'Bella and the Bulldogs' Creators: Two Guys Writing About A Female Quarterback – TCA
A TCA panel on Nickelodeon's new series Bella and the Bulldogs — starring Brec Bassinger as Bella Dawson, a cheerleader who finds herself taking over as quarterback of the Bulldogs football team — revealed that its two co-creator/EPs, Jonathan Butler and Gabe Garza, were discovered by Nickelodeon's writers development program.
Both of the newcomers praised the Nick writer's program for seeking diverse voices. When they applied for the program with sample scripts. Said Butler: "The writing program prepares you It can take plumbers from Buffalo and turns them into people who can create a show."
The writers still had to work to create diversity in the writers' room though. They knew they wanted to create a fun young female character, not the stereotypical wet blanket to the boys' ambitions, but they acknowledged they are two guys writing about a girl. "So half the writers we hired were females," they said. Also on today's panel: EP Jeff Bushell and actor Coy Stewart.
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 10: Russell Hicks, President, Content Development and Production, Nickelodeon speaks onstage during the Viacom Winter Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour at The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa on January 10, 2015 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Viacom)
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