Despite the stress of the Covid virus, it's been a soothing relief to be able to work in kids' TV, writing mainly animation scripts, but some live-action ones, too. Here's what I'm currently working on and where you can watch my stuff.
Dog Years
Dog Years is the live-action show that I created, produced & directed with my live-action colleague Tim Clague. We filmed 10 x 7' episodes (in this studio that we made) and we're just finalising the post-production as we speak, with a view to various streamers and broadcasters taking it on board. Lots of fun, and an amazingly talented dog. Don't listen to people who say never work with kids and animals!
Future TX
Another live-action project with Tim, this one an exciting sci-fi family feature film for Attraction Movie Ltd / Templeheart Films in Pinewood. It stars Griff Rhys Jones as the baddie, and a couple of brilliant new kids in the lead roles. Like Dog Years, we're finalising post-production at the moment, fine tuning the VFX, music and sound design.
Daisy & Ollie
This is a charming animation series from comedian Jason Manford, which is currently on Channel 5's Milkshake. The titular characters ask curious questions about the world, and enjoy finding out the answer over the seven minute stories. I'm writing my sixth episode so far, and the main challenge is to come up with the rhyming lyrics for the song the characters sing at the end!
Rhyme Time Town
A new show from Dreamworks & Netflix. I was very happy to get an episode of this lovely animation right before we started filming on Future TX. The show is well worth a look if you have pre-schoolers (or not!). My episode is The Snorey Roary Rain Monster. I'm also writing an episode for another exciting new Netflix series, but that's top secret for now.
Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy
You can watch all of series one on Netflix, and series two is currently on Tiny Pop. I was part of the writing team for both series, along with some genuine legends of the UK/US biz, so I learned a lot in the room. I'm particularly excited about my treasure hunt episode set in Ireland (!), which of course is called 'X Marks the Bot'.
PJ Masks
This has been a real treat to be involved with, and I've written a handful of episodes from series two onwards. It's on Disney Junior, and it's a massively popular show across the globe. You can see its influence on other new shows as pre-school superheroes have become a real trend. But hey, who doesn't love a pre-school superhero?
Hey Duggee
Of course, Duggee takes special place on my CV. I was part of the writing team for series one & two, writing 14 episodes in total. Some of them get highlighted or mentioned in the press (mainly The Guardian), which is nice. They seem to particularly like the Omelette Badge, the Theatre Badge and the Comedy Badge. Who am I to argue?
New Shows / In Development
I've written three series bibles and pilot scripts for three brand new shows, all in various stages of development and funding. Am just about to start developing two other shows in a similar fashion. During lockdown, I did some online networking to seek out new contacts and potential work, which has led to some writing on a very cute Brazilian show, which I'll share more about when I can. And there's also an exciting action-adventure series that I'm going to be head writing, currently just finished the pilot script. All of this might sound unfeasibly busy but it's all spread out, and there can be some downtime in between feedback or funding stages. It's always good to spin those writing plates as much as possible!