The Minds Behind RILEY’S FIRST DATE?: Meet Director Josh Cooley & Producer Mark Nielsen ~ #InsideOutBloggers

I received the following information as a blogger via Walt Disney Publications. While I attended an expense paid trip by Disney to the press events for The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out, and Miles From Tomorrowland, all opinions are 100% my own.Earlier this week we posted about RILEY’S FIRST DATE?, a bonus feature on the home entertainment release of INSIDE OUT, along with an interview with Kaitlyn Dias and Kyle MacLachlan who voice Riley and her Dad in the short. Hopefully you also caught our INSIDE OUT coverage featuring interviews with Pete Docter and Jonas Riveras, as well as Phyllis Smith and Richard Kind. Don’t forget that INSIDE OUT is available NOW for home entertainment on Digital HD, Disney Movies Anywhere, and Blu-ray Combo Pack!

Today I’m chatting about our interview with the short’s director Josh Cooley and the producer Mark Nielsen! As I mentioned previously in my other blog posts, this short is available as a bonus feature with the home entertainment release of INSIDE OUT. The storyline is absolutely hilarious, and I’m sure many of you out there can relate, either to Riley, or her parents! In this tale, Riley is now 12. She is innocently hanging out at home with her parents, when a boy comes knocking at the door (yes, that same boy from the first film!). The short asks the question… Can Mom’s and Dad’s emotions handle Riley’s First Date????We had the opportunity to watch the short right there with Josh and Mark. Interestingly enough, they actually came up with the idea of RILEY’S FIRST DATE? while working on INSIDE OUT. Towards the end of the film’s production, Pete Docter and Jonas Riveras asked Josh to start coming up with ideas for a short film to feature on the home entertainment release. Josh pitched several ideas, but this is the one that Pete and Jonas liked the best! From pitch to finish, the short took about 10 months to make.

So what were some of the other ideas that Josh and Mark had throw around? Josh mentioned he pitched a short about Bing Bong! Though he claims it was very good… I think all us Bing Bong fans would disagree!

It was pretty cool to learn that both Josh and Mark are fathers to daughters. Creating this short, they both could identify with the protective father. Josh commented “We’re all fathers of daughters. We would just talk (to one another.) We were trying to write a story about Riley, so you would just naturally talk about your own experiences. I was talking about my daughter who is about 4 or 5 at the time of working on INSIDE OUT. I was talking about how crazy she was acting and the Editor who has daughters in college said ‘Oh you have nothing to worry about until she brings home the first boy.’ And I just had the thought of that!“In the short Riley’s Dad jams out to ACDC with Jordan, the boy who comes to see Riley. This scene is hilarious! So why ACDC? Mark said that they actually tried various music and bands with that scene. However they wanted something really iconic that both Jordan could be into, but the Dad is familiar with as well.While INSIDE OUT has emotional moments, RILEY’S FIRST DATE? is more comedy without the serious tone. We asked them if it was on purpose to create a short that was all comedy, instead or more emotional…When asked about the aspect that this film will have a legacy of helping kids, Josh replied, “I didn’t expect that, but I’ve actually heard that from health professionals that have come up to me after the film was out and was like, ‘You have no idea how much, how much you’ve made it so much easier for to talk about how they’re feeling about things.’ I was blown away. So I think that’s a great legacy to have for this film.” Mark agreed in that “It wasn’t the intention going in but we kind of found that along the way.“

Speaking of emotions… It was interesting to learn that when they first started on the film, they had 30 emotions involved. For the story purpose though, they narrowed it down to just five. Josh thinks it would have been cool to add in the emotion of “surprise”… but that is somewhat wrapped into the character of “fear”.So who which emotion is their favorite? Mark noted, “Joy is the one I was kind of drawn to the most because I love Amy Poehler and what she brought to that character. I’m kind of an optimistic person by nature.”

So what’s next for Josh and Mark? Josh notes that he is working on a “small independent film“… just a small one titled TOY STORY 4! Unfortunately Mark couldn’t tell us much about the Pixar film he is currently working on…. which of course made me want to learn more about it! I guess I’ll find out in due time.

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INSIDE OUT is available for home entertainment NOW on on Digital HD, Disney Movies Anywhere, and Blu-ray Combo Pack!Want to see more of my adventures in San Francisco? Take a look at my Twitter (@AshBG) and Instagram (@ashb4211). Make sure you follow the hashtags #GoodDinoEvent, #InsideOutBloggers, #MilesEvent, and #Waltagram.

Do you plan to purchase INSIDE OUT for home entertainment? Who is your favorite character from the film?