Thank you Karen Robertson, creator of the awesome children's book app, Treasure Kai, for publishing an interview with Laloo LLC co-founder and writer, Lauren Freeman!
We've included a snippet of the interview below. To read the entire interview on DigitalKidAuthor.com click here!
Here’s an inspiring interview with Lauren Freeman who created her story idea as a book app after receiving inspiration from India and feedback from several studios…
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to write Laloo the Red Panda.
I started my career as a screenwriter and initially wrote Laloo as an animated feature. After pitching the idea to several studios, including Disney, I realized I kept receiving the same note… the character is great, the story isn’t quite working. I put the story on the back-burner, and then I met my husband, Rohan! Rohan and I traveled to India to meet his family a few years ago, and I was totally inspired by the country. I rewrote Laloo, set the story in India, and I knew that I now had a story that worked. Rohan and I met at a social game studio (Lolapps), so we both have a background developing software for mobile technology. The idea to develop Laloo as a book app came from that shared experience.
Q: What’s unique about your book app?
We’re working closely with Red Panda Network, a non-profit devoted to the protection of the red panda and its habitat. We’re donating 20% of each purchase to their cause. Ironically, Red Panda Network gave me a kickstart to my career years ago, when they put me in touch with an animation director who was consulting with them on Kung-Fu Panda (Mark Osborne). Master Sifu in Kung Fu Panda is a red panda!
Q: How did you get it developed? How did the development process go?
My day job really helped with that! I’ve been an Art/Animation Producer/Outsourcing Manager at a number of game companies for the last five years or so. I was moonlighting as a writer, and often wondered how the two skillsets went hand in hand. I had a great relationship with a development studio as a result of my production career track, and I’m confident I wouldn’t have gotten the great results I did, if it weren’t for my knowledge of working with off-site artists/animators. I was able to provide the team with reference materials/style guides, and knew how to talk the talk when it came to discussing my ideas for the design. Working in online/mobile games, also helped me to understand the importance of interactivity and user interface.
Interview continued at DigitalKIdAuthor.com - HERE
App Author, Lauren Freeman with Laloo the Red Panda
