The Creator of The Life of Tim, Steve Dildarian is back with a brand-new adult animated series, Ten Year Old Tomstreaming on HBO Max starting September 30th. The show takes an innocent look at the dysfunctional world seen through the eyes of Tom (voiced by Dildarian himself), a 10-year-old who is just having a hard time just going through the motions of growing up. Around Tom are questionable adults from a drug-dealing bus driver to his litigious parents who all mean well but just don’t lead by example. 

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Ahead of Ten-Year-Old Tom’s debut on HBO Max, Steve Dildarian spoke to Screen Rant about the unique creative process of making the hilarious adult animation series to its all-star cast including Byron Bowers, Gillian Jacobs, Edi Patterson, Todd Glass, Erik Griffin, Jessica McKenna, Ben Rodgers, and John Malkovich. He also talks about some of the real-life people who inspired some of the dubious adults.

Screen Rant: What was the inspiration for 10 Year Old Tom?

Steve Dildarian: It was really just out of the headlines. There's all this stuff between, anything with Donald Trump and politics and I think when the Kavanaugh hearings are happening and then the college admission scandal, it's put a finer point on something I've been trying to write, which is just all the pillars of society, kind of failing us and looking around the world with the idea of, how does a kid grow up in this world? It's so different than even 15, 20 years ago?

So it was really at the headlines. It's just one, after another looking at sports, religion, politics, business. The people, they've spiraled out of control to a point, how does a kid make sense of it these days? That was really the genesis of it. I just kind of applied that to the way I write anything, which is just like an underdog kind of wide-eyed, normal guy at the center of it.

Through the course of this show, Tom meets a lot of messed-up adults; adults that have problems. Much like you would in the real world, but there are lessons that Tom learns along the way. Was that important to you, for Tom to still learn those lessons?

Steve Dildarian: I don't think it's important to me, as much as it's just baked into the premise. When the premise of the show and of any story idea is about a grown-up being a bad role model for a kid, the conflict involves learning lessons. You know, you can't avoid the topic of learning a lesson because typically I don't write that way, it's just kind of the final equation of the comedy, you almost need to get into what did the kid learn here. And I don't think there are not too many happy ending versions of that, you can't avoid it, it's just in the equation.

I absolutely love the relationship between Tom his best friend Nelson. Could you talk to me a little bit about their best friend Nelson and writing Nelson and finding his voice?

Steve Dildarian: A lot of that comes through in the acting. Byron Bowers is such a funny, smart guy and he brought so much to it, once we started, acting it out and improving. I just wanted that character [to be] the instigator; he's the window into the adult world. He's the more savvy, street smart kid, with a wealthier family, so he's just got some level of access. Whether it's a cell phone or, I grew up that way where I didn't have cable, my friends did. That's a window into the grown-up world. That's all he represented as a character - the savvy kid that has access.

And then what Byron did with them is just give a smart take on it. He underplayed things so well, and his choices as an actor, just genuine. So he made him real and that's what I look for in any character, try to make things real before I make him funny. And he does both. So I'm glad you picked up on that and then you like the character because I'm thinking he really nailed it.

I love all of the characters you've created in this. Byron Bowers did an amazing job of bringing Nelson to life. Todd Glass is amazing as the principal, you got Gillian Jacobs as Dakota. I mean the list goes on and on. You have so many comedic geniuses on this show. I did want to talk ask you a little bit about how much improvisation goes in those voiceover sessions?

Steve Dildarian: It's funny. It seems like a lot. When we record the show, I give everyone carte blanche and I just follow my own instincts on what's funny. So it tends to feel like a free-for-all or just let's see what's funny. But what ends up happening in my head, I know what I really need to tell the story, so in the edit, we end up walking so much of it back to the script.

I write these scripts very tight, I'm as opinionated as the script, as any writer is and I've had plenty of people say, "Why do you do the improv? The scripts are so done, they're tight." But what I try to do is let the improv create a tone, a spontaneity because, in the end, I just want it to feel like these characters are thinking. They're thinking as they're talking. And most animation, you don't feel that way by a long shot, you kind of feel the presence of a script and that the animation was choreographed to a certain extent.

All I'm going for in the end, with the improv, is that tone, the tone of fly on the wall, listening to living, breathing human beings, not characters in the show. So in the end, we throw away 80% of the improv, keep the gems, the little nuggets, because there's plenty of them. And then it ends up the rhythm of it has to get close to where that script started. So it's a weird process to start tight, throw it all away and let it go crazy, and then reign it back in. That's kind of the way I looked at it.

Byron Bowers & Steve Dildarian in 10 Year Old Tom

I wanted to ask you because you're the creator, writer, you play Tom, can you talk to me about wearing all those different kinds of hats, and does that get exhausting?

Steve Dildarian: Well, the whole thing is I'm so used to being exhausted all the time. I guess it is exhausting. It's funny, it's all I know. All I've known in this business and in making animation is doing everything.

I learned animation just by doing it, by drawing it. Me and my girlfriend kind of taught ourselves in iMovie how to string a bunch of stills together. And I got in and did the voice, I edited it and then made the cover of the thing and it never stopped being that way from that first short film. Then we went to HBO with that first show, they said, do your thing. So I just kept doing everything because I found it so hard to hand anything off. No one could replicate what was in my head. It's an interesting question because it's all I know. I don't know what it would feel like to not be doing everything.

It's so fascinating that you taught yourself how to animate like in iMovie no less. That is incredible to me.

Steve Dildarian: It's one of those things. That's a whole other story in itself, but I really had no interest in animation. I had no experience in it. I never really cared about it, but I had that idea for that short way back. And it was animation that was the only vehicle to tell the story. So to this day, that's kind of my attitude. I don't even consider myself in animation. Because I don't know other people that are in animation, I don't watch other animated shows, I'm not part of the world. I just do it because, as a writer, it helps me tell my stories. It works. I stumbled on this weird dynamic, this weird kind of look that makes my comedy come to life and so the animation is there, it's just a tool. It's not something I really have a lot of opinions about. So yeah, my extent of knowing this world is knowing my version of it.

I want to switch gears for a second because look, there's a character that is in this show that I absolutely love. And it's Uncle Bill. Can you talk to me about the legend of Uncle Bill? He is absolutely my favorite character.

Steve Dildarian: Brian Scolaro played him. He is a guy who did a lot of voices on Tim and his energy is so big and so funny. And you know, it's like any character in this show has probably got a real-life counterpart. I'm a little nervous and reluctant to start drawing too many straight lines, but I did have an Uncle Bill growing up who was a big presence when he entered the house. And I think some of that just comes out in the weird comedic version of it. All these characters have that in common where there's the real-life version where in my world, it wasn't all that entertaining.

A little time to reflect and let it just come out in the writing. It kind of comes out as comedy. I'm glad you picked up on that because Brian is so funny.

You have a ton of A-list superstars in this show with cameos, guests, and even cast members. John Malkovich plays Mr. B, he's great in the role. You have one of my favorite comedians Ronny Chieng, he's also in this. Elliott Gould. How did all this come about?

Steve Dildarian: I don't know. I wish I knew. I'm so consistently pleasantly surprised every time someone says yes because in my head I never see myself as a guy who anyone cares about or is going to react to or want to do my show. It's just, everyone's got their own internal just way of seeing themself. I feel like I occupy such a specific little corner of the TV world.

So to reach out to people like Malkovich or Elliott Gould, Todd Glass, any of them really. It's always so genuinely flattering and surprising and I'm giddy and every time the casting people call back and say, "He's in, she's in, they're in." It just never fails to make me happy.

Then to get in and do it with them and act it out, is usually such a joyous experience. The acting, getting those actors, and then performing with them is probably the only part of the whole show that's just genuinely fun, if I'm being honest. Making the show can be a grind, it can just work. There's nothing about getting going to the booth with Todd Glass that feels like I'm working.

So getting from the time we reach out, which is fun, who knows if we can get them. And then when they say yes, and then we do it, it's just, working with those actors is, I'm as surprised as you are. I love it. You should ask them sometimes; I'm curious why they say yes.

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Ten Year Old Tom premieres on HBO Max September 30th.