Can They be Friends?: Chelsea, Que. woman wins an Emmy for Sesame Street episode

Katherine Sandford won an Emmy alongside two other writers for a series of shorts called "Can They Be Friends". She joined us this morning.

A children’s television writer from Chelsea, Que. has won an Emmy alongside two other writers for a series of shorts for Sesame Street.

Katherine Sandford was honoured last weekend. She says the episode that won is called Can They be Friends?

“It was a really long party. It went on forever. So, I was pretty tired,” she told CTV Morning Live Wednesday.

“But it was really exciting.”

Sandford says that she “basically” pitches ideas to Sesame Street, noting the importance of forming relationships and meeting with them at conferences.

“After a certain point they put out like an RFP (request for proposal),” she said. “So, the RFP was: ‘We want to feature Elmo and his puppy more often.”

Since she’s passionate about kids and nature, her basic pitch was “Tango the puppy knows more about nature than Elmo.”

She describes seeing her story come to life as “magical.”

The Emmy that she won is yet to be mailed to her address, she said, noting that they have to engrave it. Sandford is planning on putting it in her office.

She says that she’s working on a reboot of a show called Toopy and Binoo.

“It’s a pretty popular show. It was a real Canadian story,” she said.

Tango is Elmo’s puppy. It made its debut in the 2021 animated Sesame Street special Furry Friends Forever.

Third Children’s and Family Emmy Awards, honoring children’s and family-oriented television programming between June 2023 and May 2024, took place on March 15.