10 x 22 minute adult animated anthology comedy fantasy series (development)
The most batshit tales from around the world that you’ve never heard. Inspired by the indie American podcast Old Wives.
The most batshit tales from around the world that you’ve never heard. Inspired by the indie American podcast Old Wives.
Short animatic for the animated series Old Wives in development by Mattfilms in Canada, based on the independent American podcast of the same name, created and hosted by the talented Amy Stephenson and Casey Childers.
Clip from pilot script 'Slavic the Hedgehog' about a rooster-riding hedgehog that helps some people out, falls in love with a princess, sheds his curse and becomes a prince.
Written by Amy and Casey, storyboards by Olga Ulanova, sound design and mix by Andy Goddard. Designs by Marine Varguy and Mack Sztaba.
Voiced by Poppy Hillstead as Hedgehog and Fern Brady as Princess and Amy and Casey as themselves.
Produced and directed by Ashley Matt for Mattfilms.
Clip from pilot script 'Slavic the Hedgehog' about a rooster-riding hedgehog that helps some people out, falls in love with a princess, sheds his curse and becomes a prince.
Written by Amy and Casey, storyboards by Olga Ulanova, sound design and mix by Andy Goddard. Designs by Marine Varguy and Mack Sztaba.
Voiced by Poppy Hillstead as Hedgehog and Fern Brady as Princess and Amy and Casey as themselves.
Produced and directed by Ashley Matt for Mattfilms.
TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC
North America/Europe, Gen X/Millennial
FORMAT
10 x 22 adult animated comedy series
Web/streaming (subscription or FAST). Think Crave, HBO Max, Channel 4 Digital, BBC 3, Hulu, Netflix, The Roku Channel
SET UP
With OLD WIVES we aim to create a Canada/UK co-pro returnable streaming series that mixes sweetness, bloody violence, wit, sexual content and cute cartoon animals. Old Wives is fun and take risks.
With a strong POV we will focus on our reoccurring characters Amy and Casey, writer and illustrator respectively and life-long friends, looking at their inner lives as they make a children’s book. The two frequent their local cursed bar tended by an old crone where they meet fellow damned creators who share tales with them from their ancestral homelands. We’ve got a Monkeybone crossed with Broad City thing going on.
Amy and Casey are struggling though. The book they are making is supposed to be quaint, cute, age appropriate. But it’s not working. The stories they are inspired by are too gory, too horny and too wild (maybe they are too) to only be for kids. And why can’t they stop putting inappropriate elements of their lives in to the story they’re creating? Maybe it’s because the two are at a time in their journey where they want to explore their past traumas, they want to be better people, they are growing, they are changing.
Or maybe it’s that they are desperately trying to entertain themselves since the curse befell them, doomed to come back to this beloved and behated bar after losing at trivia night however many weeks, months or years ago. The spell cast on them as punishment? Every week they must tell a fairytale to each other and they’ll be damned if it’s another rendition of some Brothers Grimm bull.
Who knows when they’ll be released from this fate? Are there any pluses here, people? Sure. They get to leave during the day. They’re allowed to work and see their families, go to therapy, clean the gutters of their homes, pay their taxes – fun stuff. Another bonus: while at the bar they get to meet new people who come through, others cursed by trivia night losses and who have a tale to share. The perfect distraction from the work they should be doing, Amy writing increasingly erotic scenes and Casey drawing increasingly unhinged animals.
Developed by Mattfilms with assistance from Canada Media Fund
Director Ashley Matt
Original creators and writers Amy Stephenson and Casey Childers
North America/Europe, Gen X/Millennial
FORMAT
10 x 22 adult animated comedy series
Web/streaming (subscription or FAST). Think Crave, HBO Max, Channel 4 Digital, BBC 3, Hulu, Netflix, The Roku Channel
SET UP
With OLD WIVES we aim to create a Canada/UK co-pro returnable streaming series that mixes sweetness, bloody violence, wit, sexual content and cute cartoon animals. Old Wives is fun and take risks.
With a strong POV we will focus on our reoccurring characters Amy and Casey, writer and illustrator respectively and life-long friends, looking at their inner lives as they make a children’s book. The two frequent their local cursed bar tended by an old crone where they meet fellow damned creators who share tales with them from their ancestral homelands. We’ve got a Monkeybone crossed with Broad City thing going on.
Amy and Casey are struggling though. The book they are making is supposed to be quaint, cute, age appropriate. But it’s not working. The stories they are inspired by are too gory, too horny and too wild (maybe they are too) to only be for kids. And why can’t they stop putting inappropriate elements of their lives in to the story they’re creating? Maybe it’s because the two are at a time in their journey where they want to explore their past traumas, they want to be better people, they are growing, they are changing.
Or maybe it’s that they are desperately trying to entertain themselves since the curse befell them, doomed to come back to this beloved and behated bar after losing at trivia night however many weeks, months or years ago. The spell cast on them as punishment? Every week they must tell a fairytale to each other and they’ll be damned if it’s another rendition of some Brothers Grimm bull.
Who knows when they’ll be released from this fate? Are there any pluses here, people? Sure. They get to leave during the day. They’re allowed to work and see their families, go to therapy, clean the gutters of their homes, pay their taxes – fun stuff. Another bonus: while at the bar they get to meet new people who come through, others cursed by trivia night losses and who have a tale to share. The perfect distraction from the work they should be doing, Amy writing increasingly erotic scenes and Casey drawing increasingly unhinged animals.
Developed by Mattfilms with assistance from Canada Media Fund
Director Ashley Matt
Original creators and writers Amy Stephenson and Casey Childers