‘Max & the Midknights’ Showrunners Take Us Along the Creative Quest of Nickelodeon’s New Hero

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Fans of Lincoln Peirce’s popular book series Max & the Midknights will be glued to their TV screens this month as a charming animated adaptation premieres on Nickelodeon. The distinctly animated series chronicles the adventures of a determined 10-year-old girl who pursues her dream of becoming a knight by leading her friends on an epic adventure in the fantastical medieval kingdom of Byjovia. Series showrunners David Skelly and Sharon Flynn recently discussed their colorful project with Animation Magazine via email.

The origins of the project go back four years ago, when Skelly was art directing Peirce’s previous series, Big Nate. The show’s exec in charge, Nathan Schram, asked Skelly to read Peirce’s second series of books, and he fell in love with the property. “We gathered a small crew, and on nights and weekends, I directed a one-minute animated proof-of-concept teaser (which later evolved into our title sequence),” recalls Skelly. “Shortly thereafter, the incredibly talented, Emmy Award-winning Sharon Flynn (co-executive producer/co-showrunner) came on board to figure out how to adapt the first of Lincoln’s books into 20 half-hour episodes!”

Flynn says she also fell in love with the stories and heroine Max. “I was so excited about telling her story, and I knew right away that to do Max’s story justice and build a satisfying arc — it needed to be a serialized show,” she says. “So, I pitched the broad strokes of what I was thinking to Nickelodeon, and then I was brought on, joining the amazing, Emmy-nominated David Skelly!”

A Cinematic Quest

As Flynn worked on the story bible for the show, Skelly was defining the special look of the project. “I felt a wide, feature film screen format (2.39:1) would seem quite cinematic and complement our action-adventure story nicely,” he explains. “But with a feature format comes a promise to the audience that the filmmaking will also be like a feature: dynamic, rich and compelling. I wanted the camera to be lively, to have a feeling of improvisation, as though the camera operator were reacting to the situation unfolding in front of them. Figuring out how to achieve that on a television budget and schedule was the next challenge.”

Skelly says there didn’t seem to be clear way to achieve his goals using conventional methodologies. So, he opted to create a brand-new production pipeline. “Our primary objective was to honor Lincoln’s wonderful illustrations, to adapt them as faithfully as we were able,” he says. “We set out to make a beautiful show — one that would stand out in a veritable ocean of captivating content — and that’s exactly what our incredibly talented crew has done! A small group of writers, artists and technical wizards at Nickelodeon teamed up with Xentrix Studios, a powerhouse animation studio in Bangalore, India, which also collaborated with us on Big Nate. They’re terrific partners, and they were willing to take a chance on a new production pipeline with us, so off we went!”

Skelly’s concept for the new pipeline was to emulate a live-action production: The team would design and build everything first — every character, set and prop — and then “film” the show in real time using Unreal Engine. “We would hire visualization artists who would, in effect, be our camera operators and gaffers — and they, with the directors, would go ‘on set’ and shoot the episode live by moving stand-in CG characters, define the blocking (like we would with live actors), establish preliminary lighting and then shoot coverage (multiple angles) of every beat of every scene,” says Skelly.

Both showrunners love the fact that the show tackles some fantastic storylines and delivers the goods in such a visually interesting package. “From a story standpoint, Max & the Midknights is incredibly complex,” says Flynn. “Not only are we tracking Max’s arc — her journey toward becoming a knight — but every character has an arc. So, we’re juggling every story thread throughout all of our first 20 episodes. Shout out to our incredible writers: We like to say we’re making a 440-minute movie!”

She adds, “I also think (and hope!) that audiences will enjoy how we’ve blended humor, heart and action, as well as real stakes. David and I knew very early on that since this story was set in a medieval world (with fire-breathing dragons and razor-sharp swords), the kids needed to be in real peril for audiences to be invested and for the story to be exciting and satisfying.”

‘David [Skelly] and I knew very early on that since this story was set in a medieval world, the kids needed to be in real peril for audiences to be invested, and for the story to be exciting and satisfying.’

— Co-executive producer and co-showrunner Sharon Flynn

 

“And it’s so incredibly cinematic,” Skelly chimes in. “The wide-screen format, the fluid camerawork and the lighting are positively stunning! We treat lighting as an essential storytelling tool, as opposed to simply illuminating the set: It supports and amplifies the emotional content of every scene. The textures make you want to touch your monitor while you’re watching the show! And the animation is so wonderfully charming! It’s done on twos to emulate stop motion. We use a ‘tilt-shift lens’ technique to make everything look miniature — like they’re tiny stop-motion puppets filmed on a real stage. As a result, every scene is imbued with an indescribable feeling of warmth and nostalgia — but at the same time it all looks so fresh, innovative and exciting!”

When asked about their animation influences, Flynn and Skelly offer a wide range of classic favorites. “From a performance standpoint, we wanted to evoke a feeling of the classic Rankin/Bass holiday TV specials from the 1960s and ’70s, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” says Skelly. “And the extraordinary handmade craftsmanship of The Nightmare Before Christmas was a huge source of inspiration. For the filmmaking, we looked closely at Peter Jackson’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings — I asked all of our directors to use the same lens set as the [director of photography] Andrew Lesnie. And for costumes, color and charm: Michael Curtiz’s 1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood!”

Making Medieval Magic

The duo hopes audiences will be inspired and captivated by their show’s memorable characters and stories. “Early on, we did some focus testing, and one kid said that Max was brave, and she made them feel brave too,” recalls Flynn. “That always stuck with me. In addition to being fun and exciting, I hope Max & the Midknights makes kids (and anyone who watches) feel brave!”

Skelly concludes, “Look, this show truly has it all: It’s funny, exciting and unabashedly heartfelt. There are laugh-out-loud moments and moments where the story will bring people to happy tears. Our goal is to give audiences a surprisingly satisfying, emotionally cathartic experience as they go on this epic journey with Max and her friends. And thematically, we hope our audiences will be left with a feeling of empowerment. Sharon has deftly woven that theme into every episode of the series. I think our title sequence song, written by our composers, the immensely talented Leticia Wolf and Matt Mahaffey, really sums up that theme in the lyrics: ‘I wanna make my own destiny!’”

 

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Max & the Midknights premieres on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. on Nickelodeon. The rollout begins with the first episode, which is now on YouTube.