‘Craig of the Creek’ Creators Talk Making a Grounded Show and Kids Being Kids

Craig of the Creek co-creators Matt Burnett and Ben Levin are interested in telling imagination-filled stories. The six episodes of the show we’ve seen make that much apparent.

The show, which has its on-air premiere tonight, follows three kids, Craig, J.P., and Kelsey, in 11-minute episodes focused on exploring a nearby creek constantly referred to as “the Creek” in various ways that includes homages and references to everything from Nancy Drew to Neon Genesis Evangelion without feeling overbearing.

ComicBook.com had a chance to speak with Burnett and Levin ahead of the premiere, and they talked about why they made Craig of the Creek and how Steven Universe prepared them for a show of their own in the first part of this interview.

In this second part, Burnett and Levin discuss what’s similar and different from their previous work, making a show about kids being kids, and more.

ComicBook.com: What makes Craig of the Creek different from what you’ve done before, and in what ways is it similar?

Matt Burnett: It takes place in a much more grounded world and they can never get too crazy, and there’s more rules to reality than there are to something of your own creation, so we’ve had to play within certain parameters in terms of the stakes. The risks that the characters are in, it’s never that they’re gonna fight a giant monster that’s going to eat them, but we still want it to have the feeling of watching an episode with those kinds of stakes, so it’s trying to find clever ways to impart that drama through these young kids in a very grounded reality.

Ben Levin: What Matt is saying, as writers, what you look for in a story is conflict, and so the conflict in this show, yeah, can’t be monsters, it’s gotta be something else though that the kids care about, so that’s one thing that makes it a little different is it’s not magical conflicts.

I think that when you have a grounded show of kids using the objects around them to make their armor and costumes and fun contraptions, as a kid watching, I think you’re really inspired to look at your own world differently, and feel like there’s something magical about the real world that you live in, because it is reflected like that in the cartoon.

Matt Burnett: And one of the things that I think makes Craig stand out from the work that we’ve done before is that for the most part, most of the stories are all from a kid point of view, and sometimes entirely involving kids. There might not be an adult seen on screen for an episode. So really getting into the mind of kids and trying to show so many different kids, the way they play and everything from their point of view and not really having kind of an adult perspective to comment on it, and just fully investing ourselves in a kid’s perspective, I think has been different, and a lot of fun. It’s created a very high-energy, optimistic show. It’s got a different energy than some of the other stuff we’ve done.

From what I’ve seen of the show, it says a lot about finding somewhere where kids can kind of just be kids. Is that an intentional message you’ve been trying to infuse, or is that sort of a happy byproduct of focusing on characters?

Ben Levin: I mean, the show is about kids being kids. And I think that that’s basically the essence of Craig’s character. That part is very intentional in that in the pilot, you see this, but, Craig is at odds with his older brother. His older brother Bernard just wants to be a grownup, he really is focused on the future. And Craig really believes in being a kid, and the power of being a kid, and that’s what their main conflict is about. And that’s what’s so great about the Creek, is that it’s this blank slate where no adults are, and they can do whatever they want, and that’s perfect for a character like Craig. All he wants to do is be a kid. He doesn’t want to grow up, he doesn’t wish he was older, he likes where he is right now, and playing and being young and wild.

In that way, I think it’s very intentional. That’s the essence of Craig, and sort of how I looked at things as a kid when I would see movies like Stand By Me, and they’d be like, “Ugh, this is the best times of my life,” and I was 11, like, “Yeah, this is the best time of my life! I don’t wanna grow up!” So I’m trying to channel that.

Matt Burnett: I think that we want to empower kids and encourage them to kind of be inventive and creative on their own and I think that throughout our careers of working in a space for kids and working at Cartoon Network, we’ve really always tried to give our young audience as much credit as we can. I feel like sometimes … we don’t want to dumb down the material, and we always try and talk up to them and I think that kids enjoy that, and I think with this show, we wanted to kind of create something that is very encouraging to them and speaking their language. This is all stuff that you guys are doing, and look how cool it is.

Ben Levin: Yeah, it’s all about DIY, make your own fun, make your own toys. You can do cool stuff.

Do you each have favorite characters on the show? Personally, so far, I’m a big fan of Kelsey and her inner monologues.

Ben Levin: Great! I mean, they’re all great. I think that the main three are so special to us in their own ways. Kelsey’s got a lot of weird depth to her. She’s definitely got a lot going on, and a lot in her head, which is so much fun to explore, because you always feel like you’re scratching the iceberg of some weird fantasy novel with her.

J.P. is super fun to write for, just because he’s so out there and just can come up with all these non sequitur about what he’s thinking.

And I think Craig is just a fun outlet, at least me personally, for that person I used to be who never wanted to grow up and was just bristled against everyone who wanted to be an adult. I really like channeling that person again.

Matt Burnett: Yeah, I think it’s hard for us to pick a favorite of the three. They all have their moments that they shine and stuff, but I think I’ve been enjoying Craig a lot lately, because I think that Craig has such an optimism, but he’s a kid, he’s a little bit uninformed of some things. Some of his optimism is silly and stuff, but it’s never called into question, and so sometimes his big plans are kind of a little big ridiculous, and they maybe don’t make the most sense, but I think that’s what gives a lot of fun, because everyone’s just like, “Oh, yeah, no, that does sound like the best plan, Craig!” And then it just creates a lot of fun situations.

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Craig of the Creek will debut on Cartoon Network tonight, March 30th, at 6:25 PM ET. New episodes will air on both Mondays and Fridays “this spring,” according to the network. Multiple episodes are currently available to watch on the Cartoon Network App.