On Wednesday I returned to DIC. My first stop was Lori’s office. I handed her what I say are a dozen “amazing” Care Bears story springboards. Lori rolled her eyes, but it was a friendly eyeroll. She said she’d look at the springboards and pass them along to Jean. Then she asked what she already knew. “Where do you think you are on the delivery schedule for Care Bears?”

I told her, “When I came onboard, Sandy said we were a week behind. I’m guessing writers haven’t been streaming in with springboards and completed scripts since then.”

Lori turned grim. “Producing and delivering a television series is like a runaway train. Once it starts, I’ve got to keep up with it or it’ll jump the tracks. The worst thing I can ever do is miss an airdate with broadcasters. If I don’t deliver a script on time, they’ll pull the series and sub something else in its place.”

I’m not sure if that’s really true or it’s a boogeyman story to keep story editors on schedule. Either way, Lori was serious about this. Her voice even, she said, “You’re two weeks behind schedule. It’s like dominoes. If the storyboards are slow coming in, it slows getting scripts written. If scripts are late it holds up voiceover artists and recording sessions. If the recordings are late it holds up the animators. And if it holds up the animators it means I can miss an airdate.”

I sat in the chair opposite her and asked, “What should I do?”

She said, “Get up out of the chair and go talk to Kevin.”