‘Fluff Piece’: Sylvia Brindis (Creator/Star) on Making Entertainment that Inspires Kindness and Develops Critical Thinking in Young Viewers 

Fluff Piece, which premiered earlier this month, is Wonder Project’s first original children’s series. The show follows reporter Fiona Flash and her animated dog sidekick, Fluff, as they investigate silly mysteries and rumors in charming episodes filled with colorful characters, guest appearances, and songs. Along the way, the show encourages its young audience—which it affectionately calls “Newshounds”— to cultivate curiosity, critical-thinking skills, and kindness.

The show’s star and creator, Sylvia Brindis, joined The Collision to talk about the surprising inspiration for the show, how becoming a mother has influenced her work, and why leading the show as a Guatemalan American is meaningful to her.       

(Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full interview, watch the video above)

Daniel Blackaby: What was the inspiration for Fluff Piece?  

Sylvia Brindis: Like many of our good ideas, it started with a pun. My co-creator Brian thought [Fluff Piece] would be a cute term if the reporter was a dog. So we riffed on that idea for a little bit and kept the project on the back burner. When it was actually time to do something, we said, “What about this show, Fluff Piece, with the dog?”  

My husband came from a journalism background, so we thought it was a great opportunity to teach kids media literacy in a fun, colorful, wacky way. So it grew out of the pun.  

Blackaby: Where do you start developing a character like Fiona Flash?  

Brindis: It was super fun. I knew that I wanted to bring some of that 1940s newsroom energy to it in a subtle way, so I thought the character should embody that a little bit. A big inspiration for my husband and me was Mister Rogers. One of the things that we wanted was for this character to be incredibly kind. I will say that I am also kind! But I think Fiona is kinder. She’s serious about journalism and the truth, but she always leads with kindness.  

The other thing that was really important was to have a supporting cast of humans and puppets who are delightful, but who make lots of little mistakes.  Fiona and Fluff don’t judge them for it. They’re quite loving in the way they help them see from a different perspective.  

Blackaby: Why is it important to reach a younger audience demographic with a show and a character like this?  

Brindis: Becoming a mother made me open my eyes to what was out there for my own child. There’s quite a trend toward fast-moving nursery rhymes, and a lot of kids are on iPads and YouTube. It’s not necessarily that those things are inherently bad, but I saw that, generationally, we’re skewing in a direction. Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow—these things had a positive impact on me. And I think that we can catch preschoolers just in time to introduce them to a character like this, to a world like this, where people treat each other in a certain way. 

Blackaby: How did you strike a balance of keeping something safe for the family while also pushing children to develop their critical-thinking skills?  

Brindis: We knew we were introducing them to certain tricky subjects. But the show is more about thinking critically about information that’s coming to you and how you are communicating with other people. We introduce a concept, and then Fiona puts it in action. The kids see it being played out with the characters, and then the concept is cemented during the wrap-up of the episode.  

Maybe kids won’t get exactly what the “halo effect” is, but they’ll understand that just because somebody is cool doesn’t mean they’re telling the truth. I think we strike that balance. The show is funny, entertaining, colorful, and musical. I think that’s what gets the kids through it all.  

Blackaby: What is your partnership with Wonder Project like, and how does your show fit in with their mission of family-friendly entertainment?  

Brindis: We really bonded over what we call lower-stim entertainment for kids. I think that Wonder Project is aligned with us in that, okay, we may have gotten out of hand a little bit with YouTube. And with movements like the Anxious Generation movement, we’re now more aware of what that attention span does to our kids. We were really aligned on that.  

One of our missions is for families to watch together. Our show is for preschoolers, but we think it’s like Bluey, where there are some jokes that older siblings get. The older siblings might not admit that they love our songs, but our songs are catchy. And I think parents might want to stick around in the room, because they’ll get some references that the kids don’t. I think Wonder Project wants that too. They want entertainment to be family time again.  

Blackaby: As a Guatemalan American, what does it mean for you to be able to lead a show like this?  

Brindis: It means a lot for me. I was born in Guatemala in a very unprivileged part of town. When I was starting out, I looked up to Guatemalan actresses. I looked up to Guatemalan showrunners. In my journey in Hollywood, I didn’t meet a lot of people like me. So it feels really good.  

It’s nice to be the executive producer, because nobody questions the diverse cast we want to showcase. I don’t know if I’ll get the opportunity to do this, but I’m hoping to play Fiona Flash in Fluff Piece in Spanish so that Latin American audiences can see that there’s a show that’s made for them that isn’t just dubbed. We’ll see how that goes.  

Blackaby: Last question. I know you wear many hats with this show—  

Brindis: And a wig!  

Blackaby: Yes! Some colorful wigs! What do you hope audiences come away with after watching the first season?  

Brindis: I hope they come away feeling energized that they can follow their curiosity and not be scared, and that they can follow their curiosity with kindness. Success to me would be that kids watch it and love it and want to watch it again. Luckily, we got a two-season deal with Wonder Project, so we have lots of fun things coming up in season two and lots of ideas for more seasons.  

Fluff Piece is available now on Wonder Project/Prime Video, with new episodes released each week.