FableFriday: Polly Searles, Producer

Polly Searles has some serious street cred. With a rich production past, Polly has worked on theme park rides, America’s Most Wanted episodes, commercials, and children’s programming.

“I love the inside scoop of how things work! It’s like being in the know,” Polly said.

As a producer at FableVision Studios, Polly manages the schedule, budget, deliverables, and her team, and she does so with a cheerful, helpful, calm-under-pressure attitude and a not-so-secret chocolate stash. Polly’s a leader that cares about her team first and foremost, and has the tales to prove it.

She has stories about a TV shoot in Nowhere, Texas, U.S.A. that had one restaurant and one hotel to its name, work on a children’s show, and of course, the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios.

As this month’s FableFriday, Polly shares some of her production stories, her love of the ballet, as well as some tricks of the project management trade.  

Can you share a bit about your background in media?  
I’ve been working in media for – well, let’s just say – a long time. I started out at WCVB Channel 5 Boston working on a children’s series called Catch A Rainbow and at the time they were pushing the limit of new technology using Ultimatte green screens. My background in film and video is diverse – 16mm, 35mm, and Omnimax (Back to the Future: The Ride for the Universal Studios theme park), commercials and corporate videos, and continues to today’s digital age with CDs, websites, and mobile apps. 

One of the great things about working in media is that you never know what fun facts you will accumulate – ask me about the Mayan calendar, or how a Titleist golf ball is made, or whether elephants prefer butterscotch candies over peanuts…

What was your past experience in production work prior to joining FableVision?
Back to the Future: The Ride was a year long adventure in Housatonic, Massachusetts where Berkshire Motion Pictures was located. The project was a “ride film” shot using motion control photography and miniature sets: a programmed eight passenger car "travels" with the images on the Omni dome. In the studio they installed a small Omni dome with a single working ride car so that the car and camera moves could be programmed together. I worked in the production office and one of my favorite jobs was that when dailies came back I rode in the car with the director (Doug Trumbull) to take notes because the editor who would normally do it, couldn’t stomach the motion of the car. I’ve always been a ride fanatic, and this one I got to do on a weekly basis. I did get down once to ride the real one in Florida and it was a proud moment. Every movement was so very familiar even after more than a year away from it. I could anticipate all the turns and bumps.

And I also did a segment (just a one-time deal) for America’s Most Wanted – I got a call from a director who asked if I could go to Texas the next day and stay for two weeks to tape an AMW episode. We stayed in the Days Inn next to the Dairy Queen and ran a short-term production office out of the room. Houston was about an hour away and after a few days on the phone I had hired a crew, set up casting, and we were ready to start taping on locations. It was a very intense experience and I’m still in touch with friends that I made down there.

Everyone has one (and we ask every time), what’s your journey to FableVision story?
I had the good fortune to work with several other FableVisionaries in earlier days.  I stayed in touch with them (as you do with good people) and when I learned about FableVision, it went high on my radar as the place to be. I waited for a while, but eventually the stars aligned and I got the chance to join the team!

What is your favorite part of being a producer at FableVision?
Every day is different. Every project is different. The team is always great.

How did you learn to be a project manager? What is it about the work that appeals to you?
I’ve always been the organizer in my family – the gene comes straight down from my father who was Dutch and an engineer. What appeals to me about project management is that every project is unique and has a different challenge to solve. To me, good producing is often about problem solving – how can you create the best product possible within the parameters of schedule, budget, and creative needs. I often watch a show and imagine what it must have taken to produce it.

You’re known for being especially cool under pressure. Any tips for how to manage everything?  
Lists! I make lots and lots of lists. I have been teased about my highlighter collection, but it works for me. Folks here know that I like to keep chocolate on hand for high pressure projects and meetings; something I learned long ago on video shoots – feed your crew.

From Dinosaur Train to Mayan Mysteries, you tend to work on multiple long-term projects at the same time. Most recently it’s been Zoombinis. Can you share a bit about your history with the legacy product?  
I am very excited to be part of the team to bring it back. Everyone on the team is very enthusiastic about the project, and it’s great to be in a position to help make their individual jobs go as smoothly as possible. I have a strong personal connection with the game because my daughters, now 18 and 20, played it both at home and at school and were passionate fans. They remember the strategies they used and can still quote Arno. Bringing it back to life has increased my stature at home.

Any tricks for winning Zoombinis?
I would advise perseverance. The Zoombinis are so cute they are well worth the rescuing. For me, I finally had to give in to the fact that I would need to lose a few Zoombinis along the way in order to figure out each puzzle. It’s not about getting it right the first time – it’s the sense of accomplishment that comes from solving the logic of the puzzles, and seeing the Zoombinis successfully march on.

Rumor has it you’re a ballerina in your spare time. What’s your past with ballet slippers and how do you practice today?
I started ballet in second grade.  It was my first passion and a career aspiration until I was 16.  I continued dancing while at Boston University but then went on hiatus until my older daughter, who also loves it, recently talked me into taking a class with her. It was wonderful to get back to it, and now that she has left for college, I’m still taking the class. (My mother took ballet until she was 70 and had a hip replaced, so the habit seems to run in the family.)

You’re a big reader. What’s on your nightstand right now?
I do love to read and generally have several books going at the same time. Our house is loaded with books – every room and hallway has multiple bookcases. It makes me feel cozy to know that I can reach out and grab a book from wherever I am.

On my nightstand right now is All the Light We Cannot See, in my backpack for commuting is Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson, and on the couch in the living room is Pioneer Girl – the newly published autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder (big fan – grew up on her Little House books). In the queue is Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy – about four women who were undercover in the Civil War. Can’t wait.

What’s your favorite day trip to do with your family?
Right now my favorite day trip is actually going out to the Northampton/Amherst area to see my family! Both my daughters are there for school and it’s great – a short drive down the Mass Pike and I get to spend time with everyone.

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Favorites

Movie: Pride and Prejudice – the BBC series with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Book: Most recent favorite is A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.
Snack: Peanut butter and graham crackers
Hobby: Skating, knitting, very easy, fast projects
Summer-time meal: Fruit smoothies
Vacation spot: Weld, Maine. It’s a family vacation spot where I’ve spent time every summer that I can remember (starting at nine months old). In my college years I worked at a camp down the beach as a baker for a few years, and then as a swim instructor. Every year I make sure that I get there for at least a few days. 

Just B stops to smell the flowers

Just B is a small interactive musical toy. Produced by the FableVision Studios development team, Just B features minimal controls, aimless wandering, musical flowers, and something that looks like a bee. Just B will be part of a series of interactive experiments aimed at exploring play, narrative, and simplicity. To frolic with B, just use your space bar and the arrow keys. (Note that Just B will not play on mobile devices.)

Produced: FableVision Studios
Programming, art, and sound: Matt Brelsford
Ideas and moral support: Ryan McNulty, Jordan Bach, Margarita Dekoli, Brian Grossman, John Groh
Special thanks:  Sarah Ditkoff and Andrea Calvin for giving us the idea to make something about spring time, and providing marketing support

Zoombinis Kickstarter: Two Days Left!

With two days left, the teams at FableVision Studios, TERC, and Learning Games Network are rallying  to the end of the Zoombinis Kickstarter campaign – Tuesday, March 24 (the last day of Sandbox Summit), as we push to reach our stretch goal! Get behind-the-scenes in our developer diaries:

With a summer release for the  iPad and Android tablets, this beloved, award-winning, educational game from the ’90s follows the Zoombinis (small blue creatures) along their logical journey to Zoombiniville. The successful $50,000 Kickstarter will bring Zoombinis to the PC, Mac, and Kindle Fire.

But wait, there’s more! If Zoombinis raises an additional $80,000 through the kickstarter, we'll be able to finalize development on an enhanced Zoombiniville and other fun extras to be peppered throughout the game.

Help us reach this goal by sharing our Kickstarter with your friends and family. Join the Journey and keep up to date on the Kickstarter campaign here.

FableVision Says Goodbye to Soup2Nuts Animation Studio

Cities have always been hubs — that’s not news to anyone — and Boston has been on the map as a hub for creative, smart media for years. So when we heard that our friends at Soup2Nuts Animation Studio had closed their doors, we felt a significant loss to our community. Soup was considered a real Boston animation fixture, and produced amazing work, including “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist,” “WordGirl” for PBS Kids, and “Astroblast” for Sprout/NBC Kids. Soup2Nuts was one of the local studios keeping animators local. 

 "Soup2Nuts will be missed as one of the vibrant shops in the Boston area making great media for kids," FableVision founder Peter H. Reynolds said. Seventeen years ago, FableVision sprung out of the same 'mothership,' Tom Snyder Productions, founded by teacher-turned-media maestro Tom Snyder.

"While we are sad to see Soup close its doors, we feel solace in knowing that FableVision is a creative harbor that has — and will continue to — welcome Soup talent aboard," Reynolds said.

Reynolds saw the very first inkling of Soup2Nuts when he was working with Snyder at Tom Snyder Productions, long before it was sold to Torstar and then to Scholastic. While creating "Fizz & Martina" with Snyder, which taught kids how to problem solve math in context of a story, the pair decided to push the concept which started as narrated slideshows.

"If an effort to bring the slides to life, Tom and I looped three frames of each, and voila: 'SquiggleVision' was born," Reynolds explained. It soon caught the eye of Tim Brain at HBO who championed 'Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist' which really threw the accelerator switch. "What we had casually called 'The Retro Ranch' became Soup2Nuts – and the rest is history," he said.

Some FableVisionaries wanted to contribute their thoughts on Soup2Nuts, which are below. Their closing is a loss, and we feel that deeply. Here at FableVision, we’ll continue to foster that creative community, keeping great people doing great things as busy as we can. We commend Soup2Nuts on the remarkable body of work they produced — you did good.

Tone Thyne, Vice President of Creative
"Soup2Nuts blazed a trail through the cement of the Boston Animation Community and their footprints immortalize a place in the history of home-grown quality animation. We remain inspired by their years of groundbreaking work."

Bob Flynn, Director of Art and Animation
"When I arrived in this city just over a decade ago, Soup2Nuts was one of the first places I set foot in. I didn’t end up working there, but I’ve always thought of Soup as the Boston animation fixture. It was an especially great training ground—so many animation careers started there, including many a talented artist and producer that eventually found a home at FableVision. I really believe strongly in keeping Boston a stronghold for animators who love it here as much as I do. So let’s make sure we all work hard to support everyone through this challenging time."

Danielle Gillis, Producer
"Soup2Nuts has been a leader in the Boston creative community for 20 years," says Danielle Gillis, producer at FableVision Studios. "They brought together artists, writers, producers and comedians to spark smart, funny, and heartfelt content recognized around the world.

One of the things that made Soup2Nuts unique is that every member of the team had a great sense for story and an inherently funny sense of humor. Throughout the course of production everyone elevated an episode in their own way. We would start with scripts that made you laugh out loud, in the VO session the incredible cast of comedians would riff off the script, the audio editor would spend days trying to fit in as many jokes as possible and master the comic timing. Then the director brought in sight gags, clever twists, and their own vision, to which the storyboard artists would add another level of creativity, and then the animators would breathe these beloved characters to life. Smart and thoughtful sound design and imaginative post production added that final polish. As a producer, I would watch every episode many times over, and I always knew that we had created a gem when I was still laughing at the 20th screening."

Digital Learning Day Q&A with Suzi Wilczynski, founder of Dig-It! Games

Archaeologist, Social Studies teacher, video game designer – Suzi Wilczynski has done it all. With an arsenal of learning games, from the FableVision Studios-developed Mayan Mysteries to the soon-to-be launched Roman Town, Suzi’s studio Dig-It! Games has a plethora of digital learning resources for students. FableVision recently talked with Suzi about Digital Learning Day and the important role games play in the classroom.

What is Digital Learning Day and why is it important?

Digital Learning Day is a wonderful concept that the Alliance for Excellent Education brought to life back in 2012. It’s a day dedicated to celebrating innovative teaching practices nationwide that leverage instructional technology programs to improve student outcomes. Since it launched as a grassroots campaign, it has truly grown into a national celebration that is driving awareness and recognition of how technology enhances the learning experience in K-12 schools. I think the Alliance says it best when referring to Digital Learning Day as “not about technology, [but] about learning.”

Can you share a bit about the history of Dig-It! Games?

In 2005, I began my quest to create fun, interactive learning experiences for middle school students. As an educator and trained archaeologist, I had used archaeology to bring history to life while calling upon a wide range of skills, including math, science, and language arts. To make these subjects relevant to 21st century kids, I set out to create entertaining, interactive digital games that could be played at school or at home. My goal was to use games to engage children in an immersive way that goes beyond what they can experience from a textbook, film, or lecture. After learning everything I could about game design and playing more games than I care to admit, I released Roman Town in January 2010 to critical acclaim from parents, educators, and the education industry. In 2012, Dig-It! Games partnered with FableVision Studios to produce Mayan Mysteries, an award-winning puzzle-based adventure game about the ancient Maya. 2013 was all about math at Dig-It! Games, with the releases of math-based games Loot Pursuit: Tulum, MayaNumbers, and Can U Dig It! In 2014, we released a continuation of the Mayan Mysteries story, a sequel to the Loot Pursuit series in Pompeii, and mini-games, including Artifact Snatch and Maya Quiz. We’re so excited for what 2015 has in store. We just released our redesigned app for Roman Town and are looking forward to adding to our catalog of fun learning games for middle schoolers!

You have a wealth of background experience to pull from in the work you do now. We hear you like to play in the dirt. What was your experience as an archaeologist like?

One of the things I liked most about fieldwork was the opportunity to be in another country for an extended period of time. I loved getting the chance to actually experience the culture in a way you really can’t when you’re just visiting for a few days. I do have to admit though, I liked the dirt a lot too! I’m one of those weird people that actually likes studying dirt layers. Finding cool artifacts is fun, of course, but it’s the dirt that really tells the story. Archaeology is all about every day life—artifacts tell us what people ate, what they wore, and how they spent their time. But it’s the dirt that tells us when and how people used those things. Archaeology is pretty hard work—all that dirt is HEAVY!—but it was all worth it to see first hand how people lived in the past.

How did your past experience as a social studies teacher help you in the transition to game designer?

It does seem like teacher and game designer are really different, doesn’t it? Surprisingly, they’re not. A big part of games, especially the kind we make, is teaching something. Even games that aren’t strictly for learning have to teach players how to operate in their world. The fancy word for it is “user interface,” but really, it’s not so different from planning lessons that will engage your students. The goal with both is to communicate information quickly and easily in a form that resonates with your audience. Then you have to figure out how to seamlessly build on that knowledge through the course of a game, kind of like planning a class. Levels are very comparable to units in that knowledge of a specific feature set builds slowly through the level and completing the level shows mastery the way an end of unit test does. Even grading has a place in game design: when you really think about it, grading a test and scoring a level are virtually the same thing—they communicate the level of mastery for the content. Good games, like good lessons, require deep understanding not only of the game content but how the user will respond to it. In that, game designers do have an advantage over teachers. Feedback in games is immediate and leveling up requires full mastery of the content. That allows game designers to communicate directly with the player and know instantly when a feature does its job successfully.

Do you have any advice for teachers looking to implement more digital games in the classroom?

Teachers have always known that games add depth to lessons by engaging students’ imaginations and allowing them to find answers on their own and in their own way. Games on mobile devices, computers, and interactive whiteboards combine graphics, audio, and movement into a coherent whole. These games are interactive and immersive, forcing the player to be truly invested in the outcome. Players are encouraged to strengthen weaker skills while simultaneously taking advantage of their proficiencies. For teachers looking to add digital games in the classroom, there are a few common denominators found in successful interactive learning games, such as being authentic and skills-based. Teachers should consider how different games can be woven into the curriculum based on content. For example, reinforcement games can be played just after students have begun to master new skills. Most importantly—teachers should show their students that they’re excited about adding games into the classroom; when teachers are excited, students are too. Just like playing digital games, enjoy blending fun and learning in the classroom with the addition of these tools to your curriculum!

FableVision Studios partnered with Dig-It! Games to create multiple games, including the award-winning Mayan Mysteries. Tell us a bit about the game and how it applies to digital-game-based learning?

Mayan Mysteries is an exciting educational adventure that turns middle school students into real archaeologists as they explore the mysterious world of the ancient Maya and learn about their remarkable civilization. In the one-of-a-kind puzzle-based online game, players embark on a thrilling expedition with “Team Q” to catch a secretive thief. Play involves visiting excavation sites, identifying and carving dates into the Maya calendar, using real archaeological tools such as trowels, picks, and brushes to uncover authentic artifacts, finding hidden objects, creating maps, using the Maya number system, and more. Mayan Mysteries is true game-based learning: it is standards-based, cross-curricular, purpose-aligned, interactive, age-appropriate, and fun. It can be played at home or at school, and is ideal for interactive learning in the classroom. Its authentic content, contributed by a world-renowned Maya expert, aligns to multiple National Standards, including: National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies and Common Core Standards for Language Arts and Mathematics. Players are immersed in a long-term gaming experience that sparks imagination, excites young minds, and teaches new ideas. It motivates and encourages independent and critical thinking for all learning styles, which are critical components of digital-game-based learning. I’m very proud that Mayan Mysteries has consistently ranked among the top downloads on iTunes. Players around the world are downloading the game that engages kids and brings history to life.

Dig-It! Games produced their first game, Roman Town, five years ago. Now you’re releasing an updated Roman Town for the iPad. What can you tell us about the game and how it’s changed?

We are very excited to celebrate the five-year anniversary of Roman Town with a brand new version of the interactive game. The original Roman Town was created in a CD-ROM format, which met the needs of students and teachers when it launched back in 2010. What kids want and need from educational games has changed dramatically since we first introduced Roman Town almost five years ago. Today, Roman Town is an intuitive social studies-based problem-solving app for the iPad. The game engages and inspires students as it teaches them about the ancient civilization through interactions with characters, exploration of the ruins, and artifacts woven into its mini-games. Players explore Pompeii, play ancient games, and help Charlie and Fiona (the popular characters from Dig-It! Games’ series of top-rated games) find clues to track down the infamous Ladrone. The new Roman Town includes even more challenging puzzles to exercise strategic thinking, spatial reasoning, memory, logic, and math skills, among others. The factual information about Roman life has been expanded and new graphics create a truly immersive experience. Most importantly, today’s Roman Town is even more fun than the original!

Five words that describe Dig-It! Games:

1. Fun – When kids and adults play our games, they can’t help but be entertained!
2. Educational – Our games incorporate age-appropriate content in math, science, social studies, and language arts into interactive learning experiences. Authentic and accurate information that conforms to curriculum mandates and Standards of Learning is built into every game we produce.
3. Engaging – Dig-It! Games engages different learning styles and allow learners to proceed at their own pace and explore topics that are meaningful to them. 
4. Cultural – Our games are tools that allow kids to explore cultures, expand their knowledge, and discover a love of learning.
5. Inspirational – Through our seamless blend of fun and learning, we seek to foster the joy of intellectual discovery and inspire kids to think differently about learning.

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Suzi Wilczynski launched Dig-It! Games in 2005. Wilczynski is a trained archaeologist with nearly 10 years of dig experience, including projects in Greece and Israel. Formerly a middle-school teacher, Wilczynski noticed a lack of classroom options for teaching students about the fundamentals and importance of archaeology. She developed a continuingly expanding suite of learning games including Mayan Mysteries and Roman Town to give classroom instructors and parents fun, interactive tools to help students learn about the ancient civilizations through archaeology.