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Dream Productions

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Not to be confused with The-Dream production.

Dream Productions
GenreComedy
Created byMike Jones
ShowrunnerMike Jones
Written byMike Jones
Voices of
Music byNami Melumad
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes4
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Jaclyn Simon
  • Sabine Koch O'Sullivan
Cinematography
  • Arjun Rihan
  • Jesse Hollander
Editors
  • Katie Schaffer Bishop
  • Serena Warner
  • Tim Fox
Running time27–31 minutes
Production companyPixar Animation Studios
Original release
NetworkDisney+
ReleaseDecember 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)

Dream Productions is an American animated television miniseries produced by Pixar Animation Studios for the streaming service Disney+. Developed and created by Mike Jones, it serves as an interquel set between the events of Inside Out (2015) and Inside Out 2 (2024). Dream Productions follows Paula Persimmon (Paula Pell) who teams with Xeni (Richard Ayoade) to create the next big tween-dream. Jones served as the series' showrunner.

Jones was announced to be creating a series based on Inside Out at Pixar in June 2023. The series was being produced concurrently with the sequel film Inside Out 2. Its title was unveiled in May 2024. Nami Melumad provided the score for all four episodes. The four-episode series runs approximately 82 minutes long.[1]

Dream Productions premiered on Disney+ on December 11, 2024.[2]

Voice cast

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  • Paula Pell as Paula Persimmon, an acclaimed dream director.[2]
  • Richard Ayoade as Kenny "Xeni" Dewberry, an overly confident daydream director, Jean's nephew, and Paula's new A.D.[2]
  • Kensington Tallman as Riley Andersen, a girl appearing in different moments from childhood to pre-teen in whose mind the emotions live.[2]
  • Maya Rudolph[2] as Jean Dewberry, the head of Dream Productions, Xeni's aunt and Paula's boss.[3]
  • Amy Poehler as Joy, a yellow emotion who often takes the lead in Riley's emotional life and is in charge of giving her assurance in her everyday life and helping her enjoy it to the fullest.[2]
  • Liza Lapira as Disgust, a green emotion who uses Riley's likes and dislikes to discern whether something could poison her physically or socially.[2]
  • Tony Hale as Fear, a purple emotion responsible for protecting Riley from threats in the physical world.[2]
  • Lewis Black as Anger, a red emotion who is in charge of fighting to keep things fair for Riley.[2]
  • Phyllis Smith as Sadness, a blue emotion who helps Riley process upsetting experiences and seek help from others when she needs it.[2]
  • Ally Maki[2] as Janelle Johnson, Paula's former A.D. who dreams of making her very own dreams and becomes a successful director herself.[3]
  • Lauren Holt as "Teen Riley",[4] a manifestation of Riley's teenage self that she drew when she was younger represented by a traditionally animated doodle on loose-leaf paper who works as a barista but later cast in a dream.
  • Diane Lane as Mrs. Andersen, Riley's mother.
  • Kyle MacLachlan as Mr. Andersen, Riley's father.
  • Grace Lu as Grace, one of Riley's best friends.
  • Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green as Bree, one of Riley's best friends.
  • Noah Bentley as C.B. ("Canadian Boyfriend"), the representation of Riley's ideal boyfriend.

Episodes

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No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Part 1: The Dream Team"Valerie LaPointeMike JonesDecember 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)
Paula Persimmon is an acclaimed dream director from Dream Productions in Riley's mind. When her assistant director Janelle tries to tell her that she is planning on striking out on her own, Paula is too distracted on making a worthwhile dream for Riley. Paula decides to create a dream where Riley attends an upcoming school dance with Rainbow Unicorn making an appearance, despite Janelle feeling that Riley is too mature for that. The head of Dream Productions, Jean Dewberry, then promotes Janelle to be a new director, much to Paula's shock. Paula's dream at first goes well, but when Rainbow Unicorn comes out of a giant clam shell, it destroys the set and ate the Riley camera.
2"Part 2: Out Of Body"Valerie LaPointeMike JonesDecember 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)
Paula is assigned a new assistant, Jean's pretentious daydream director nephew Xeni, who believes that Riley's dreams should be more mature. Paula insists on doing things her way through, which results in another bad dream starring Rainbow Unicorn. Xeni's mocking results in Paula discharging him. Meanwhile, Janelle creates a new hit dream and Jean subtly warns Paula that she might be fired if she can't create a new good dream.
3"Part 3: Romance!"Austin MadisonMike JonesDecember 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)
Paula rehires Xeni and thanks to his influence, the dreams they create involving Riley taking a Canadian-based boyfriend ("C.B.") to the dance are doing well. Jean soon decides to give Paula the entire night to create a dream, which results in Paula once again taking over. Xeni, furious, soon creates another fake boyfriend to add in drama. This results in Paula and Xeni repeatedly sabotaging each other, overcrowding the set with fake boyfriends and disrupting Riley's mind to the point where she begins sleepwalking for the first time in her life, resulting in the camera moving on its own. In this unconscious state, Riley nearly falls off the stairs while the camera almost falls off a set. Jean, furious over the debacle, demotes Xeni to work at the local café with Jacob after Paula shifts the blame on him, while Paula is put under pressure to create another mature dream.
4"Part 4: A Night to Remember"Mike JonesMike JonesDecember 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)
Because of the sleepwalking incident, Jean begins taking over everyone's dreams by giving all of the directors locked scripts. Wanting to get back at Paula, Xeni creates a fake script for a bad dream and slips it into Paula's folder. Paula soon decides to quit, believing she doesn't know Riley at all. Conscience stricken, Xeni finds Paula and confesses his sabotage and that since Paula has resigned, his fake script has been reassigned to Janelle. When Paula tries to warn Janelle of this, Jean comes and actually approves of Xeni's script. When Paula, Xeni and Janelle become unwilling to direct, Jean fires them all. They manage to sneak back into Dream Productions where they soon remove the camera's reality distortion filter so that Riley can understand that it's all not real when the dream begins taking a toll on her, giving Riley a lucid dream. The dream is changed into a happy one and Riley soon decides to go to the dance with Bree and Grace. Because of Jean's behavior, she is demoted to working at the cafe with Jacob, Xeni becomes the new director, and Paula becomes the new head of Dream Productions.

Production

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Development

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On June 16, 2023, it was reported that an Inside Out television series was being developed by Pixar for Disney+; the series was reportedly being developed as part of an effort by Disney to increase Pixar's output. Mike Jones, who previously wrote Soul (2020) and Luca (2021) for the studio, was set to develop the series.[5] The series was being developed simultaneously with a sequel to the original film, titled Inside Out 2 (2024).[6] By May 2024, the series had been titled Dream Productions.[7]

In August 2024, Jones revealed he would executive produce the series, as well as serve as director alongside Valerie LaPointe and Austin Madison, with Jaclyn Simon as producer,[8][9] and Jones as showrunner.[10] Paula Pell was also confirmed to reprise her role as Dream Director from the first film to star as the main protagonist in the series.[11][12] The series was produced under a smaller budget than most Pixar productions, which Jones compared to making an independent film within Pixar.[1] The series was originally set to be seven-episodes long, but the episode count was reduced to four due to budget cuts.[10]

Writing

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The series is set between the events of Inside Out and Inside Out 2.[13] Executive producer and Inside Out director Pete Docter said the series would explore "the power of dreams and how they affect us in our waking life".[14] Jones said the relationship between Paula and Riley was inspired by his relationship with his sons, and how he had to "find a different way of talking to them" as they grew up.[15] The producers consulted with the group of nine teens Pixar assembled to consult for Inside Out 2 (dubbed "Riley's Crew") to provide feedback for the show; their feedback led the filmmakers to increase the Hollywood-esque aspect of the show after they reacted positively to it.[9]

Animation

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Bert Barry served as the production designer for the series.[10] Assets from the first Inside Out film were reused for Dream Productions, in addition to collaborating with the team for Inside Out 2, who shared new assets created for that film for the series as both productions shared a Perforce server as a cost-cutting measure; visual effects supervisor Bill Wise noted the assets sharing was required due to the series lacking the budget to create new assets. He also noted this allowed the series' team to reuse several character models from the film.[10] Multiple teams, such as the assets and art teams, were also combined to streamline production and allow for the directors to review the material.[10] The set design team, led by set art director Josh Holtsclaw, traveled to multiple studio lots, including the 20th Century Studios and Walt Disney Studios backlots, to study them and draw inspiration for the design of the Dream Productions studio, while also incorporating elements from San Francisco.[9]

Music

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On September 24, 2024, Nami Melumad was revealed to be composing for the series.[16] Melumad joined the series after being asked to present musical reels by Disney's music department, who hired her as composer after she presented said reels, in which she combined different music styles to fit the tone for the series.[17] Showrunner Mike Jones also gave a few ideas for the series' score.[17] For the dream sequences, Melumad made use of several types of music, including 80s rock music and children's music, in order to reflect how dreams were different every time, while the score for the series itself draws inspiration from "early 70s funk, rock, [and] jazz" due to its humorous tone, while also ultimately aiming for the music to make the setting feel like an actual Hollywood studio.[17] A soundtrack featuring Melumad's score was released on December 20, 2024.[18]

Dream Productions
Soundtrack album by
Nami Melumad
ReleasedDecember 20, 2024
GenreSoundtrack
Length59:00
LabelWalt Disney
No.TitleLength
1."The Main Dream"0:31
2."Dream Productions"1:44
3."This Too Shall Paci"1:42
4."We All Dream for Ice Cream"0:38
5."The Warehouse of Dreams"0:58
6."I Dream of Jean"0:43
7."Little Cabin in the Valley"0:57
8."It's Mermaid Unicorn"1:58
9."Dancing Nightmare"0:56
10."That's a Wrap"2:27
11."The Morning After"0:51
12."To Hell in a Golf Cart"0:46
13."It's Vintage"0:41
14."Goth Complex"1:06
15."A Room with a Review"1:40
16."Out of Body"1:36
17."Chilly Jean Is Not My Mother"1:49
18."My Heart Is an Open Mic"1:42
19."What's Your Dance"1:06
20."Call It a Comeback"1:30
21."Riley or Die"1:10
22."An Accident Rating to Happen"0:43
23."All the World's a Stage Worker"1:14
24."Dream Date"1:28
25."Sleepwalk the Line"2:55
26."Demotion Sickness"2:50
27."A Line in the Sandwich"0:54
28."A Star Is Drawn"0:36
29."Saboteur of Duty"1:22
30."Thus Passeth Paci"0:41
31."Dis-Dressed Out"1:10
32."Script Monster"0:44
33."What Teens Want"0:55
34."The Strife of Riley"1:07
35."There's No I in Dream"0:33
36."Carousel of Nightmares"1:57
37."Lucidity"3:00
38."Boom Go the Speakers" (Performed by Animatics)2:37
39."Happy Go Riley"1:16
40."New Management"0:44
41."Sweeter (When You're Dancing)" (Performed by Lily Elise)2:57
42."Dream on Ends"2:48

Release

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All four episodes of Dream Productions were released on Disney+ on December 11, 2024.[2] The series was originally scheduled to be released by the spring of 2025 but was moved forward, having swapped its release date with the Pixar television series Win or Lose.[7][19]

Reception

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Audience viewership

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Disney announced the first episode had 5.6 million views worldwide in its first five days, having the biggest premiere for an animated series on Disney+ since What If...? in 2021.[20]

Critical response

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The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 78% approval rating with an average rating of 6.5/10, based on 18 critic reviews.[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 67 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[22]

Accolades

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Award Date of Ceremony Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Annie Awards February 8, 2025 Best Limited Series "A Night to Remember" Pending [23]
Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production Gary Bruins, Jongwon Pak, Arturo Aguilar, Alan Browning and Alen Lai (for "A Night to Remember") Pending
Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production Travis Hathaway (for "The Dream Team", "Out of Body" and "Romance!") Pending
Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production Grant Alexander (for "A Night to Remember") Pending
Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production Bert Berry and Josh Holtsclaw (for "The Dream Team") Pending
Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production Paula Pell (for "Out of Body") Pending
Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards February 12, 2025 Outstanding Original Title Sequence for a Television Production Nami Melumad Pending [24]

References

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  1. ^ a b Richlin, Harrison; Welk, Brian (November 2, 2024). "Pixar's Mike Jones on Why His 'Inside Out' Spinoff Series Faced the Same Struggle as Some Low-Budget Indies". IndieWire. Archived from the original on November 20, 2024. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Milligan, Mercedes (September 24, 2024). "Disney+ Dates Debuts for 'Inside Out' Series 'Dream Productions' and 'Win or Lose'". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Inside+Out+Spinoff+Series+Dream+Productions+Cast+Revealed". Archived from the original on December 11, 2024.
  4. ^ Schager, Nick (December 11, 2024). "Pixar Takes Us to the 'Inside Out' World of Dream Production". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on December 11, 2024. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  5. ^ Belloni, Matthew (June 16, 2023). "The Troubling Pixar Paradox". Puck News. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  6. ^ Grobar, Matt (September 9, 2022). "Inside Out Sequel Plans Confirmed By Pixar at D23". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 13, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Buckley, Thomas (May 30, 2024). "Disney Is Banking On Sequels to Help Get Pixar Back on Track". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  8. ^ @whereisjones (August 10, 2024). "My next Pixar thing. Written and exec produced by myself, produced by Jaclyn Simon, directed by Valerie LaPointe and Austin Madison and me. Coming Spring 2025. And yes, it's a show as weird as you think. But the good sort of weird" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ a b c "Dream Productions | Production Brief". Getty Images. Archived from the original on December 11, 2024. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e Giraud, Kévin (December 11, 2024). "The Turbulent, Messy, And Creatively Radical Production Of Pixar's New Series 'Dream Productions'". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
  11. ^ "Pixar Animation Studios". Pixar Animation Studios. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  12. ^ "D23: Disney Reveals Inside Out Spinoff Dream Productions". TV Shows. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  13. ^ Campione, Katie (August 10, 2024). "'Inside Out' TV Series In The Works For Disney+". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  14. ^ Romano, Nick (June 12, 2024). "Pete Docter previews Pixar's future: Inside Out series, more Monsters, Inc.". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  15. ^ Desowitz, Bill (December 12, 2024). "'Dream Productions' Creates a Battle to Control Riley's Dreams in 'Inside Out' Spin-Off Series". IndieWire. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  16. ^ "Nami Melumad Scoring Pixar's Disney+ Series Dream Productions". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  17. ^ a b c critic, Jackson MurphyJackson Murphy is a movie; Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, entertainment columnist He is the creator of the website; Television, Has Made Numerous Appearances on; radio. (December 11, 2024). "INTERVIEW: Inside The Music Of Pixar's "Dream Productions"". Animation Scoop. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  18. ^ "'Dream Productions' Soundtrack Album Details (December 19, 2024) | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved December 21, 2024.
  19. ^ "Trailer: First Original Pixar Series 'Win or Lose' Hits Disney+ in December'". Animation Magazine. August 15, 2024. Archived from the original on August 17, 2024. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  20. ^ Campione, Katie (December 16, 2024). "'Dream Productions' Premiere Spins 5.6 Million Views In Five Days". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  21. ^ "Dream Productions: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
  22. ^ "Dream Productions: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  23. ^ Giardina, Carolyn (December 20, 2024). "'The Wild Robot' Leads 2025 Annie Awards Nominations With 10 Nods". Variety. Retrieved December 21, 2024.
  24. ^ Willman, Chris (December 18, 2024). "Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards Noms Led by 'Emilia Pérez' and Atticus Ross; Harry Gregson-Williams and Ridley Scott Set for Collaborators Award". Variety. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
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