We were lucky to catch up with Rick Suvalle recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I’ve been a professional television writer for over 20 years, always with the ultimate goal of one day creating my own series. And while I’ve been fortunate to have been given the opportunity to develop series, based on other people’s I.P., like “Thomas & Friends,” I still wanted to create something wholly original. I had pitched and sold several original ideas over the years, but most of them stalled out at some stage in the development process. I wasn’t sure what the secret ingredient was that would take things over the top, until I stopped searching and decided to create something more personal. I have two daughters with Type 1 Diabetes, and my wife and I have always taught them that they can still do anything they set their minds to. And it was this “can do” attitude that inspired me to create “Dew Drop Diaries” (now on Netflix), a series about tiny but mighty, fairies-in-training who secretly look after families with children, helping them with the little things around the house, like finding a lost toy or making sure your first lost tooth actually makes it under your pillow before the tooth fairy arrives. But because the fairies are in training, they have wings, but they can’t fly yet, so they’re forced to solve problems with a kid-like logic, often employing techniques my own daughters would use. Ultimately the series is a love letter to my daughters, which makes it all the more special that the series got made and kids around the world can now see it. And while the show isn’t about Type 1 Diabetes, it is inspired by my T1D daughters. Beyond that, I’m a huge T1D advocate, formally serving on the Board of Directors for the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), so my hope is that my story can shed more light on this disease, which is why I made sure to also hire a Type 1 Diabetic on our crew, as well as casting Type 1 Diabetic actress Brec Bassinger (CW’s “Star Girl”) as one of the aspirational fairies on the show. This series is near and dear to my heart on many levels.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As I said above, I’ve been a professional television writer for over 20 years. I got my start thanks to a chance introduction to writer/producer Morgan Gendel, then a writer on “Law & Order.” Morgan had me out to the Universal Lot for lunch and we just hit it off – we both played clarinet in the 6th grade and we were both lactose intolerant. Morgan became a fast friend and mentor to me, reading and critiquing my scripts and getting me meetings and even my first agent came from a recommendation from Morgan. Eventually he went on to become the showrunner of Pamela Anderson’s post-“Baywatch” hit, “V.I.P.” and he gave me a job writing for the show. It was a ridiculously fun action-comedy series filled with car chases, explosions and homages to every great action movie we could think of. And even though I was just starting out, I learned so much about both writing and producing for television on my four years with the show. After “V.I.P.” I found myself writing movies for Hallmark and Syfy while dipping my toe into the animation world, where I had a chance to write for iconic franchises like “Spider-Man” and “Astro Boy.” But it wasn’t until around 2015 that I found myself writing for preschool animation and that became a real turning point for me. While there are a lot of limitations when writing for such a young audience, I loved the challenge, I loved pushing those boundaries and I loved the idea that even in some of the sillier shows, you’re still able to make a positive impact on the audience. My preschool animation career really took off when I was hired to write on Amazon’s “The Stinky & Dirty Show” where I quickly became the head writer on the series. After that a lot of doors opened for me, allowing me to write on and/or develop different series for various networks and studios. I was fortunate to get the opportunity to create the new “Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go” series for Mattel. It’s a 2D preschool version of the beloved series, where Thomas and his team are all now kid engines and they encounter kid-relatable issues like the fear of the dark or feeling left out. After that I went on to create my aforementioned original series, “Dew Drop Diaries” for DreamWorks where I’m serving as the Executive Producer of the show.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This business is full of ups and downs, with more downs than ups, even in a successful career. But the key is to keep believing in yourself, even during those down times. I remember, after getting my first big break on “V.I.P.,” the bubble burst for the world of syndicated television and I found myself struggling to find my next writing gig. I was even competing against my own agent’s other clients. I still toiled away daily on my own scripts, but after two years with no money coming in and the upcoming birth of my second daughter, I had to do some real soul searching. While I believed in myself, I knew it was time to consider getting a “real job.” But what real world skills did I actually have? I eventually saw an ad online for a marketing job in Malibu that required no prior experience, and it seemed like a potential option. I was surprised how easy it was to get an interview, so I put on a jacket and tie (something writers never do) and I drove out to Malibu where I found myself in a room with at least 30 other applicants. My heart sunk. But then they called us all into a conference room where things went from bad to worse when I learned it was a pyramid scheme where we had to sell knives to our family and friends, hoping to turn them into knife salespeople too. I remember the owner of the business saying, “This may not be the job for all of you, and if you don’t think it’s right, feel free to leave now.” I looked around the room and no one was getting up. And then I just said to myself, “Screw this. I’m a writer.” And I walked out the door. And then the craziest thing happened. On the drive home, in my jacket and tie, I got a call from my new agent who said, “Rick, I just got you a writing assignment for a potential Syfy Channel movie.” I was back! But the key was that I never stopped believing in myself. And even if I did end up having to take a “real job,” it would’ve just been another bump in the road, in a career filled with ups and downs.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

When I had an inkling that “Dew Drop Diaries” was about to get the greenlight I decided to read Bob Iger’s “The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company.” It’s part memoir and part tips on how to be a good manager. And the biggest takeaway for me was the idea that it’s okay to ask for help. You don’t want to be like an actor auditioning for a part on a western and being asked, “Do you know how to ride a horse?” And then pretend that you do and then show up on set and fall off the horse on your very first day. Throughout Bob’s career he was smart enough to ask for help when he didn’t know how certain things worked. And for me, stepping into a huge job like showrunning an animated series, where I knew how to run a writer’s room and how to coax good performances out of voice actors, I didn’t know how to give notes on music or lighting. I didn’t have the prior experience or the vocabulary to even articulate what I wanted. But because of Bob’s book, I didn’t try to fake my way through those moments, instead I asked people with more experience to help me understand what I was looking at and how to properly communicate what I wanted to say. I think approaching the job as a perpetual student, and asking questions, allowed me to become partners with the people who worked on the show, instead of becoming a clueless dictator. As a result, I think everyone on the show felt ownership in the series and worked even harder to make something great.

Contact Info:

• Website: ricksuvalle.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-suvalle-003b1b44/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RickSuvalle
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1054974/