Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem writers Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Jeff Rowe wanted an authentic depiction of modern-day teenagers. In their creative research, the writers used TikTok to find out teen’s latest interests and trends.

Rogen commented on this, stating, “We’re trying to make these ninja turtles sound like you and talk like you and reference the same TikTok videos that you watch that I’ve never seen that I don’t understand at all.”

While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics have become a large, well-known franchise depicted consistently throughout the past three decades, Mutant Mayhem is the first time the ninja turtles were played by actual teenagers. The film featured Micah Abbey, Sharon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon; all of whom were allowed to improvise on their scripts for a more authentic feel.

Goldberg discussed this improvisation and its effects on the production of the film, saying, “Some of the best jokes, we don’t understand…One of our main theories was that to record all of them together would make it way better because that’s how teens are. They don’t wait for people to finish their sentences. It had a domino effect. It affected the animation, how we framed it, how many people were in the frame.”

Additionally, the animation style was also meant to mimic the way in which teenagers draw according to Rowe: “We looked at the way you draw when you’re a teenager before you have formal art training…It’s so impassioned. You have no idea what you’re doing but that doesn’t stop you. It was this beautiful metaphor for these characters. They have big goals and ambitions that just haven’t been checked against the world.”

The one element that was not geared towards modern-day teenagers was the soundtrack of Mutant Mayhem. According to Rogen, “It’s all music from when we were kids.”