Story, Structure, & The Creative Process: Brandon Violette On Writing Children's Television
Finding Genius Podcast
Richard Jacobs
4.4 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today's episode, we explore the mechanics of storytelling with Brandon Violette, an experienced screenwriter. Brandon has served as Head Writer for RoboGobo and Pupstruction at Disney Television Animation, and as Co-Creator and Head Writer of CoComelon Lane, one of Netflix's top-performing preschool series. His writing credits also include hit shows such as Dew Drop Diaries, Pupstruction, T.O.T.S., Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!, and Stretch Armstrong & The Flex Fighters.
Alongside his screenwriting work, Brandon is the host of The Story Series Podcast, where he interviews writers, showrunners, filmmakers, authors, and creators to break down story structure, character development, pitching, and the creative process.
Join in to discover:
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How Brandon began his career as a screenwriter.
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The benefits of direct engagement for kids when watching television.
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The power of simplicity in storytelling.
You can connect with Brandon by visiting his website and listening to his podcast!
🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/30PvU9C
Keep up with Brandon Violette socials here:
X: https://x.com/BrandonViolette
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bviolette
🛍️ Recommended Books & Accessories from this Episode
📖 Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games – A practical guide to writing engaging stories and scripts across animation, comics, and interactive games.
👉 Get it here
📘 The Animation Bible: A Practical Guide to the Art of Animating from Flipbooks to Flash – A must-read for aspiring animators, packed with techniques, tools, and real-world animation fundamentals.
👉 Check it out
📙 How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2–7 (The How To Talk Series) – A life-saving parenting resource filled with practical communication strategies that actually work with young kids.
👉 Explore it here
👜 JOYIN 6Pcs Kids Hand Puppet Set with Working Mouth, Toddler Plush Toy – A fun, interactive puppet set perfect for imaginative play, storytelling, and helping kids express emotions through roleplay.
👉 Discover it here
🎁 100 Creative Storytelling Cards for Kids, Families & Classrooms – A powerful storytelling tool with illustrated prompts and blank cards—perfect for language learning, ESL, speech therapy, and creative play.
👉 See it here
Note: These are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support the podcast. Thank you!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Forget frequently asked questions. |
| 0:02.3 | Common sense. |
| 0:03.1 | Common knowledge. |
| 0:04.1 | Or Google. |
| 0:04.7 | How about advice from a real genius? |
| 0:06.9 | 95% of people in any profession are good enough to be qualified in license. |
| 0:11.3 | 5% go above and beyond. |
| 0:13.1 | They become very good at what they do. |
| 0:14.8 | But only 0.1% are real geniuses. |
| 0:18.2 | Richard Jacobs has made it his life's mission to find them for you. He hunts |
| 0:22.7 | down and interviews geniuses in every field, sleep science, cancer, stem cells, ketogenic diets, |
| 0:28.1 | and more. Here come the geniuses. This is the Finding Genius podcast with Richard Jacobs. |
| 0:37.3 | Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Finding Genius podcast. I'm a James. |
| 0:41.1 | Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Finding Genius podcast. |
| 0:43.1 | My guest today is Brandon Violet. |
| 0:48.4 | He is the head writer for Robo Gobo and Popstruction at Disney Television Animation and the co-creator and head writer of Cocomelon Lane. |
| 0:51.3 | I have kids that are older, so, you know, if you talk about like the backyardigans and a bunch of other old shows, then, you know, we knew all those, but these are all new. I'm sure they're, you know, they're good like old ones. And we're going to talk about the mechanics of storytelling. So I think this should be a pretty cool call. So welcome Brandon. Richard, thank you so much. I'm so thrilled to be here. Excellent. Well, tell me about, |
| 1:11.3 | how did you get into the areas you're at to write for these shows? And I was sure a lot goes into them. Like, let's just start with your background a little bit. Like, where did you come from? Yeah, yeah. So I grew up kind of in the suburbs of Los Angeles and the seeds of storytelling were kind of there. From the beginning, like, I was a 90s |
| 1:29.4 | Nickelodeon kid, so, like, I remember just falling in love with Rocco's modern life and, and specifically |
| 1:36.2 | the making of featureettes that they would show, like, in between the commercials. And that was my |
| 1:42.7 | first, like, just this insight into, like, oh, those are the people making |
| 1:47.6 | this show I love. |
... |
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