Grace Townley and Spencer Lott

Designer Grace Townley and actor Spencer Lott (a Sesame Street and Helpsters puppeteer) have been making puppets on the side for clients including Nickelodeon and Warner Bros. Discovery for more than a decade.

They saw an opportunity to set up a proper business around the craft that would allow them to develop their own original projects and also offer a custom puppet-making service for companies looking to add this element to their shows. “Our hope is that we can offer a new and affordable pipeline so more puppet projects will eventually hit the market,” says Townley. “There is a common misconception that there isn’t enough talent to support more puppet shows, but…there’s an incredible generation of new puppeteers ready to step up.”

Simple Mischief Studio opened in New York this month, and Townley and Lott are currently talking to a first batch of prospective clients about the value of puppets and why it makes good business sense to use a turnkey service to create them. “We know that creatives and buyers are looking for shows that stand out from all of the animation,” says Townley. “We can guide producers so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time they incorporate puppets.”

In the meantime, Simple Mischief is also working on a few new puppet concepts of its own. Lucy St. Claire and the Library Gnomes is a comedy-driven project for four to sevens about a rookie librarian who wants to spice up her shelf life, and four stubborn gnomes who want to keep things the way they are. Home Sweet Hive is a bee-driven preschool series in development with educational consultant Renata Townsend, who has collaborated with Cartoonito and podcaster Pinna in the past. And for eight to 12s, A Boy Named Paul stars a 10-foot-tall teen navigating his small town’s expectations.