Filmmaker Natasha Kline treasures her childhood memories with her many Mexican-American cousins and is now turning those “recuerdos” into a new animated comedy series. Disney Branded Television has ordered Klines’s Primos.
The series is partly biographical and deals with family relations and children’s empowerment, according to Kline “Primos is set in childhood summers spent with my cousins under one roof, and the comedy that’s borne from that wonderfully hectic setting,” and she continues. “As a kid, I didn’t see myself or my culture represented onscreen, so I’m excited to share my family dynamic through these new Disney characters and stories.”
Disney’s greenlighting of the show is a significant accomplishment for Kline with Mickey Mouse’s company, where she has worked in various capacities in two other Disney Channel animated series for a few years. She directed Big City Greens, in which she also wrote and storyboarded a few episodes, and worked briefly as a writer on Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
With Primos Kline, she is now donning the hat of executive producer, her first major production credit on her IMDb page. She is also credited as a writer. The show introduces Tater, an eccentric 10-year-old girl with big dreams who is unaware of her exceptional qualities. That changes when her 12 cousins, “primos” in Spanish, move in for the summer, helping her discover just what is so special about herself.
“It’s been especially gratifying to see Natasha directing more than 30 episodes of our #1 series Big City Greens while also creating her own new show that bears her authentic comedic voice and her family’s culture and values,” says Meredith Roberts, senior vice president/general manager of Television Animation with Disney Branded Television. “We’re looking forward to delivering it to kids and families worldwide.”
Produced by Disney Television Animation, each half-hour Primos episode will consist of two 11-minute stories. Tater’s aspirations and larger-than-life imagination are seen through entries in her super-secret diary, which turn her deepest thoughts into grandiose animation sequences.
Kline has more than a decade of experience in animation. She spent six years and a half as a storyboard artist and designer on Comedy Central’s multiple-Primetime Emmy-winning series South Park. Before coming to Disney, she freelanced for various animated projects like Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold!, The Jungle Movie and Pinky Malinky, and DreamWorks Animation’s Home: The Adventures of Tip and Oh, Too Loud! and Harvey Street Kids. She also worked as a story artist in Warner Bros.’ LEGO Ninjago movie and as a storyboard artist in Netflix’s Bojack Horseman.
The filmmaker is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, where she earned a degree in illustration, and studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts.
Featured Photo: Natasha Kline (Disney/Craig Sjodin)
