When it comes to the world of Nickelodeon, animated series like SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly Oddparentsand Avatar: The Last Airbender are only a small part of the whole. With the children’s network branching out to create new worlds, some universes that have become big hits amongst the fan community in the past weren’t able to survive. During a recent discussion at the SCAD Animation Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, a major animator responsible for a series that garnered plenty of attention had some strong words for Paramount. Following their show’s cancellation, the animator didn’t hold anything back when discussing her character’s fate.
At this year’s Savannah College of Art and Design Animation Festival, Tiny Chef co-creator Ozlem Akturk discussed the creation of the titular character and how the miniature culinary expert became an internet sensation. Even before the Nickelodeon series, the Tiny Chef was taking the internet by storm and appearing in commercials for DoorDash and Priceline.com, proving that there was a serious groundswell for the pint-sized restaurant enthusiast. Despite garnering attention from fans and two seasons at Nickelodeon, Akturk explained that the Skydance/Paramount merger was a big part of the reason why the Tiny Chef cable series is no more.
While the Tiny Chef was saved online, there will not be future seasons of the Nickelodeon series, something that the co-creator was more than willing to discuss. As Ozlem fleshed out during the SCAD panel, the contract was up for The Tiny Chef Showand the merger between Paramount and Skydance meant that executives weren’t willing to “re-up the contract” as Akturk explained. “It was a sad moment for us,” Ozlem stated, “We didn’t know what we’d do financially, so we decided that we were going to put out the viral campaign video to save the show and see if the fans could support us. Stop motion animation is very expensive, but we love what we do. The fans are amazing, and they helped us to keep going. Our video became viral, and there were so many articles written about saving the show; we think Nickelodeon hated us for that.”
The Tiny Chef Lives
Tiny Chef’s Ozlem Akturk also described how her original pitch for the series wasn’t meant to be aimed at preschoolers, but instead was meant to be a cooking show that could be enjoyed by the whole family. “I wasn’t planning on it originally being a preschool show, but that’s how it happened. My next project will be something different. What I pictured for the show was that I loved cooking, and I wanted it to be a real cooking show that would bring people together. Executives think kids aren’t that smart, but kids get it. I was like, ‘Why are you treating them like that? They’re smart and they deserve so much more!”
Akturk also mentioned how The Tiny Chef Show was a property that she was deadset on retaining the rights to. As the co-creator explains, she and her fellow co-creator, Rachel Larsen, made sure that they retained the intellectual property in case cancellation was on the way, which turned out to be the right move. As Ozlem explained, “We already had a social media presence from the very beginning, and we had friends who didn’t retain the intellectual property for their work, and their projects were shelved. Whoever wanted to do the series, we were not selling the I.P., and we were really strong on that. Sometimes, when a series gets cancelled, it just disappears, and we love our baby, so we’re going to protect it. We were freelancing originally when Nickelodeon picked up the series, and we could continue that path if need be. As a creator, you need to protect your story if you love it.”
As mentioned previously, there won’t be future seasons of The Tiny Chef Show on Nickelodeon, but the stop-motion character is set to continue online. As Ozlem noted during her talk, the show’s Instagram Account originally had around six hundred thousand followers before the controversy and now sits at nearly six million in total. There is clearly a major backing for the pint-sized culinary worker, Nickelodeon series or no.
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