Our new pilot ‘Dead Ringo’ is alive
Well after working around the clock on our first full length feature, Los Campeones de La Lucha Libre we needed a break. But 2009 was ridiculous! Three stalled projects (more on these later) doesn’t make for a robust IMDB listing! But when you answer to no-one and can make your own destiny, good things happen. Despite the lack of production, here are 2009’s best bits:
- Toon Boom ‘Animate’ and the ‘Animate Latin America Tour’. One plus was that we had more time to delve in Animate and we have been nothing but happy with the results. We were also pleased to be offered the chance to tour Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo and demonstrate the software. And we were able to keep updating our ‘Toonboom-bastic’ blog with things we continued to discover.
- Series Development. We storyboarded and produced some animation for our ‘Bostie Boys’ series idea (which provided another opportunity to finesse our background style using ‘Animate’). We also developed our ‘Dance Crasher’ project to full series bible, and started on pre-production for our latest idea…
- …‘Dead Ringo’. Happily, we are being funded in December to produce a pilot for Dead Ringo. This is going to be an all Fwak! production…concept, storyboards, design, animation and music…and we couldn’t be happier. What a great way to end the year.
We try not to dwell on negative things on this blog, but sometimes it is unavoidable – and I think necessary – just to show that animation has its major pitfalls. Case in point, our ‘Rocquita’ project with Cartoon Network Asia/Pacific, which has just passed its 2 year anniversary in development hell. 2 years! Life is short, and 2 years of bad communication and lack of vision has really killed this one. There was also a brief dalliance with Disney with ‘Dance Crasher’ which started promisingly, but after 3 months of ‘tweaking and refining’ went nowhere. And then there was a series of Lucha Libre-themed shorts for Mun 2 which collapsed after close to 6 months of waiting when the sponsor pulled out.
But the great thing about 2009 is that Fwak! gets to do what it started out doing, and was meant to do; create and produce its own content. With the ‘Dead Ringo’ pilot, 2010 has got off to a great start. Merry Xmas/Chanukah/Festivus/whatever. Check back for ‘Ringo’ updates in 2010!
Production stills from ‘Dead Ringo
