Netflix’s ‘Beat Bugs’ turns Beatles classics into tunes for kids

For years, Josh Wakely had a dream: turning songs by the Beatles into an animated children’s series.

When it came to getting rights to the group’s classic music catalogue, however, to paraphrase one of their hits, he’d say yes, they’d say no, they’d say stop and he’d say go go go.

Eventually, with the help of a Canadian production company, they were all able to come together. The result is “Beat Bugs,” a delightful 3D animated series available now on Netflix. New episodes are due on the streaming service in November.

Wakely, an Australian writer/producer/director, says that when he listened to the Beatles, he heard children’s music.

“I think there, hidden in their genius, was this child-like quality,” he says on the phone from Los Angeles. “‘Hello Goodbye’ is a great song for children. What would it be like to be in a yellow submarine? What would it be like to be lost in a strawberry field forever?”

His vision was for a group of colourful, animated garden insects to interpret Beatles songs in a backyard setting for an audience of four- to seven-year-olds. His passion for the project led him to Sony ATV Music Publishing, gatekeepers of the Beatles catalogue.

Others had tried and failed to obtain the rights before him. He argued that “Beat Bugs” would “make sure the Beatles’ legacy continued down to future generations.”

He eventually scored the rights to 50 Lennon-McCartney songs, including “Blackbird,” “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Even songs that seem less appropriate for kids — such as the sexually-charged “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road” — were re-imagined, in this case, as a ditty about road safety and awareness.

Wakely had to find the right production partner. The series had to be Pixar-like in quality to satisfy Sony ATV, and it had to happen fast.

He went on what he calls “a world tour” looking for that partner. After stops in France, Australia, Los Angeles and Europe, he found what he was looking for in Vancouver. A pre-existing Canada-Australia production alliance treaty helped make an expensive deal financially feasible.

“When they came to us, they had the rights,” says Tim Gamble, CEO of Vancouver-based Thunderbird. “They also had a short window in order to exercise the rights. They needed somebody to step up and green-light the show.”

Thunderbird was in the kids’ TV business with “Some Assembly Required” and “Mr. Young.” They’re also co-producing the upcoming comedy “Kim’s Convenience” for CBC.

Gamble says he and his partners, including former CTV CEO Ivan Fecan and Lionsgate founder Frank Giustra, took a leap of faith.

“We probably committed to it long before we should have,” says Gamble. “We were on the hook before we ever had it sold.

“I just felt, if I can’t sell Beatles and kids, I shouldn’t be in the TV business.”

Gamble had to find a local animation house that could do such a demanding job. With clients such as Disney and Mattel, Vancouver’s Atomic Cartoons had the skill set to make it all happen.

“We liked them so much,” says Gamble, “we said, ‘Well, why don’t we get married?’” Last summer, Thunderbird acquired Atomic.

Atomic president Jennifer Twiner-McCarron worked closely with Wakely to make sure her team of 260 artists and animators captured his vision.

She did have a moment of doubt about the series. After all, the Beatles’ last concerts were 50 years ago this summer. The kids’ show idea, she recalls, was pitched around the same time Paul McCartney was refused entry into an awards show after-party and “all the young people were like, ‘Who’s that old guy with Kanye West?’”

Then she started making animated test reels for “Beat Bugs” and her own three children, all under 10, were running around the house “singing ‘coo-coo-ca-choo’ from ‘I Am the Walrus.’”

Netflix pushed the idea of getting contemporary performers to sing the Beatles’ songs. Sia, the Shins, “Carpool Karaoke” late night host James Corden, Regina Spektor and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden all contribute, as does Pink (as a dragonfly with kaleidoscope eyes), Rod Stewart and Eddie Vedder.

It helps, says Wakely, that some of these artists have young children of their own.

“It was a very definitive selling point to them,” says Wakely. “They were passionate about bringing this music in front of their children and giving them a musical education.”

Wakely is already at work on his next animated project: turning Motown songs into kiddie classics. More “Beat Bugs” are also on the way. He hasn’t heard yet from surviving Beatles McCartney or Ringo Starr, but if they want in, what could they sing?

Says Wakely, “Anything they want.”

— Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.