December 2015

So we thought that it would be fun to combine creation
with our faith and use it like an allegory for a
picture of God’s love for us. That’s what we kind
of leaned on, and then we decided that we could
call it “Owlegories” combining owls and allegories.
So we were excited because we didn’t think that
anyone had done that before.
So that’s kind of the genesis of this whole project.
(laughing) Yes, I saw that in the teaser where
the professor explains owls and allegories. I
thought that it was really cute.
Tom: It really was like a light switch moment. I
thought, “Oh yeah. I think it could work”.
What is your target age group for Owlegories?
We’ve said about three to seven, but some of the
older kids will find it really unique and start watching
it. So we really have tried to target the same
market that Veggie Tales has tried to market. So
that’s kind of our age range, I think.
So I understand the entire family has had input
on creating Owlegories, and your children
from what I’ve seen on your webpage look so
excited about it. Did they have any input into
its creation, and are they still involved?
Absolutely! Even from the very beginning we
included them in the process. Creating an app
took a little time, so I would take them to a page
and ask them what should be interactive on the
page. So they were very involved in it right from
the start.
When we started doing the show, we had the idea
which we discussed with one of our co directors,
of including the children in the show. So their
voices are the baby owls in the very beginning.
So we always talk about fun ways to open and
close the show with the baby owls. They end up
throwing out ideas that we always talk about what
else we want to use that we’ve seen in the Bible
in the show.
Recently, we had been talking about the bind
because we haven’t done a bind yet and that’s
mentioned in the Bible. We also talked about the
Lamb of God, and what that means. So they’re
always aware of the concept of the show, they
really love to throw out ideas. It’s been really fun
from that game point.
I read every episode and we would do a draft.
Then I’ll do a table read- literally is a table read at
our dinner table- which is reading at our table and
discussing with my kids what they like, and what
they didn’t like. So they are involved in every step
of the process, and even when we’re making fun
videos just for fun online to get to know the DVD’s.
Julie: They also have fun in trying to help come up
with some of the names of some of the characters.
*laughing* I liked “Devlin”. I thought that was
a really creative name. Now tell me a little bit
more about the characters of Devlin and Fink.
What is their purpose in each of the episodes?
We wanted someone who was always going to
try to thwart whatever plan the Professor had for
the kids. So we always wanted to have a challenge-
almost like the Captain Hook of the show.
He’s always trying to battle in where ever they’re
going or whatever they are trying to do. He’s so
misguided and he is the “bad guy”, but he doesn’t
really want to be a bad guy. He’s just trying too
hard.
Then we see Fink, who is just so misguided. He
really wants to have Devlin as his best friend. So
the two are just fun to play with because they’re
always bumbling, and obviously failing, but we
have a lot of fun, too. In later episodes, we see
him interact with the Professor more which gives
us more of the back story of Devlin. We were even
thinking we needed to look at his family members
as well.
Julie: They are really harmless.
That’s good, because in the trailer, as a mom,
I was concerned that the character of Devlin
would take on more of the role of Satan. I was
wondering how far the character of Devlin was
going to go in that direction.
Julie: Yeah, that was one of the actually my concerns,
too. I’m kind of protective mama bear when
we are running through it, and I am always checking
to ensure that we portray more light than darkness
always.
Tom: We didn’t want to get too scary for the kids,