Amy Poehler is scoring Brownie points at Nickelodeon, where the “SNL” star has set up animated pilot “Super Scout.”
Nick has greenlit production on that project — revolving around an overly ambitious Honeybee (similar to a Girl Scout) — as well as the series pilot “Diggs Tailwagger,” a toon from former “SpongeBob SquarePants” creative director Derek Drymon.
In “Super Scout,” Poehler will provide the voice of Bessie Higgenbottom, an optimistic scout obsessed with collecting badges and living out her superhero fantasies. Her single mom sings at the local bar while she drags her little brother and an eccentric group of friends on her adventures around San Francisco.
Bessie is loosely based on a character Poehler says she’s been performing over the past several years at Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade.
“Bessie’s a bit bossy, but with good intentions. She’s based on all those girls I kind of looked up to when I was younger, the leaders,” Poehler said. Comic will exec produce with “SpongeBob SquarePants” scribe Erik Wiese and former “The Fairly OddParents” writer Cynthia True. Andy Richter, wife Sarah Thyre (“Strangers With Candy”) and Kevin Hart (Showtime’s “Barbershop”) are attached to voice characters in the pilot.
As for “Diggs,” show revolves around a low-ranking pooch trying to make good aboard the Galactic Rover.
Both projects keep Nick talent Wiese, True and Drymon inhouse — a priority for the cabler, according to exec VP of development and original programming Marjorie Cohn.
“It’s exciting for us when talent who’ve worked on our shows come back to us with new ideas,” Cohn said. Poehler’s character in “Super Scout” is “adorable, sweet, overeager and slightly manic, and we just fell in love with her,” Cohn said. “As for Derek, we already knew he was capable of running a show, and ‘Diggs’ is this irresistible Chris Farley-like character — clumsy but well-meaning — that gets into these hysterical predicaments.”
Cohn said a decision on series pickups will be made by the end of summer. Nick is still in production on a host of other toons, including “SpongeBob,” “OddParents,” “Danny Phantom,” “Catscratch” and “The X’s.”
Poehler next appears in the features “Southland Tales” for helmer Richard Kelly, DreamWorks’ “Blades of Glory” and New Line’s “Mr. Woodcock.”