Natasha Kline describes herself as a cartoon kid. “I grew up in the time of MTV when music videos were a really big deal,” she says. “Especially animated music videos. The first time I saw Tom Petty’s Runnin’ Down a Dream, something about those giant rabbits—it really grabbed me. I didn’t know the word animator, but I was like, I want to do whatever that is.”
Mission accomplished. Kline started her career on South Park, or as she calls it: “animation boot camp” While there she was able to try multiple crafts and discovered that what she loves most is storyboards. She went on to work on BoJack Horseman and Big City Greens, and at Disney she found a “cozy” place where she wanted to pitch her idea for a series based on her own experiences. Primos is about 9-year-old Tater Ramirez Humphrey and her extended family in Los Angeles. Here, Kline answers questions about how and why she created the show.
What was the genesis of Primos?
I have 23 cousins, and I grew up with all of them. We come from all different walks of life… there’s this variety of skin tones and a variety of ethnic identities that are woven throughout my family. I wasn’t really seeing anything like that on TV. As a kid, I felt a little bit invisible. There wasn’t something to represent me. So I was like, well, I can make a show, and my personal message could be about my own family.
How did you take your personal stories and make them universal?
As I was working with the writers, I think that was the goalpost—let’s tell stories that are relatable to everyone, and we’ll sew the culture and the ethnic identities into the show naturally and let that be revealed. It’s interesting because right now we’re in post, and we’re starting to deliver the final episodes of Season 1. [These] episodes are where we dig the most into everyone’s specific cultural identities… because what I wanted to do was set up characters that were relatable first. I think that’s the best way to tell human stories. I feel like that’s what Charles Schulz did really well. You didn’t know too much about [the characters’] ethnic identities; you just knew that they were humans first with these human things to say. So that was the goal for me, too. Let’s create characters that people know, that they like, and that they love, and then we can reveal more things about them as the story progresses.

How does Primos speak to children from different backgrounds?
For kids who live in neighborhoods like Tater’s or who live in families like hers, it’s exciting for them to finally see that for themselves. Here’s your place in TV. And then for kids who don’t live in areas like that or in families like that, I think it will create interest for them and hopefully empathy, too. I hope that when they love Tater and they love her primos, then they’ll realize, oh, these are just humans and humans that I relate to, and it doesn’t really matter that they have a different skin tone from me or a different cultural identity.
How does the series serve as a love letter to Los Angeles?
Our jokes were told with the idea that eventually we’re going to show how much Tater loves her city. L.A. definitely has two identities. There’s the perceived identity, which is glamorous. Hollywood is here. And relatively recently, I think people are looking at this as being a liberal city that’s falling apart. But I’ve lived here for 40 years, my entire life, and I have such respect and reverence—I just love this city. There’s no other place like it. That’s the part I really want to showcase. There’s this amazing, huge, multicultural community. We come from all walks of life and all kinds of socioeconomic situations, and the thing that we agree on is that this is the best place we could possibly live. I think that’s the coolest thing about portraying a real place. You get to show the layers of it: the perceived layers, and then what’s true.
How did you develop the artistic look of the series?
When we were working in development, I created this packet of art styles that I liked and I wanted to reference. A big one was Calvin and Hobbes. All those amazing watercolor backgrounds that Bill Watterson did were a huge inspiration. Also, we were looking through a lot of artist sketchbooks. People who go around the city, sketch the city that they live in, and then do watercolor portraits of it. There’s a really great book called LA/SF, a sketchbook with drawings Christian Schellewald did around L.A. in gouache and watercolor. They’re very quick and very gestural. He completely captured the way it feels and the light and everything in L.A. I think that there’s just a lot of atmosphere that comes from that kind of effect.
When I started looking for an Art Director, I wanted someone who could bring that kind of style to it. I was very lucky because Ivan Aguirre has that vibe in his work. It’s very sketchbook, very watercolor, and he also just happened to live 10 miles from where I grew up. So it was this amazing coincidence where I was like, wow, you grew up in the Inland Empire, too. You understand exactly the vibe I’m trying to bring to this—the special light that L.A. has, the grit and the texture—and you’re also this amazing watercolor genius.

What do you want Primos to say about family?
When my cousins would come to visit, it was exactly like in the show. Initially as a shy introvert, I was like, God, how am I going to get my life together with all these people around? But then at the end of it, they were my friends, and they saw what was special about me. I feel like I wouldn’t be who I am, and I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did, if they hadn’t given me those early messages of support. That’s really what I’m trying to say: Hey, on the surface, sometimes your family is yes, annoying, but there’s a lot you can learn from the people that you’re surrounded by. Ultimately, they’re there to support you and to help you find your journey through life.
How does Primos speak to children and their dreams?
It was so important for me to have a dream as a kid. And especially if you grew up in a neighborhood like mine and a town like mine. L.A. is such a huge gritty place, and it feels like the kind of place where you could get lost easily. I think the thing that I was able to hold onto was the dream of making an animated show. Because I had that goal and it kind of made everything okay, it was like, this is going to elevate me because I have this imagination where I can create my own life. If kids get that message, then I’ll have done my job because I just want them to know that there’s more. They can aspire to things. They’re allowed to do that. Think it to become it.