May 30th, 2023 
Jackson Murphy 
Television duo Nick Stanton and Devin Bunje (writers on Disney live-action series Zeke and Luther) now team-up as creators and executive producers of a new animated comedy for The Mouse House. Hailey’s On It!, starring Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) as the title character, premieres Thursday June 8th at 8pm on Disney Channel and Disney XD. Episodes begin streaming June 9th on Disney+. Stanton and Bunje can’t wait for audiences to embrace Hailey and join her on quite the rollercoaster ride. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length, structure and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Was creating a Disney animated series on your lifelong To-Do List?
Nick Stanton: (laughs) It was! Since our twenties, it has been. Our first job was on a Disney animated TV show. We love the whole culture here, and I think we always saw ourselves creating a show eventually. I think we got a good one!
JM: I think you do too. Teen girl Hailey has a To-Do List, but it’s not your ordinary one. She has to accomplish these goals in order to save the world. So Devin, why Hailey? How did you create her, and why is she ‘the chosen one’ in this case?
Devin Bunje: (laughs) We thought it would be fun if it’s sort of an ordinary kid that most people could relate to. She’s sort of risk-averse. She’s not really looking to do anything crazy. In fact, every time she comes up with an idea she wants to do, she just puts it on this list and plans to put it off. But she gets a little tip from the future, and she eventually gets the confidence and ability to do all these crazy things she wrote down on her list. That is her first step towards becoming a great person that does great things in the future.
JM: You’re right. She’s a really good person. The future chose a good person, and you chose a good person for your lead character. And Nick, for her this really isn’t a chore. This is an incredible mission that she’s taking on.
NS: Yeah, although there are some on there that are just chores. That’s the great thing. She didn’t know that this list was gonna be a big deal at all when she wrote it. Everything is on there from ‘Spend all your old gift cards’ to ‘Teach a cat to play the piano’. Random things… but she knows that eventually, when she completes the list, that’s her first step to these great things. We like that there are some episodes that are just kind of ordinary episodes, like spending all your old gift cards, but then that would take them on an adventure. They go on a road trip. There’s one burger restaurant that they have to spend a gift card on. We like starting them in a small place.
Nick Stanton and Devin Bunje
JM: Relatable storylines — and some extravagant episodes, like a musical episode. And you get to use the talents of Auli’i Cravalho, who voices Hailey. She was also the voice of Moana and starred in “All Together Now”. Devin, how was it working with her and her getting to sing and really perform on this show?
DB: Honestly, it’s been great. Not only is she a fantastic actress and singer but she has some serious comedy chops. That was the one question mark we had going in. She’s funny, she’s likable, she can do sincerity… but she had never done anything with hard comedy jokes in it, at least as far as we had seen. But when she came into the booth, she nailed it. We can’t sing her praises any higher.
JM: She feels so natural in this role. I’ve watched the first couple episodes, including the introductory half hour, which is terrific. It gets you into this world. And one of the core elements of it is her friendship with Scott, which could become much more. Nick, why was this important for you guys to establish right away and have this as a key aspect?
NS: It’s really the central dynamic of the show. We thought it was interesting to do a best friend duo that’s a boy and a girl, but they might be more than that. It’s sort of Jim and Pam on the first season of “The Office”. I know it’s a little sophisticated for a kids animated show, but we think our audience will invest in it. I have a test audience with my two kids who are in the demo, and they certainly are invested. And there’s gonna be a lot of twists and turns in their relationship along the way.
JM: I’ve always found that in TV and movies it’s really interesting to see a guy-girl friendship with ‘Will it become something else or will it not? — Are they just really, really good friends? And how is that dynamic?’
NS: In looking at my own kids, my son’s best friend is a girl. My kids aren’t at the age where they’re dating yet, but I could see that becoming complicated when they get into that age. I think it will be very relatable and we think how they play off of each other is a fun dynamic.
JM: Devin, I like the fact that you establish right away that Christine, this other girl who comes into play, is one of these popular girls in school and on social media, but [as Hailey says] “she’s actually nice”. On so many shows, that girl is a mean girl. But she’s not here.
DB: Yeah, we really wanted to play against the trope of the popular girl at school being a jerk to people. It’s actually the opposite. She’s almost annoyingly sweet and nice. Even when she ends-up asking out Scott in front of Hailey, she can’t help but say “Yes” because she knows it’s in a polite, friendly way. We really like going against that trope.
JM: Nick, Beta the bear is a very fun sidekick character.
NS: Yes. And he sort of started as a sidekick character but now I would almost call it a trio — Hailey, Scott and Beta going on these adventures. He is a futuristic smartphone who Hailey has put in the body of one of her stuffed animals. He’s about a foot and a half tall and he goes with Hailey everywhere she goes. It’s kind of “Toy Story” rules. When other people are around he’s just a regular toy. But when they’re not, he’s part of the group. He’s got a personality. He really dislikes Scott. He’s always ripping on Scott. He’s a super fun character. The crew loves him. We’ve already got tons of crew fan art of Beta. He’s on my smartphone right now. We love him.
JM: Devin, the vibe of this show is very loose and fun. What you also incorporate in it are detailed and sharp songs. A lot of skill put into the school musical episode.
DB: We’ve had an incredible collaboration with our composers and songwriters, Matthew Tishler and Andrew Underberg. They really click with our sensibilities. Early on we wrote this “Tunnel of Love” song in the premiere and had a couple people take a swing at it. They blew our minds with their take, and that’s the one that you hear in that episode. So we brought them on to do everything, and they have constantly impressed us. And they brought a fun little genre bending version of all the different musicals that you know into this musical about hats at a local high school. That episode was really fun, and we’ve got a ton more really fun music coming out.
JM: Good. Those hats are gigantic. I know you guys had the chance to work on “Phineas and Ferb” a little bit. Like this show, it had a lot of imagination behind it. Nick, [how] did your time working on “Phineas and Ferb” help you coming into “Hailey’s On It!”?
NS: My son is named Phineas, actually, after the main character.
JM: Wow!
NS: There was a positivity in “Phineas and Ferb”. It was a new adventure every day. They were going to do the most with that one day of their summer. We kind of wanted that energy with “Hailey’s On It!” too. The whole show has a positive vibe. She’s doing these things with big stakes but they’re just kids going on an adventure every day.
JM: There are tons of possibilities that you can do with this show. Devin, do you already know exactly how many things are in Hailey’s book? What is that number? Are we going into the thousands? Do you already know that, or are you kind of evolving that as the process is going on of making it?
DB: We can’t tip anything, Jackson!
JM: (laughs)
DB: But there’s definitely several hundred. We aren’t gonna nail it down to a specific number at this point but it’s probably not in the thousands.
NS: Unless we get a bunch of seasons. Then maybe we discover some hidden pages on that list. (laughs)
JM: Maybe! I was gonna say maybe this is like a “Simpsons” case where this show will just never, never end and you will have to add more and more into the book!
DB: Exactly! We actually have an episode where we find out she can add to the list, and then she has to end-up completing that list item as well. So it will happen.
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