Disney+’s Launchpad Directors Share Inspirations Behind Season One Stories

When I started writing it, my Zaide, which is my grandfather, was about to turn 100, my parents were about to turn 70, and my nephew was about to turn four. And so I was really engaged in this idea of life moving on and people passing. I was a babysitter in my early twenties and I babysat this really great four-year-old who at some point tried to shoot me dead with his little finger gun. I said, ‘Do you know what that means?’ And he said, ‘no.’ And I said, ‘If I was dead, I wouldn’t be able to be here anymore. I wouldn’t see you anymore. We wouldn’t get to spend time together.’ And of course he was sad. It was sad. It was a sad thing to talk about. 

That made me think about the big tragedy of all of our lives is that we’re all going to die and everybody we know is going to die. And in that we’re all gonna go through loss and sadness and grief over and over and over again. So how do we process that? How do we share it with the people we love? How do we talk to children about it in an honest way? And I think for myself in a really personal way, I’m not that good at sharing. I’m the daughter of a therapist, and I’m very good at listening, but I’m scared. I think it’s scary to be vulnerable. So I think the film is really about, can we make that brave act, and in doing so, be reminded that we’re not alone in sad and difficult things?