know there was. Well, no, it makes
Speaker 1: sense that actually, I think I do remember hearing that
Speaker 1: there was an autism awareness month.
Speaker 2: There's hope there's an awareness month for everything. I think
Speaker 2: there's a peanut butter holiday too, and.
Speaker 1: Well as as there should be. When was how soon
Speaker 1: was Adam diagnosed after he was born? Because obviously you
Speaker 1: don't you don't know right away, right he was three
Speaker 1: three okay.
Speaker 4: The heat was in babbling okay, And.
Speaker 1: That's what I've read is one of the one of
Speaker 1: the first indicators where you really kind of figure out
Speaker 1: that there's there's something here as if they're not.
Speaker 2: And he would have like these attacks, like panic attacks.
Speaker 2: He's trying to talk, talk to me and tell me things. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and he started pulling his hair up.
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
Speaker 4: So that's when we got.
Speaker 2: Him help, okay, because it started, you know, he started
Speaker 2: just being aggressive to him, like he like almost like
Speaker 2: I hate myself. Oh yeah, you know, or I don't
Speaker 2: want to say I hate myself.
Speaker 1: That's horrible, but that frustrate.
Speaker 4: He was frustrated.
Speaker 2: So when we got him help, yeah, they we got
Speaker 2: him diagnosed, and sure enough, he was a textbook So
Speaker 2: he's got ADHD and you know autism. Yeah, but he's
Speaker 2: shocked his attack that he could see the wheel spinning.
Speaker 2: He just can't talk or he'll just pull his tongue,
Speaker 2: you know, little things like that, and it breaks your heart.
Speaker 1: Does does he learn very fast? Yeah? Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you know doctor Kevin. He's a Nashua doctor
Speaker 1: Kevin ross Emory. He's been on the show and he
Speaker 1: he's done a lot of work in add and ADHD
Speaker 1: and he's written some books about it. And actually one
Speaker 1: of the books he's written it's called Managing the Gift,
Speaker 1: and it's about how he calls it a gift because
Speaker 1: you know a d D or ADHD. It's like, uh,
Speaker 1: there are ways that you can use at your advantage.
Speaker 1: For example, a lot of very successful entrepreneurs you know,
Speaker 1: have that or they're on the spectrum. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: so there are ways to.
Speaker 4: Talking to the to the expert. So yeah, leave me
Speaker 4: his name, that'll be great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of I talked to someone who's his
Speaker 2: name is Ellen Armie and he is the head of
Speaker 2: an organization for autistic children. He put me in touch
Speaker 2: with someone named Elaine Hall, who was a a list
Speaker 2: acting coach and she eventually had a kid with autism
Speaker 2: and she started using those methods acting methods. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: it started to work and he got out of a
Speaker 2: shell using you know, the ad L stuff, and you know,
Speaker 2: it really worked out. So now she's kind of like
Speaker 2: a big deal now in the autism community. And you know,
Speaker 2: she just happened to have an autistic kid and who knew, right.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: So I am been emailing back and forth and a
Speaker 2: lot of people are you know, just they're excited about
Speaker 2: the projects because we need something positive in this world.
Speaker 1: Yes, so like at least.
Speaker 2: I do as a creator, you know, like you want to,
Speaker 2: you know, go home and say, you know what, I
Speaker 2: did my job.
Speaker 4: And I actually went as far.
Speaker 2: I was contacting someone named Ted and Nasty, who was
Speaker 2: one of the head animators of the of Ductails.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: However, I was.
Speaker 2: Like googling him like a weird fan, you know, like
Speaker 2: who the hell looks for old animators from back in
Speaker 2: the day, right right, And I was like, okay, I
Speaker 2: got his name, I got his number. Cool, and the
Speaker 2: link next to him right after on Google it was
Speaker 2: a goalfund me and I click on it and he's
Speaker 2: in hospice and I'm like, ah, it's terrible. So uh yeah,
Speaker 2: but I've been talking to the old guys though. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it makes it more fun because once I get them excited,
Speaker 2: I could see their wheels turning, like, oh.
Speaker 4: I've done this and that and this and that. So
Speaker 4: it's just really great.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sometimes you know, all it takes is one person
Speaker 1: to give you just a little bit of information or
Speaker 1: an idea and you just never know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it really is like being a showrunner really
Speaker 2: is like being in a band. You need your guitar player,
Speaker 2: you neat your drummer, you need your bass, do you
Speaker 2: need your lead singer? Get together and make music. And
Speaker 2: if one of you guys is off, the whole band
Speaker 2: is off. Right, So I am putting together a band
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent. What have you been doing anything
Speaker 1: else in terms of creative stuff or have you been
Speaker 1: solely focused on on the series.
Speaker 2: Well, I was doing another kind of puppet show, but
Speaker 2: we can't talk about that. Oh that was just for
Speaker 2: fun though, I was testing.
Speaker 1: The Yeah, that's for Matt Connor to unsheathed. That's a
Speaker 1: very different show.
Speaker 4: That's a very different show.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's it's not available on FM radio.
Speaker 4: But but yes, let's stick to the kids.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I was curious because you've done a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of radio, a lot of radio
Speaker 1: back in La especially, and right, and and what else.
Speaker 1: It seems like you've done You've done a lot of
Speaker 1: voiceover work too, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, so I turn them out, just turn them out,
Speaker 2: like whenever comes my way.
Speaker 4: I need this, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I've been surviving on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you've got a lot of experience. And uh,
Speaker 1: how how long have you been in New Hamptire? How
Speaker 1: has it been ten years? No, it's been six, it's
Speaker 1: been six.
Speaker 2: I'm acclimated, you know, Like no, before I used to
Speaker 2: be such a wuss and like now it's like I'm
Speaker 2: walking around with T shirt and shorts and checking my
Speaker 2: mail and snowing outside, you know, like I've come a
Speaker 2: long way.
Speaker 1: Yeah. John Hopwood is who introduced us, right, yes, all right?
Speaker 4: Whatever happened to Hoppy?
Speaker 1: I think he's around. Uh, Jenny, didn't the Hammers say
Speaker 1: that John?
Speaker 3: They recently had had that he was with him.
Speaker 1: He was back in Manchester?
Speaker 4: I thought so.
Speaker 3: I thought I heard that, But he hasn't reached out
Speaker 3: to us yet.
Speaker 1: He's very mysterious, that John Hopwood. He's a mysterious character.
Speaker 1: But that's right, that's how we met.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we met John.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, yeah, so you've you've grown too, You've grown
Speaker 1: to like it here.
Speaker 2: Yes, And I enjoy driving again thanks to me, I'm sure,
Speaker 2: because in La it's stopping stop.
Speaker 4: Literally.
Speaker 2: I had like these these big thighs of muscle in
Speaker 2: my abs because it will stop it stop it go.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh yeah, and.
Speaker 4: The gear you could just kind of like put put
Speaker 4: it and you're cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think I'm spoiled. I don't want to
Speaker 2: drive in California.
Speaker 1: Right right now, that's understandable. Well, you know, the winter's
Speaker 1: here too, have gotten easier, so that probably helps climate
Speaker 1: change because I grew up here, and uh, the winters
Speaker 1: are definitely easier than when I was a kid.
Speaker 4: I keep hearing that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, oh it's yeah, there's no getting It's
Speaker 1: not subtle. No, it's not as subtle as some people
Speaker 1: pretend it is. It's it's very obvious. And and I
Speaker 1: remember my dad's telling me that the winters are easier
Speaker 1: here than when he was a kid, Like he noticed
Speaker 1: in the in the eighties. Yeah, he said, Oh, the
Speaker 1: winter's here seemed to be easier than when I was
Speaker 1: a kid.
Speaker 2: So no, but there's still a real possibility if you
Speaker 2: don't have the right gear, you.
Speaker 4: Could freeze to death.
Speaker 1: Oh sure, Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: We don't want to give off like we're like the
Speaker 4: New Florida, right.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, We're a long way from that. And
Speaker 1: I don't want to get to that because I know
Speaker 1: what that means, because I am concerned. But in the moment,
Speaker 1: I enjoy it.
Speaker 4: Geez.
Speaker 1: We had one winter here, was it, I think twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen where winter just didn't show up at all, and
Speaker 1: like it barely snowed and it never got cold. It
Speaker 1: was incredible.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but it created a lot of sleet. I didn't
Speaker 4: appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Sleet's not good. Sleet's not good.
Speaker 4: I found a new use for kitty litter because it's sleet.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, what to just put the floor?
Speaker 2: Yeah, to get traction with your wheels. Okay, yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 2: I didn't know that until I moved here.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, does anyone from the West Coast come out
Speaker 1: to visit you?
Speaker 4: Yes? I recently had my both my sisters come.
Speaker 1: Oh excellent, excellent. Do they do when they get here?
Speaker 1: Are they like, it's cold here? What do you do?
Speaker 2: The first thing my sister said was, we're all the
Speaker 2: homeless people? Oh really, Well they're in La from LA
Speaker 2: and it's like mad Max over there by comparison.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, they were like, where are the homeless people?
Speaker 4: I'm like Manchester. U.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's definitely a problem here, but probably
Speaker 1: nothing like La. Right. I mean you see the.
Speaker 2: Picture looks flag posts apocalyptic now, yeah, it's it's pretty sad.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you get back out there to visit?
Speaker 4: Not really?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the mom's thing was pretty rough, and I don't
Speaker 2: think I'm gonna be going back for what Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, that makes sense, that makes sense. Have you been
Speaker 1: Uh so you've been working on the h on the cartoon.
Speaker 1: Are you doing that by yourself? And I mean obviously
Speaker 1: you're you know, you're trying to get other people involved,
Speaker 1: but so far as anyone like fully involved in the
Speaker 1: animation or anything, or are you literally doing this all?
Speaker 2: I'm doing this all on my own as of now.
Speaker 2: But they tell me be patient because after the holidays.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're gonna work. Yeah, we'll work, We'll work it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I I mean, the the stuff I have
Speaker 2: on my website, you know, on grasigotto dot com is
Speaker 2: basically just like what I would give to the networks
Speaker 2: is basically it's okay, kind of like a it's like
Speaker 2: a visual thing that it's not the solid end product.
Speaker 1: Okay. So no, it looks really good though, And you know,
Speaker 1: as someone who so I have no I've always been
Speaker 1: fascinated by animation in the sense that I'm kind of
Speaker 1: fascinated by anything that I know that I can't do,
Speaker 1: Like I have no visual artistic ability whatsoever. I can't draw,
Speaker 1: Like if you ask me to draw a person, I
Speaker 1: could draw you a stick figure. That's the best I
Speaker 1: could do. I look at Jenny's artwork and I'm amazed
Speaker 1: or the macromea that she does, cause it's amazing to
Speaker 1: me because my brain, I always say this, my brain
Speaker 1: can't do the math, like with the macroma that's geometry.
Speaker 1: My brain can't do the geometry. So I'm always, you know,
Speaker 1: really interested when I look at things that I can't do,
Speaker 1: like animation, Like like I look at you know, I
Speaker 1: watched the clip on your website and it's like, how
Speaker 1: do you even how do you even draw that? Like,
Speaker 1: because my brain wouldn't be able to figure it out,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Well, the the kids.
Speaker 2: I used my son's face as a model, Okay, so
Speaker 2: I got a picture of him when he was seven, Okay,
Speaker 2: and you know, so I didn't mock up there, kind
Speaker 2: of change it up a bit and yeah, and then
Speaker 2: I got uh, I'd lost so much time playing with
Speaker 2: animation tools, you know, like the actual like drawing, because
Speaker 2: I used to doodle a lot.
Speaker 4: I'm an oil painter.
Speaker 2: Okay, So that was just like the natural progression. And
Speaker 2: there's some magic that happens when you get the lip
Speaker 2: sync going, and then you get the voice, and then
Speaker 2: you get the background music and when that you get
Speaker 2: that that trifecta.
Speaker 4: They're alive. It's they're alive.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, do you I mean, do you do you
Speaker 1: use software? To forgive my ignorance? But no, just very curious,
Speaker 1: like do you use software to help you create the
Speaker 1: scenes or are you are you doing it like old school?
Speaker 1: Like are you actually hand drawing everything?
Speaker 2: No, I'm not hand drawing anything. I actually I've been
Speaker 2: using AI kind of help out. And you know, people
Speaker 2: go boo, but it's it's the cats out of the bag.
Speaker 4: It's here, yes, and they're snow avoiding it right right.
Speaker 2: I think a friend of mine pointed out a car
Speaker 2: commercial was like blatantly easing Aire.
Speaker 4: So basically AI has enabled me become ten people instead
Speaker 4: of one.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the scripts are mine though, the ideas are mine,
Speaker 2: but they're simply it's like having an assistant that's on speed. Right,
Speaker 2: So like the second I want something, I got it. Okay, cool,
Speaker 2: and I'll just incorporate that. So it's like mixing. It's
Speaker 2: like mixing a stew. You get all the ingredients from
Speaker 2: you know, television shows, I could say Ducktails where they
Speaker 2: time travel and they teach kids how to think, you know,
Speaker 2: get it, Get a little bit of that, you get
Speaker 2: a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you just kind of make a stew and it's
Speaker 2: something completely brand new.
Speaker 4: That's something that's really awesome. I even wrote the theme song.
Speaker 1: Did okay?
Speaker 3: Very cool?
Speaker 1: That's awesome. That's awesome. The other characters, because there's there's
Speaker 1: two other characters that I saw on the website. Yes,
Speaker 1: are those based on real kids or those completely?
Speaker 4: So I did?
Speaker 2: I did know I do know, so a kid who's
Speaker 2: obsessed with numbers, obsessed you know, like how many like
Speaker 2: things that you wouldn't even think about, like how many
Speaker 2: teeth are in a mouth or you know, just Okay,
Speaker 2: that's kind of quirky, but that could work for the
Speaker 2: show because they need to calculate speed time to get
Speaker 2: and you know, how to get from point A to
Speaker 2: point b. You know, so they're going to need math
Speaker 2: to learn numbers. Adam's internal dialogue is he upslolds everything,
Speaker 2: but you know he has a super dome that kind
Speaker 2: of teaches you what everything means. Yeah, so it's like
Speaker 2: a super dome kind of like a third eye kind
Speaker 2: of situation happening where he's projecting, you know, what he's
Speaker 2: getting and you know, so it's great.
Speaker 4: So I got the trio so far.
Speaker 2: And you know, they're going to get into adventures and
Speaker 2: you know, we're even talking about like possibly having them
Speaker 2: grow up eventually.
Speaker 4: They're in a fourth grade.
Speaker 2: Now, hey, my powers are getting stronger, you know, and
Speaker 2: maybe it could lead up to something different.
Speaker 1: Like e that's a cool concept too, because I'm trying
Speaker 1: to think. I'm trying to think, is there another cartoon
Speaker 1: or another animated show where where the characters actually do
Speaker 1: grow up, and I feel like there must be something
Speaker 1: Self Park did it? Oh did they?
Speaker 4: And The Simpsons did they?
Speaker 1: I haven't watched either of those and so long.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a couple of episodes where you know they're
Speaker 2: all grown up.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah, but not but not over a span
Speaker 1: of time where they got older.
Speaker 2: And right, yeah, yeah, or maybe I mean things are open.
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe they can get out of their animation
Speaker 2: bodies and become full right, you know, action motion you
Speaker 2: know characters.
Speaker 1: Right right, But I like that. I like that idea though. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, they go from one grade to the next
Speaker 1: and and.
Speaker 2: What to expect, and you know, teachers are new, teachers
Speaker 2: are scary, Substitute teachers are kind of cool. But I
Speaker 2: don't really know, right you know, yeah, you know we're
Speaker 2: going to get into that. And all those little things
Speaker 2: matter when you're autistic. Yeah, any little change is like,
Speaker 2: you know, detrimentally.
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean even for you know, for anybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those things matter. So yeah, so I would imagine for
Speaker 1: an autistic child, I can see where that would really
Speaker 1: be some heavy stuff to deal with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it was an honest question to myself, like,
Speaker 2: you know, am I gonna continue one with the division
Speaker 2: of people?
Speaker 4: Or am I going to make something that's going to
Speaker 4: help of course?
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think that's uh. I think that's fantastic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so in the new year, you expect things will really
Speaker 1: start moving with it. Yeah, what's kind of your what's
Speaker 1: what's kind of your dream? Uh? Like where would you
Speaker 1: most like to see it? Like Netflix or where would
Speaker 1: you most like to see.
Speaker 2: This, lamb, I would love to see it anywhere. Really,
Speaker 2: it's just long as uh. You know, it gives children
Speaker 2: and identity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you mentioned PBS, which seems like a
Speaker 1: perfect fit.
Speaker 4: It is a perfect fit.
Speaker 2: There's always Netflix or Hulu. I have an agent working
Speaker 2: on it. So basically we're trying to create like some
Speaker 2: kind of a bidding situation in January to where it lands.
Speaker 2: It's as soon as January.
Speaker 1: Oh that's exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is exciting, except for Hanka got in the way.
Speaker 2: So so my Jewish animaters are the Alfred the Count
Speaker 2: and you know, my Christian friends are like, we're not
Speaker 2: working until January second.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's.
Speaker 2: Like, okay, I lost you both. Great, So it's just
Speaker 2: me for now I there are the holidays. I get it,
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm a showrunner, so I'm just constantly working, working,
Speaker 2: working through the holidays.
Speaker 1: By the way, for people who don't know what's a
Speaker 1: show runner.
Speaker 2: A showrunner is someone who is creating a show and
Speaker 2: the person who has the actual vision, the overall vision.
Speaker 2: So it's basically like being the CEO of a company,
Speaker 2: you know, so, but we're all moving working vital parts
Speaker 2: to the show.
Speaker 1: It's a very it's it's kind of a literal term
Speaker 1: show runner. You literally are running a show. I feel like,
Speaker 1: and you would know, having with with your experience and
Speaker 1: having been in la I feel like I didn't always
Speaker 1: hear that term. I feel like I started hearing the
Speaker 1: term showrunner like twenty years ago and then and then
Speaker 1: before that, it was always producer or something. But I
Speaker 1: feel like the am I right about that? Or is
Speaker 1: that just my weird perception?
Speaker 2: No, I don't know, I think because you know everybody's
Speaker 2: I don't know, I honestly can't answer that.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's a newer term.
Speaker 2: It's I've always heard showrunner because it was kind of
Speaker 2: like going back to the circus, you know, like you're
Speaker 2: the showrunner of the Circus. Yeah, I think I think
Speaker 2: it was kind of being facetious and it just kind
Speaker 2: of stuck.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: Or I'm the you know, the I'm the person in
Speaker 4: charge of this, you know show.
Speaker 1: What? Uh so you've got Do you have other projects
Speaker 1: that you're thinking about doing in addition to this or
Speaker 1: you're completely focused.
Speaker 2: On completely hyper focused on this one. Yeah, that's the
Speaker 2: way it has to be for each project. Otherwise you're
Speaker 2: spread on teeth in and people see right through it,
Speaker 2: especially the audience when you're half asking anything, you know, like,
Speaker 2: you know, they're pretty intelligent enough to pick that up.
Speaker 1: Right of course, of course, Well, very cool, very cool.
Speaker 1: Now we should mention too though. Like you said, you know,
Speaker 1: you take things that come your way. So you are
Speaker 1: available for voiceover work and things like oh absolutely, yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: And how how can people find you for that?
Speaker 2: Go to Grasiegatto dot com, send me an email and
Speaker 2: we will talk consultation.
Speaker 4: Hum what you want? You know, I'm pretty affordable.
Speaker 1: What's the strangest one you've had? Oh?
Speaker 2: God, the first one is the one that traumatized me
Speaker 2: was uh.
Speaker 4: Moan my IP?
Speaker 1: Is that something we can I'm very curious. Now is
Speaker 1: that something we can explain on a Saturday morning? Okay,
Speaker 1: but it was something.
Speaker 2: Sort of moaned MYIP dot com. Okay, I did some
Speaker 2: voiceover for that.
Speaker 4: Haven't admitted to that.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, ever does that? Does that still exist?
Speaker 4: I don't know. I haven't checked. It's been years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna check here at
Speaker 1: the station's computer.
Speaker 2: And I did the voiceover of this clown killer thriller.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so basically I am, uh, screaming for my life, yeah,
Speaker 2: as this clown is undressing me.
Speaker 4: Okay, so that was probably the grossest voiceover.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, I don't even.
Speaker 4: Know if that was used. Yeah, but I got paid
Speaker 4: for it.
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool. Yeah yeah, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean voiceovers can go from anything from like
Speaker 2: jingles to you know radio stations like three, you know
Speaker 2: FL So it really depends. And I noticed that when
Speaker 2: they cast, they like people who have broadcasting experience because
Speaker 2: actors can't fake that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So it's like that's why they go.
Speaker 2: With the newscasters in film, you know, the newscasters whoever's available.
Speaker 1: Right right, No, it makes sense, that makes sense. Have
Speaker 1: you done any that I would have heard, like any
Speaker 1: that are like really like like mainstream commercials or anything.
Speaker 4: That I can think of that's still around.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's just funny to think about it.
Speaker 1: I may have heard your voice somewhere before I probably
Speaker 1: before we met you.
Speaker 4: Probably, I don't know. There is a lot.
Speaker 1: There's a lot if you ever had to say no
Speaker 1: to something like somebody comes to you with a voiceover
Speaker 1: project and it's just too weird.
Speaker 2: No, it's all about making copy work. But the only
Speaker 2: time I've said no is when they're too demanding and
Speaker 2: they want me.
Speaker 4: To charge less.
Speaker 2: So it's like practically like you know, fifty cents an
Speaker 2: hour kind of thing. Oh yeah, it's like no, dude, No.
Speaker 4: They're like, well, we're to go somewhere else.
Speaker 1: Thank bye.
Speaker 4: Yeah right exactly. Yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's wild.
Speaker 2: So please, please, please, whoever's listening, go to Graciecotto dot com,
Speaker 2: or please donate some money to Kickstarter so we can
Speaker 2: get that episode going.
Speaker 5: So we now is g r a c I e
Speaker 5: g a t o dot com?
Speaker 1: You got it?
Speaker 5: I want to make sure people know how to spell it.
Speaker 5: G A c I e g a t o dot com?
Speaker 4: Got it?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Well, and Marriam actually was just asking about spelling it.
Speaker 5: One of our listeners who's actually a paraprofessional herself and
Speaker 5: very active in the autism community.
Speaker 4: Oh, send me an email. Let's talk.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you hear that, Miriam, she'd like to talk. We'll
Speaker 3: make sure that. I will make sure.
Speaker 2: Actually, I'm just trying to get everybody involved, parents to UH, educators,
Speaker 2: entertainment industry. It's amazing how many high ranking entertainment industry
Speaker 2: executives have children with autism.
Speaker 5: True, so it touches many families. Yeah, many, many families.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting too to think about how many people
Speaker 1: don't realize.
Speaker 2: It, right, you know, and you know, why not make
Speaker 2: a Saturday morning cartoon to make them feel better?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think that's awesome.
Speaker 4: I really do.
Speaker 1: I think that's No, I think that's fantastic. Well, Gracie,
Speaker 1: I'm really glad you came in today. It's wonderful to
Speaker 1: see you.
Speaker 4: Good to see you, and Jen, good to see you.
Speaker 1: We might won't hold you to it.
Speaker 3: I don't have to wait for over a year the
Speaker 3: next time to come back.
Speaker 4: No, that was a crazy circumstance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's understandable.
Speaker 3: But we love to have you. We love to see you,
Speaker 3: and I know our listeners love you.
Speaker 2: Hopefully next month I'm going to get the I'm gonna
Speaker 2: get the call and I'm gonna say.
Speaker 4: Guess what, guys, I got green lit.
Speaker 3: I got green lit.
Speaker 1: You know, we definitely have to have you back and
Speaker 1: then definitely.
Speaker 2: You know, I do want to promote New Hampshire in
Speaker 2: New England, and I mean the whole story takes place there,
Speaker 2: they go to school, and the backdrop. I made sure
Speaker 2: that it was like typical New England.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, look it looks like that and what I watched, Yeah.
Speaker 2: That's kind of what I'm presenting to is a little
Speaker 2: bit of a New Hampshire pride so to speak.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's I think that's awesome.
Speaker 1: And Gracie Gato, thank you so much, thank you for
Speaker 1: having me
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