It’s a sentiment we’ve likely all shared at one point or another – feeling like the “farm pony” in a world of unicorns. So when Jared and Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre) were approached by children’s author Aaron Blabey with the idea of adapting his book Thelma the Unicorn into an animated feature, they were excited to move forward. It’s the story of a pony so desperate to become a rockstar that she would pretend to be something she’s not, sacrificing everything (and everyone) in her life just to feel accepted, carried with it a message the filmmakers believed would resonate. 

First developed in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project involved animators, designers, and writers working online across the world. Jared teamed up with Lynn Wang (Unikitty!) to co-direct and Jared and Jerusha penned the script.

Current solo artist and previous Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard was brought on to voice Thelma and a motley crew of supporting characters was created and cast, including Will Forte as Thelma’s best bud Otis, Jemaine Clement as sleazy manager Vic Diamond, and Zach Gailifianakis as Crusty Trucker. Creative Screenwriting spoke with Jared Hess about the project and how it sparked a love of working in animation.

Jared Hess. Photo by Larry Busacca/ Getty Images

Tell me about Aaron Blabey’s book and why you wanted to adapt it.

Jerusha and I were big fans of his other books like Pig the Pug, and our kids loved him. We hadn’t read Thelma the Unicorn, but a friend we have in common had been working with Aaron on developing his The Bad Guys series. Aaron reached out to us through him to see if we’d be interested in adapting Thelma into a movie. We read the book and absolutely loved it.

So then we had to figure out how we were going to develop the book into a bigger, feature-length movie, expanding the characters and the world.

Tell me more about the process of expanding the story and collaborating with Lynn Wang.

We spent a lot of time with Aaron, talking about how to build out the characters and film this journey in the world he created. We decided pretty quickly that, even though it’s alluded to in the book, Thelma’s character would involve some kind of performative entertainment. We decided to make her a music star; we all agreed that that seemed like the way forward and the best way to tackle her journey. We created her to be this small-time pony that doesn’t feel like her music will be heard or that she’ll ever be seen unless she embodies a bigger persona than who she is. Her becoming a unicorn was the vehicle for that.

This is our first foray into feature animation and I knew that I wanted a partner to help bring this thing to life. I was a big fan of Lynn Wang’s television series Unikitty! that she was the showrunner on. I was able to meet her and we just really hit it off. We both loved the book and I think our comedic sensibilities really lined up.

I understand this film was something of an international project with several collaborators working in different countries at the same time. Tell me about how you all worked together.

This was a pandemic baby! We started it in 2020 and everybody – all of our storyboard team, art department, animators – were spread out across the globe.

Mikros, the animation production company, is based in Montreal, and we had animators in offices in India and Paris. It was wild making this movie, basically over Zoom, for a couple of years. But it was such an amazing thing to be able to do and it’s crazy how much you can communicate long distance when you’ve got such a talented pool of artists.

Tell me about some of the research you did for the story and characters. I heard you delved into the world of Aerobic Championships and that you have a “catalog of hunks” that you pulled from?

Aaron’s book has these super unique oddball characters that populate every page. We definitely wanted to keep running with that idea when we made the movie, with the pool boy characters especially. I’ve got a bunch of old reference photos of different people with different hairdos from across the ages… different types of “hunks.” A lot of our character designs were inspired by that. And we kept going down a rabbit hole of all those crazy aerobic workout competitions in the 80s; it was just a lot of fun looking at different outfits and dance styles.

What did you find to be some of the joys and challenges of working in animation?

One of the amazing things about animation, at least in terms of the development process, is that you get to make and remake your movie, eight to ten times even. The ability to write a scene, storyboard it, get it into edit within a couple of days, and then see if it’s working or not. You don’t have that luxury when you’re working in live action. Whatever you shoot, it’s fully baked and you’ve got to live with it. It’s sculpted in the edit. But to be able to continue to iterate on a scene or a sequence is something that’s so unique to animation. It’s like it’s limitless. So you can continue to refine and experiment until you land on the best or funniest version of what it can be, which is so refreshing.

Peggy (voice by Maliaka Mitchell) and Thelma (voice by Brittany Howard) in Thelma The Unicorn. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix

What were some of the more challenging elements of the project?

Early in the film, we had to establish what Thelma’s musical voice was, so that later in the film, the audience can see how it gets corrupted by fame and then towards the end, witness her come back to her original voice. I think that coming up with the music for the film was key to really solidifying who she is. And also to seeing her drift away from it, like the silly songs she performs when she signs with her manager, Vic Diamond. That was easy enough to parody in that we knew what we wanted to do.

But I think finding the right music for her character was the biggest challenge – and also so much of the fun. Because once we landed on it, it always felt like a revelation. The songs needed to click with Brittany, who informed every aspect of Thelma’s character design, dialogue and music – everything. We really wanted it to feel like it was a part of Brittany.

You have a unique comedic voice. Tell me about balancing the appeal for kids and adults, particularly in regards to the humor.

I’ve got kids and I think I understand what my ten year old enjoys. But I think that when you make the jokes very character-driven, it all seems to work. I think character-driven jokes have appeal to young and old, and so that was the main focus of what we tried to do. Like with Vic Diamond. He has his style of clothes, his music, the way he talks… it’s everything about him. If the comedy springs from a personal place for those characters, it always seems to work better and translate across ages.

Thelma is obviously the central character and her arc is the most prominent. Tell me about her. Do the other characters also develop throughout the course of the story?

Thelma doesn’t believe that she can be loved or heard unless she changes who she is. She thinks she’s not good enough and that’s the theme of the book. It’s really powerful, this idea of self-acceptance and so that’s the journey that Thelma goes on.

She obviously has the clearest arc. There are little things throughout with the other characters, but it’s really Thelma who is driving everything. Vic Diamond doesn’t change very much; and even Otis stays pretty consistent throughout, being the supportive friend that loves her for who she is.

Lynn Wang says the film is a “subversion of a unicorn movie”. What does that mean and what kinds of audience expectations did you play with to strike that tone?

I think when people hear “unicorn movie”, they think of something like My Little Pony. It’s such a big thing in the zeitgeist. Unicorns mean different things to different people, but there’s a real kind of cutesy factor about them. It’s just inherent. So some people might have the expectation that a unicorn movie would be very childish, but our movie goes to a totally different place than that. It’s not the unicorn movie that you would expect, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in this film.

A lot of people can identify with the central theme of self-acceptance and feeling like the “farm pony” as Thelma does. Was there a character that you resonated with the most?

Definitely Thelma. I think everybody feels that at some point in their lives – not feeling good enough. And that they’ve got to really change who they are and what’s great about them in order to fit in. I think the social media component is just so soul crushing in modern society where people are constantly comparing themselves to others. So I think that Thelma’s journey is universal to everybody. We can relate to what she’s going through, even if our dream isn’t to chase music and become a star. We still know we can identify with her on some level. She’s my favorite character for sure.

Tell me about trusting your screenplay with the cast and the role of improv in the film.

The great thing is that when you have the chance to work with such talented people, you can’t be precious with your words. You realize it’s a springboard to better ideas when you’re working with people like that. It was scripted of course, and so much of what was scripted is in the film… but there would be these magical moments of improv and spontaneity that you can never anticipate, that just elevated the entire scene or moment. Working with people like Edi Patterson, Zach Galifianakis, Will Forte, Fred Armisen, Jemaine Clement… these are world class comedians. Obviously it was just such a joy. We could have had a three-hour movie if we included every joke that they pitched in.

Your career has spanned comedy, music videos, and even true crime. Is there one type of project that appeals to you more than another?

They each have their own unique merits and they’re all storytelling methods that are fun to work in. Animation is just so special, though. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done and for me, it’s been a long time coming. I love it and I can’t wait to work in it again.